http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/bizarre/boy-13-busted-illegal-marker-possession
Americans explain yourselves.
Americans explain yourselves.
Someone could have gotten killed. Those markers are dangerous.
Without knowing much about the situation its hard to make a judgement call. Apparently the school has huge problems with grafitti and sharpies are considered contraband. The teacher asked for the contraband, the student refused, and she went to the police. Police seem like a bit overkill to me, but hey, maybe no other form of discipline could drill anything into that kids head.
There is obviously more to the story. Good for the teacher that she knew her civil rights (and how to execute them).
I imagine this is some major behavioral issue that has spiraled out of control.
Kid challenges teacher in front of class, loses and cries to the press over the ridiculous situation.
Listen, I realize the issue is ridiculous, but sometimes we need to give the teachers the benefit of the doubt.
...Like the guy who hit the kid on the bus that time. Those damn kids had it coming, and if it would have been my kid, I would have knocked his damn block off when he got home.
I would only be outraged if he was arrested for drinking PBR.
I don't know if this applies for sure but..
Sharpies are used to tag by gangs. Certain colors are used by certain gangs etc.
There has probably been a tagging/gang problem at the school and they are trying to clean it up. The student became defensive and refused to give up the sharpie also points to possible gang involvement.
FREEEEEEEEEEEDOM!!!!!!!! haha oh please!
Teachers unions must be stopped at all costs!!!!
The issue is really that our PC society won't allow us to eliminate the real problem. There are worthless thugs running around the school "tagging" things with their gang colors. Instead of dealing with the thugs, we ban the sharpies. These people are nothing more than animals and I don't see why we can't put them down just like a dog that's out of control. They aren't going to amount to anything. Ever. And we will continue spending money punishing them for their entire lives instead of just taking care of things up front.
Exactly. The first defense for the thugs is racism because they know it will back the heat off of them.
Administration knows that if the parents complain and the media gets hold of it they are screwed.
Beano wrote:
I don't know if this applies for sure but..
Sharpies are used to tag by gangs. Certain colors are used by certain gangs etc.
There has probably been a tagging/gang problem at the school and they are trying to clean it up. The student became defensive and refused to give up the sharpie also points to possible gang involvement.
This is correct. If you read the comments, someone who claims to be another teacher at that school posts some of the background. Gangs have been tagging the school and in the past it has taken the entire summer to clear it all up. They made some changes which have drastically reduced this, but it still happens. One of the comments indicates that the sooner they remove the tagging the quicker they control the area again. Taking away the permanent marker appears in this light to be a preventative measure to stop the graffiti before it starts.
As for the police officer, apparently the teacher merely reported the incident to the office. The school has a permanent on-duty police officer (which in itself speaks volumes of the situation there) who was sent to arrest the student.
I could've sworn I was reading an article from The Onion. It makes sense in the context of the gang/graffiti problem, but the article just talks about the teacher's facebook page liking sharpie markers (that's bizarre) and even has an image of the police report with names blacked out (using what one would presume to be a sharpie)
No I'm not going to give the teachers the benefit of the doubt. This kid is going to juvi. His life is OVER now. Because of a Sharpie marker, in Oklahoma city? I don't know how long it's been since you were at a middle school, but I was at one recently, and by god I must have been walking around with a bag over my head because I didn't see any gangs conspiring to take down the teachers. This was a disgruntled, tenured, bitch using an obscure rule to get rid of a kid she didn't like. And maybe he was a jackass. But maybe he wasn't.
This makes me want to quit teaching. I hope something terrible happens to her. Honestly, I do, she is worse than a criminal.
Here is her email. I suggest you email her and let her know how horrible of person she is. I have.
wildcow wrote:
I could've sworn I was reading an article from The Onion. It makes sense in the context of the gang/graffiti problem, but the article just talks about the teacher's facebook page liking sharpie markers (that's bizarre) and even has an image of the police report with names blacked out (using what one would presume to be a sharpie)
Yeah, I had the same impression. It almost could have been an Onion article.
I decided to look up the ordinance:
§ 35-200. - Spray paint restrictions for minors.
(a)
Prohibited conduct:
(1)
no person shall sell to any person under the age of 18 years and no minor shall buy any spray paint capable of defacing property unless such minor is accompanied by a parent or a guardian.
(2)
no person shall sell or offer for sale any spray paint without requiring the purchaser to provide bona fide evidence of majority and identity.
(3)
no person or firm may sell, deliver or give or cause to be sold, delivered or given to any person under the age of 18 years, and no person under the age of 18 years may buy any aerosol spray paint container or broad-tipped indelible markers. Evidence that a person, his or her employee, or agent demanded and was shown acceptable evidence of majority and acted upon such evidence in a transaction of sale shall be a defense to any prosecution under this subsection.
(b)
All persons who own, manage or operate a place of business wherein spray paint capable of defacing property is sold shall conspicuously post at the place of display of the spray paint for sale and at the place of sale (cash register) a sign in letters at least one-half inch in height which states, "Spray Paint Shall Not Be Sold To Minors."
(c)
Any person who is 18 years or older who shall give, trade, or otherwise provide to any minor any spray paint used in the actual application of graffiti or defacement of property shall be guilty of a Class "a" offense and shall upon conviction be punished as set out in Section 1-6 of this Code. This subsection does not apply to the transfer of an aerosol spray paint container or broad-tipped indelible marker from a parent to child, guardian to ward, employer to employee, teacher to student or in any other similar relationship when such transfer is for proper purpose.
I wonder who helped him get the marker. Maybe he or another gang member shoplifted it, or an older gang member bought it. Maybe he got it from home. Perhaps he went out of the city (or maybe even the state) to purchase it. Who's to say?
Truly two mindless dolts!Will you hold his parents accountable? After all he was warned and did not listen. Isn't their responsibility to send a child to school that knows and obeys policy?Naw why do that when you can hammer the person that gets stuck day in and day out dealing with problems useless parents create.
J.R. wrote:
teacher wrote:This makes me want to quit teaching. I hope something terrible happens to her. Honestly, I do, she is worse than a criminal.
Thank goodness there are some teachers who don't condone such abuse of children by adults.
What is the problem exactly? The kid broke a well-known rule (NOT obscure!) and refused to cooperate with the person in charge of upholding rules. What would you have the teacher do? Let the kid carry on as before?
And to the idiot who blamed the teacher for ruining the kids life where is the student's responsibility? He's going to juvi because he deserves to. Hopefully, this example will prevent others from going down a similar road.
Some of the posters need to visit places outside the suburbs. Go spend a week volunteering at an inner-city secondary school and get back with us.
A normal middle school student who violated the policy would have surrendered the sharpie. A gang member would not. They hold on to their colors even when threatened by police. Surrendering their colors is seen as disrespectful and weak to other gang members.
Go ask a gang member to give up a gang affiliated hat, bandanna, sharpie, or other object. See how far you get with that simple request.
This has as much to do with disrespect by the average student in america today as it does about gang behavior. I don't know about other states, but even here in CT, the majority of schools have a school "resource officer", ie police presence. This is not just in inner city schools. These officers deal with a host of problems, but spend the majority of their time dealing with students who refuse to follow basic directions.
For those of you who have not been in an american school in awhile....this ain't Leave it to Beaver, Dobie Gillis or Ozzie and Harriet. Things have changed and you're not going to need shades for the future.