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
At the lunch tables, the kids need to sing, in unison, the Warren Zevon song:
Lawyers, Guns, and Money
Well, I went home with the waitress
The way I always do
How was I to know
She was with the Russians, too
I was gambling in Havana
I took a little risk
Send lawyers, guns and money
Dad, get me out of this
I’m the innocent bystander
Somehow I got stuck
Between the rock and the hard place
And I’m down on my luck
And I’m down on my luck
And I’m down on my luck
Now I’m hiding in Honduras
I’m a desperate man
Send lawyers, guns and money
The shit has hit the fan
Send lawyers, guns and money…
Barkin Dog – you are pushing it aren’t you lol
I have a suggestion for the kids in that school: All of you boycott the Homecoming Dance. All of you go out to the local shooting range on Homecoming Day and practice with your rifles. The next day at school all of you show up with black armbands on your arms with a rifle depicted thereon. Call for the suspension and then firing of those who suspended the kids.
Get the dogs involved and have them poop in the Principal’s yard.
I have a suggestion for the kids in that school: All of you boycott the Homecoming Dance. All of you go out to the local shooting range on Homecoming Day and practice with your rifles. The next day at school all of you show up with black armbands on your arms with a rifle depicted thereon. Call for the suspension and then firing of those who suspended the kids.
Get the dogs involved and have them poop in the Principal’s yard.
Barkin – I just read this one – Being from River view Gardens – well you gotme going u got me so I don’t know what i’m doin lol
There was bomb threats when i was a kid in the 70s and 80s. The only thing that has changed is the hysteria of the mindless . Im at the point Id like to take Political Correctness and stuff it down the throats of the pc crowd till they choke to death on it
HarryZ thank you thank you thank you again did you guys do the cherry bombs in the toilets in the cafeteria. That’s what the hoodlums did for good times in 1971.
Elaine M:
Damn fool sniper enablers.
http://www.schoolsecurity.org/trends/school-bomb-threats-and-bombs/
Recent bomb threat trends
More recently, bomb threats and threats of other violence have been made in methods ranging from written threats on school bathroom walls to electronic threats sent via the Internet through international proxy servers. For example:
In late 2011, a series of bomb threats including threats sent via international Internet proxy servers disrupted the Orange Public Schools in Pepper Pike, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb. School officials chose to shut down the schools for three days as school and law enforcement officials investigated. Schools reopened under heightened security and substantial anxiety in the school-community.
In April 2012, the University of Pittsburgh experienced a series of bomb threats that resulted in school officials choosing to repeatedly evacuate the school and heighten security measures. Like the Orange Public Schools incident, anxiety ran high in this university’s school community.
In 2013, bomb threats shut down schools in the Cleveland area, including in Strongsville and Olmsted Falls, as school officials evacuated and shut down school following threats.
Mike Appleton
For Pete’s sake, fear is not a partisan tool.
= = =
It is if your party is up for reelection…
Here’s something refreshing from the era of good music before I slip on up to see FSU-Louisville in the mancave:
Darren:
See #14.
Darren:
There is no such procedure. Of course, there isn’t.
“Cold”
Ann Coulter to widows in mourning,
Stop your whining, you make me sick!
Mouth all twisted and cruel words scorning.
With calculation the cold hands pick,
At weeping widows in weeds adordorning.
Annie
“Cold”
Ann Coulter to widows in mourning,
Stop your whining, you make me sick!
Mouth all twisted and cruel words scorning.
With calculation the cold hands pick,
At weeping widows in weeds adordorning.
Fake
Melissa Harris Perry
Melissa Harris-Perry’s tears are suddenly dry(oh my)
& she’s magically happy again.
Again it’s time for her to cry
Time for her Speech Therapy
Must Mandatorily attend
🙂
http://wnep.com/2014/10/29/students-react-to-two-bomb-threats-in-two-days-at-school/
MAHANOY CITY — Mahanoy City police say bomb threats were found in bathrooms at Mahanoy Area Middle School two days in a row.
Officials at the Mahanoy Area School District cancelled classes at all schools Tuesday and Wednesday after those threats were discovered.
For the second day in a row, classes were cut short in the Mahanoy Area School District.“To be honest with you I`m kind of scared, but I think it`s just a prank so they can get out of school early.”
