Sunday, April 3, 2005

   oh what a beautiful morning . . . oh what a beautiful day . . .
Last night I had to force t-chan to watch Oklahoma and it was about half over at 3 in the AM (lol). Well, that's when she said that she was tired and wanted to go to bed already. But I think she said that to get out of watching anymore of it. We had just finished watching that long drawn-out scene where Laura figures out for herself that Jeb is not a nice man and that she wants Curly instead. (for everyone who's seen it) And we were getting into the party scene and into a fun (ish) song. At least, I like it. But in the end we decided to get some sleep. BUt I haven't seen that movie in such a long time and now I want to go back into the living room and see if it will be on again. Ever. Probably not.

But anyways . . . I did have a good day yesterday. I vegged in front of the T.V. all day and was wrapped up and warm. I also used that vegging time to write and wrote 10 handwritten pages. That is if you count notebook paper's front and back as one page. And I wrote a couple that is always so much fun to write. *grins* SO all in all the day was not a complete waste. . . . .

But here is an article I want all of you to read closely. I am doing a speech on the evils of the Zero-Tolerance Policy currently instated in schools (for my Oral Comm. class. Blech) so tell me what you think.



A Lesson for a Good Samaritan Honor Student
Twelve-year-old Christine Rhodes, an honor student at her Maryland middle school, is an asthmatic. Last April, while riding the school bus, Christine saw fellow student Brandy Dyer, also an asthmatic, began gasping for breath. Christine, fearing for Brandy's life, gave Brandy her prescription inhaler. Brandy's grateful mother believes Christine's action saved Brandy's life.
School officials, however, weren't pleased. The school's "zero tolerance" drug policy prohibits students from sharing medicine -- and what is saving a life compared to violating school policy? Because the incident took place on school property -- a school bus -- officials filed a report criticizing Christine for violating school drug regulations. The report will remain on file as long as she attends the school.
(Source: Reader's Digest, September 1998)


Twelve year old suspended, facing expulsion, for arguing with accused sexual harasser

Seventh-grader Megan Camacho, a student at Ethel Kucera Middle School in the Rialto School District, got into an oral argument with her teacher George Warren. She was suspended and now faces an expulsion. Megan was fed up by a pattern of sexual harassment by Warren and lost her temper.
Since Megan's accusation, other girls have come forward as well.
Megan said Warren also stared at girls' chests and bare legs. Warren is on paid administrative leave while the Rialto Unified School District investigates the claims.
...
Lydia Garcia said Warren would whistle and howl at her 12-year-old daughter.
...
Carlos Yvonne Malone said her daughter was sexually harassed by Warren two years ago as an eighth-grade student at Kucera.
Malone said her daughter, now 15, complained about Warren's behavior. Malone said Warren would rub her daughter's shoulders and back, making the girl uncomfortable.

Malone said she spoke to Warren about his behavior and he stopped touching her daughter but continued his behavior with other girls in her class.
Continue Reading Twelve year old suspended, facing expulsion, for arguing with accused sexual harasser »

Accusing a teacher of sexual harassment is a very serious thing. A false allegation can completely destroy somebody's career. The allegation immediately following an argument and scholastic punishment could be a spurious, revenge motivated action. However, with two other corroborating and unsolicited allegations being made there is simply no excuse for not taking them seriously. Instead, the school board is continuing its punishment program against Megan for her outburst at a teacher.
On Friday, Megan's parents learned that district officials plan to expel the girl. The Rialto school board is scheduled to vote on the recommendation at Wednesday's meeting.
...
Floyd Braggs, the district's director of administrative services, said he could not comment on the sexual-harassment accusation against Warren. He did say that the recommendation to expel Megan was based on evidence provided.

"The panel listened to both sides equally and the student was given due process,' Braggs said.

A panel of district administrators recommended expulsion, he said.
Why are they expelling Megan when they have not even determined if Warren is harassing his female students? Because it doesn't matter. Even if it is conclusively shown that he was actively sexually harassing Megan her outburst was against the rules and there is no place for compassion, reason or mitigating circumstances under scholastic zero tolerance.
Contact Information:
Rialto School Board email addresses.
Ethel Kucera Principal Dave Price


UPDATE 31 March 2005
Decision to expel girl upsets mother
Megan Camacho has been expelled from her school and her harrassment claim against Warren has been dismissed as having no merit.
Megan plans to attend another district school. She will be closely monitored. Megan can be removed from the district at any time if she behaves poorly. The expulsion will remain on her student record.
...
Syeda Jafri, a spokeswoman for the school district, said she could not comment on the accusations against Warren.

Jafri did say Warren remains on paid administrative leave because the district investigation has not been completed.
So the end result is a 12 year-old girl expelled for a single verbal argument with a teacher. Frightful.



Okay, I know that that was two articles. But aren't they both a disturbing representation of our school system's policies? There is another about a teenage boy who wrote a story for English about zombies invading a high school and he got arrested for it.
How pathetic is that? IF everything I wrote about destroying the school and blowing it up the day after graduation were sent to police would I be arrested too on those grounds?
Go to
ZeroIntelligence.net
if you want to read more. And there is a story about a suspension for bringing a laser pointer to school that I am reading right now. (10 points for multi-tasking!) Sickening.

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