There is another controversy raising the increasing assertion of authority of school officials over pictures and statements made by students outside of school. In Massachusetts, Jamie Pereira was suspended from school after a photo of her and her boyfriend, Tito Velez, both 16, holding Airsoft rifles was posted on Facebook. A caption beneath the photograph read: “Homecoming 2014.” The picture looks like a new American Gothic for some and a threat to others. However, the controversy again raises the limits and discretion of school officials in monitoring speech outside of school for students and teachers alike. There was good reason to be concerned but the punishment was due to the disruption caused rather than an actual threat from the picture.
The admitted mistake of the teenage couple was to put “Homecoming” at the bottom of the picture. School officials were legitimately concerned but this was not a preventative step but a disciplinary action. There is no suggestion of an actual threat intended by the picture. I fail to see why such problems cannot be addressed with a reprimand and calling in the parents. Both students have been suspended for an unknown length of time.
Superintendent Richard Gross insists that punishment is appropriate and will reflect the disruption caused when the picture was circulated by other students. Notably, the picture was posted hours after a Washington state teen shot five fellow students inside his high school before taking his own life. However, Gross insisted that “This is about the tumult created by their online activity.”
The teens were apparently just trying to come up with something different for their pre-dance photos. The photo was later removed.
Velez, who could not be reached for comment early Wednesday, reportedly said he and his girlfriend simply wanted to “do something unique and different” instead of taking typical pre-dance photographs.
I have previously written about the increasing monitoring and discipline of teachers for conduct in their private lives. We have seen teachers face discipline over social media pictures holding a weapon. Even a picture of a teacher holding a glass of a drink is enough to trigger discipline.
Once again, there is clearly a need for officials to act upon any threat. However, there remains a dangerous ambiguity over the scope and use of such authority. Given the ludicrous application of “zero tolerance” rules, officials commonly impose extreme punishments rather than exercise judgment (and expose themselves to the risk of criticism) over the handling of such controversies.
We have seen a steady erosion of the free speech rights of students in the last decade. The Supreme Court accelerated that trend in its Morse decision. Former JDHS Principal Deb Morse suspended Frederick in 2002 during the Olympic Torch Relay for holding up a 14-foot banner across from the high school that read “Bong Hits 4 Jesus.” The case ultimately led to the Supreme Court which ruled in Morse v. Frederick ruling in 2007 for the Board — a decision that I strongly disagreed with and one that has encouraged over-reaching by school officials into protected areas.
For a copy of the Morse decision, click here.
Civil libertarians hoped that Obama would appoint someone with a strong commitment to free speech and student rights. I was very concerned over the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor because of her role in the Donniger case where she ruled against high school student Avery Doninger who contested her punishment for posting an objectionable message on an Internet site about Lewis Mills High School. When she objected to the cancellation of a school event in vulgar terms, school officials barred her from running for Senior Class secretary. In Doninger v. Niehoff, the Second Circuit upheld the right of school officials to punish students for out-of–school speech in a major blow to both the first amendment and student rights.
This case has obviously different and more compelling facts for actions. However, this remains a picture taken outside of school with two airsoft guns. It would seem an appropriate cause for a telephone call and not some open-ended suspension in my opinion.
Source: Taunton Gazette
mespo727272, Nice apples to apples comparison. Get a grip.
Thanks, mespo. It is creepy as you say. Hardly a group on a hunting trip…….
Riesling – “”Squeeky, you are right. These kids are guilty of living in Massachusetts. Jim22: I went to high school in the late 70s/ early 80s. All the farm guys had their guns in the gun rack in their pickups.”
Paul C. Schulte – “Riesling – at my school those gun racks had guns in them.”
Not only that, but at times I used to hitch a ride with my one buddy who was a state champion skeet shooter and hunter. I used to find bullets all over the floor of his little pickup. His dad had kegs of powder for reloading. I can remember going out to a local dump to shoot once with my friend and he would get really annoyed at me if I wasn’t watching where my barrel was pointed.
This is darn creepy and would give me pause especially if I was entrusted with the safety of thousands of school kids as school officials were here. I think an explanation and an evaluation isn’t out of line.
