http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,584933,00.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a16:g2:r3:c0.244461:b30271334:z0 This is just so inappropriate, in my opinion. This 12 year old should not have been put in hand cuffs and hauled away in a police car for writing on her desk. The article says that she said the writing was erasable. I think the only thing that should have been done was she should have been told to clean it up, don't do it again, or you will spend a little time staying after doing some cleaning up of the room or something else that fits the horrible "crime" she committed. Can you believe what she wrote on her desk !?!? "Lex was here 2/1/10" . She also wrote "I love my friends Abby and Faith." This clearly shows what a criminal she is. LOL I really do not trust the judgment of so many people involved in the p.s. system. Also, what's up with a police officer who will put a 12 year old girl in handcuffs because she wrote on a desk ? I find it so hard to believe, that it does make me wonder if there is not more to the story than just her writing on the desk. If it's the full story, that is just too strange.
Hmm! Interesting! Do I think the girl should have been arrested for "just" writing on the desk? I think not. Then my mind wonders to people who are arrested for vandalism or putting graffiti on the walls of buildings, bathroom stalls, and whatever they feel like writing on in order to leave their mark. It is considered destruction of property. This article really makes me think. Where do we draw the line? Is it a lesser crime because it was a desk and not somebody's fence or a store wall? Is it a lesser crime because there wasn't permanent damage? Should we allow those who write on store fronts get away with a simple punishment as long as the paint or pins they use can be washed off and do not cause permanent damage? Should this girl be allowed to get away with what a person on the streets would be arrested for simply because they are on the streets and not at a school desk? If this was the same girl writing on a store window with her same marker, should she be arrested then? Very interesting indeed. Thanks for posting. This has really got my mind thinking. LOL By the way, my questions are rhetorical. Basically they are the questions going through my brain. They aren't meant for anybody specifically.
I am unsure about this actually. From my experience, the public schools tend to be quite undisciplined and then only lash out on the victim of something going on there if they or their parents try to defend them. I am going to reserve judgement on this. But honestly, she was not supposed to write on the desks. I don't know all that happened, but we KNOW she was breaking the rules and we don't really know everything else I am suspecting. On the other hand, the school may have been going after her for some reason, like she had special needs or she has been a target of bullies so her parents complained or something.
I will say that my son was way overpunished for stuff when he was being bullied and the principal would do nothing about it so I complained. If I learned nothing else about the public schools, I learned it has little to do with education or the kids and all to do satisfying the employees of the school, mostly the administration, and playing their political games and not rocking their happy wealthy boats (our admins earn $300K and up, the info is public information).
I do not think she should be allowed to write on her desk, but I don't think that a 12 year old doodling on her desk is the same as someone painting on a fence or other property. Oftentimes, marks with paint on property outside is gang related and a way of marking territory and is associated with violence. She could be told to stop doodling on the desk and doodle on a piece of paper instead. In my mind, arresting her for this shows a lack of common sense by whoever had her arrested.
Yes, in my mind, a bored 12 year old sitting at her desk doodling innocent remarks like "I Love My Friends..." is not the same at all as a violent gangster that wants to incite violence from other gangs and will cause thousands of dollars of damage to property with paint. If I were a store owner and this little girl wrote silly notes about how she loves her friends on my store window all I would do is hand her something with to clean it up and say "Clean up your writing please." But why would I want her arrested? Do I think her writing that she loves her friends is going to attract gun toting gangsters to my store to shoot at each other or are other 12 year olds going to start writing notes about loving their friends on my window too ? Her actions are way different than a vandal that leaves gangster graffiti. It all just seems so silly and over the top to me.
I also think it was way overblown, but the questions are very valid ones. Not all graffiti on walls, etc., are gang related. We had a young man at our church who did incredible "art work" on walls because he was bored, and he knew he was talented. Fortunately, someone got hold of him and was able to redirect his talent. For one thing, he was paid to paint a wall on an indoor basketball court.
