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
Master degreed nurse????
Who is paid, nick? Why would an attorney or a master’s degreed nurse do piece work. Seems like a good job for a retiree or otherwise unemployed person. If you think I am paid you are wrong, not interested in piece work.
SWM – that master degreed nurse is now retired according to her.
Darren, I AGREE. But, your weekend colleague made that very assertion last weekend. My comments are parody. He believes that crap.
Darren:
The firearms improvement far exceeds the ammo improvement. The accuracy and rate of fire along with reductions in kick-back are marked according to the cops I talk to. Anti-fouling mechanisms and design adds to improvement in the kill rate. The saturation of semi-automatics is interesting too since most of that occurred in the 90s. Guns are more dangerous now than ever. Just ask Jose Canseco.
mespo – 600 rounds shot during that shoot out that other day? That is the accuracy of the new weapons?
MikeA compared zero tolerance w/ mandatory minimum. Both brought to us by liberals. The most draconian mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines were bullied through by an alcoholic, Irish, liberal, icon, Tip O’Neill.
Paul, and that is why I made an exception for them.
In the two and a half years I have visited this blog I haven’t seen any evidence to suggest there have been any paid trolls or commenters posting here.
Darren – there are at least 25 Koch paid commenters on here of which I am one.
MikeA made a great comment and analogy. He is a reasoned weekend blogger and never demagogues issues.
Paid liberal commenters trying to fan the flames of intolerance and fear. A supporter of zero tolerance and speech control.
Thank you, Darren.
Annie:
Austin is an island of sanity compared to most of fundie, conservative-occupied Texas. It’s like Birmingham in Alabama. We need to organize an airlift, I think.
mespo – deal with the issue at hand. Actually, I have always wondered about your head. I wrote a paper on phrenolgy in high school and your head shape did not bode well for your being a non-criminal. 😉
Here’s sweet, unassuming, non-threatening Adam Lanza:
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/12/15/article-2248197-168579C1000005DC-946_634x452.jpg
He killed 26. It’s one thing to miss it when a kid gives you no reason to think he’s acclimated to violence. As a policymaker, it’s something else entirely when the kid holds the threat for all to see. There is no prototype for a mass murderer. They come in all shapes, sizes and countenances.
I think the paid liberal troll commenter is trying to intimidate and we should all feel threatened.
SwarthmoreMom is correct, firearms and ammunition have improved greatly since the first world war and with a few exceptions such as simumnitions which is a training ammo, have by extension become more lethal.
Accuracy, cost, power, cyclic rate, and quality are the most basic measures and have improved markedly overall.
Darren – simnitions would have nothing to do with lethality.
So, All kids holding guns are the same? Is that the liberal message here? The question is the photo presented by JT in the post, and the insane zero tolerance they were subjected to. I think that other photo is trolling by a paid liberal commenter. I don’t feel safe. I think this incendiary photo of white males holding real guns, and comparing it to a Portuguese boy and girl uncomfortably holding fake guns, is a hostile message. I feel threatened and unsafe when paid liberal trolls post photos like this of two w/m’s.
@jim22
You probably grew up in those bad old days when kids used to get spankings, and people had a normative set of values instead of just doing their own thing.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
I give you nothing for the zero tolerance laws or the mandatory minimum sentencing laws either. To allow a state to use two misdemeanors to enhance a third one to a felony is beyond my grasp.
Mark Ewbanks – there is a new one where the convicted was acquitted of two charges and found guilty of the third but the judge used the first two the enhance the sentence of the third and the appeals court upheld it.
They were hunting all right, but their prey was humans.
I love Austin, reminds me of Madison. The rest of Texas could secede though.