Wish someone would have done the same for these two kid Colorado gun toters:
http://u.jimdo.com/www29/o/s1be6ef0d2c2cc7d3/img/iec888635bb062d43/1279977673/std/eric-harris-dylan-klebold-ben-johnson-josh-young.jpg
mespo – I appreciate your overly nanny-state protective attitude on this. Was there anything that these kids, either set did that was wrong or illegal? Was it on their own time? Loco parentis is from home to school and back to home. FB is outside loco parentis. The school does not have the authority to do this. And they will lose any suit brought against them. This will cost the district money.
Not really, it was fine when Anne Richards was in. Even W wasn’t a bad governor compared to what what they have now. The crazies have taken over, and after the next election it will be worse. Considered retiring In Austin but after daughter left the state there was no point in that. Had a good life there but also glad we were able to move on.
They should have said they were Muslims joining ISIS.
That would’ve ended the complaints.
Is it me or does SWM seem to resent being forced to live in the Lonestar State?
In a zero-tolerance environment, having a judge is moot.
Squeeky, you are right. These kids are guilty of living in Massachusetts. Jim22: I went to high school in the late 70s/ early 80s. All the farm guys had their guns in the gun rack in their pickups.
Riesling – at my school those gun racks had guns in them. 😉
Steg, Good to hear you have an interest in doing things for yourself. My wife used to say to people, “I will never get a new washing machine because he (Me) will always keep repairing it.” I’m in a senior baseball league (not softball) and I try to make my own bats. You should see the looks I get when I show other players what I made. I drive two 1969 vehicles (well until the govt. stops letting me which I’m sure is coming down the road) because like the washing machine, I can fix anything on them and isn’t it all about recycling?
One other thing about having machining tools, if and when the blank hits the fan in the world, you still have value since you can make and fix things.
Lived in Texas too long, but I never saw dressed up kids posed with guns. Once in a while I would come across of a photo of a young person in hunting attire with a gun….totally appropriate.
Squeeky w/ some regional wisdom.
Also, there is the fact that to get rid of a lot of this technology, you must kill everyone with the knowledge of it.
http://www.thehomegunsmith.com/
Jim – That’s great. I wish my HS had not dropped shop classes before I arrived. I was lucky enough to have my Grandfather’s workbench in my Gma’s basement (Granddad passed away when I was about four) though. I see a lot of these engineering projects aimed at getting shop back into the schools, and getting kids back into doing manual work. Our hands are inextricably linked to our brains- we ought to be more handy than not.
I remember a quote from someone my around my father’s age (a boomer), “My dad built our house in the country himself. He was a Marine, and when he was not serving, around the home he was a wrench. He did everything- carpentry, electrical, plumbing…” OK, so it’s a paraphrase. The picture grips me vividly, as I aspire to be so well versed in ability.
I often make light of people’s inability to shift gears- while we all have our ‘specialties’, specializing is for insects. We should all aspire to not be a mere ‘tool’, but a multi-tool.
Hmmm. They look like a normal pair of Texas teenagers to me. Oh wait. . .They’re in Massachusetts. That explains it all.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Steg – “SWM is right you guys. Soon, we’ll all have the easy to use and accessible gun manufacturing technology. Thanks, Cody!”
Steg, I already have this technology. I have a mill and a lathe at home.
Jim22 – I am ordering my 3-D printer this week.
swarthmoremom – “Jim22, Do you think just maybe that all the school shootings have changed kids attitudes?”
No, I don’t. I think kids attitudes have changed causing the school shootings. We all were picked on or had a heart broken due to a relationship at one time in our life and we didn’t go in with a gun. Well, like I wrote earlier, some did but they were left on the gun rack for hunting after school.
SWM, There are some very good public schools on the north shore of Chicago, Winnetka being one. They are affluent school districts. The rich take care of the rich.
SWM is right you guys. Soon, we’ll all have the easy to use and accessible gun manufacturing technology. Thanks, Cody!
https://ghostgunner.net/index.html
You guys need to talks guns among yourself. If you belief gun technology has not changed since WWI do some research. You might find otherwise.