School officials say a bomb threat was found in the girls bathroom at the middle school and it`s the second one in two days.
On Tuesday, a similar bomb threat was found in the boys bathroom.
The superintendent says students were dismissed early both days as a safety precaution.
“We got out of school early yesterday because there was a, written on the bathroom walls, about a bomb threat and one was in the boys bathroom yesterday and one was in the girls bathroom today. So for the past two days we got out of school early,” said student Devin Pendergast.
“I saw the girls bathroom. It said do not enter with caution tape, so something told me, ‘Oh no, not again,’” said student Braedon Setcavage.
Mahanoy City police say they are investigating the threats.
They say students must be signed out of class to use the bathrooms and police have the names of students using the bathroom both days.
“To be honest with you I`m kind of scared, but I think it`s just a prank so they can get out of school early,” said Setcavage.
The superintendent says until they find out who is responsible, all activities at the middle school are cancelled.
That includes the Halloween party on Wednesday and having students attend the high school`s pep rally on Friday.
Jim:
I agree. When I lived in the South, gun racks were on a lot of trucks. It was not uncommon to see a deer tied to the roof of a car on the way home from school. All the boys had at least BB guns. No shootings that I recall.
Or Brazilian – they speak Portuguese there as well. It sounds like a cross between Spanish and French when it is spoken, at least to my ears.
Nick – those could be Portuguese names. I lived there for a couple of years as a child. And Emeril is fabulous. Bam!
I understand the school investigating, but once they determined these were toys, and there was no physical threat, I believe they had no right to suspend these kids. Perhaps discuss with them how the photo came across.
These toys are legal, not dangerous, and the pictures were taken in their own homes. There was NO threat of violence whatsoever.
This falls under the real of suspending or expelling kids for owning water pistols, but in this case, it was in their OWN HOME.
This could hurt their college chances, and their future lives.
If I was their parent, I would fight this forever.
Karen – Facebook is a joke – if I had young kids still, I wouldn’t let them on it. I would find something else on line for them to go on.
@happypappies
The liberals just don’t see themselves the way they see others. Panic is wrong when conservatives do it, but the liberals don’t see what they do as panic. Neither do they see the meanness and hate that they spew. That is because they eschew normative values, such as lying being a sin, and replace it with their own personal morality of “lying is wrong when Republicans do it.” The same with race baiting. It was wrong when Lester Maddox did it, but not wrong when Rachel Maddox does it.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Okay, Squeeks and Annie, on reflection, this is what I think I think Liberals are Passive aggresive and then cry when they can’t take the heat because they are sorry, they don’t meeeaaaannn it. (lol)
And Conservatives are just Aggressive Sarcastic, “well, those 9/11 widows are just whinerss” Sarcasm Mean and biting but Sarcasm. Just like Limbaugh.
Now, this is the thing. We alllllll have a shadow. And we project it meaning that we have a super nice side that we don’t act out so super nice people make some of us sick and their defense mechanism is Passive aggression and then there are type A personalities that are extremely tough minded and say what they mean and use sarcasm as a venue and are very aggresive . Now, really nice people can’t stand people like this and will become passively aggressive like the Liberals do around the Conservatives.
I have been observing this for years on line and it took me a while to sort personalities out here because of a bit of my own cognitive dissonance. Meaning I see both sides 🙂
Just sayin
Happy, Melissa Harris-Perry apologized, in tears no less. She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body.The chuckles weren’t at the child, it was at the Romney’s who looked as if they used the child also as a prop.
Annie – not one mean bone at all – its okay to be mean to the Romneys but not the Kid? I don’t get it. I didn’t vote for him either. I voted for Gary Johnson.
Annie – ‘Not Mean’ Melissa Harris-Perry used the child as a prop to make a point. The ‘Not Mean’ Democrats and their whores in the MSM also attacked Trig Palin. Attacking the children of Republicans is a habit of Democrats and the MSM.
Rush Limbaugh didn’t spare Chelsea Clinton, did he?
Annie – how old was Chelsea Clinton?
lololool Get over Rushie – I live in his town and people take him serious like here. 🙂
@NickS
Thx! Sometimes I wrap my head in ice just for that reason. (Not because of too much tequila!)
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
I forgot to ask you Sqeeks, are you getting paid? If not, I can help you get on the Koch payroll.