I absolutely agree, Jackie. Not all graffiti is gang related. I work at the Welfare office and the bathrooms are vandalized with Patty loves Handsome(LOL! Just using us as an example), Handsome is fine, call me for a good time, Patty was here, and then we have those faithful curse words that aren’t directed at anybody specific and of course we have gang tagging. So no, all graffiti, defacing, or whatever we call it is gang related. Security at the Welfare office calls the police faithfully when they catch people writing on the walls of the bathroom. Even if it isn’t always gang related it is still a crime. Should a person be arrested for writing Patty loves Handsome on the bathroom walls? Personally I think they should be. This is where I become torn. Do I believe the girl should have been arrested. As stated in my other post, not at all. But I can’t help questioning what is the difference between her and other vandals. Where I live people do draw beautiful art on walls and the sides of underpasses. There is sometimes beautiful paintings along the walls of the aqueducts. Yet if caught, the people are arrested, minors and adults. I am having a difficult time viewing this young girls defacing as simple doodling. It was done with purpose. She wrote out a simple but nonetheless thought out sentence, “Lex was here 2/1/10", and "I love my friends Abby and Faith." Again, where is the line? This is where I keep getting stuck.
Interesting. I live in a small town, but do drive into larger nearby cities, but I guess I have not paid enough attention to their graffiti. What I have been aware of has been gang related graffiti. But there probably is the other types you all have mentioned. Still, it seems too harsh to me to put a 12 year old girl in hand cuffs and arrest her for something so trivial as doodling on a desk top. But then, if she were my daughter, she wouldn't be in p.s. with them making the decisions about her. In my opinion, public school employees do NOT make good parents, and I think children need a parent, not a detached adult, directing them through the day and helping to build their character. They should be in the care of someone who loves them, which does not equal a p.s. employee. They will need to be in the world making their way soon enough, and someone who loves them is better equipped to shape their characters than someone that does not who makes decisions based on their own convenience. I should add that I do not think that all teachers are detached from their students and have no love for them. I have met a few people who I think are wonderful p.s. teachers. I do think that there are plenty of teachers that are very hard on students and are not good for them.
Well I live in a town that is close to a large town and see graffiti all the time. I have to say some of it is rather nice. They do good work. they need to put there work some where else though. Now on to the girl writing on the desk? Something is miss or I am lost. I seen kids do worst. Has to be alot more to the story then what is out. Like she's been told before or done other things. Or was she writing answer down for test there could be lots of things that were left out.
It's hard to believe that the school and the police would arrest a 12 year old for writing on a desk. The Mom and girl are on a video through Fox news saying they were told it's vandalism and they "had" to arrest her for writing on the desk. That is just mean and vindictive to treat a 12 year old that way. But that is how much sense the p.s. people have, or I should say don't have.They don't care anything about having these kids respect them do they. Writing on a desk is not respectful but it is not mean or vindictive like they treated her. If it were me I would be pulling my daughter out of there (but really she wouldn't have been at that p.s. in the first place) and calling a lawyer. They really should be sued over this and forced to think twice about treating a student that way.
I agree that what the child did was wrong...but the schools reaction was wrong also. Our children are so out of control that thier teachers who must spend 6 + hours a day with them, don't feel comfortable taking Suzie out and saying. "you may wash the desk you defaced now, and you can come in a lunch and wash the lunch tables and after school for the rest of the week you will stay for 1 hour and work with the janitors fixing all the desks etc. that get damaged during the day." They were probably afraid the parents would have a cow and come rushing in...flaming swords etc. But who argues with the police?? (well homeschool moms, but we are weird eh?)
The teachers don't have the authority to do that anymore. While teachers are "protected" by the teacher's union (the ONLY good thing about the union!), principals aren't. And the principals have to play a political game with the school board that has hired them. So very few of the principals will back up the teachers. If a teacher sends a student to the office for an offence (and 90% of punishment must go through the office!), the principal (or rather, the vice-principal in charge of "discipline") slaps the student's hand and sends him back to class.
If it was my child i would be headed to the nearest lawyers office and would have had lawsuit on the administration's desk by 3 pm the next day. Punishment definitely did not fit the "crime" and would not be sending my child back to that hostile environment. That child will now face charges that will remain on her record until she turns 18.
So true! Imagine what a great and safe place our schools would be if teachers still had authority and the respect of their students. These days minors do not even respect their parents, let alone the authorities. Why would they respect the teacher? Our culture has gone down the drain in more ways than one. That is for certain!:? I think the dynamics of this whole situation are so much more than just the police being big meanies for arresting a "little girl" for doodling on her desk. There is a complete lack of respect for property on the girls part. A complete lack of control and ability to discipline in our schools. So perhaps, right or wrong, our schools have to pull out the big guns in order to have order in the schools. Yes? No? Maybe so!:lol: Interesting to say the least.
I think it is just silly....... make her stay after school and clean ALL the desks (that's what we would have to do)...now even though it's juvie -she has something on her record if it holds up. Believe it or not a COLLEGE can and may look at that!! Is that fair?? No I don't think so....
