13y.o. Suspended Over "alleged assault with a rubber band"

[Kennedy 0]

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050223/BREAKINGNEWS/50223002

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Florida boy accused of assault with rubber band
February 23, 2005
13-year-old suspended 10 days after confrontation with teacher

A 13-year-old student in Orange County, Fla., was suspended for 10 days and could be banned from school over an alleged assault with a rubber band, according to a WKMG Local 6 News report.

Robert Gomez, a seventh-grader at Liberty Middle School, said he picked up a rubber band at school and slipped it on his wrist.

Gomez said when his science teacher demanded the rubber band, the student said he tossed it on her desk.

After the incident, Gomez received a 10-day suspension for threatening his teacher with what administrators say was a weapon, Local 6 News reported.

"They said if he would have aimed it a little more and he would have gotten it closer to her face he would have hit her in the eye," mother Jenette Rojas said.

Rojas said she was shocked to learn that her son was being punished for a Level 4 offense -- the highest Level at the school. Other violations that also receive level 4 punishment include arson, assault and battery, bomb threats and explosives, according to the Code of Student Conduct.

The district said a Level 4 offense includes the use of any object or instrument used to make a threat or inflict harm, including a rubber band.

Rojas plans to fight the ruling but her son still faces expulsion.

"It's ridiculous, it's a rubber band," Rojas said.

The school's principal could not comment because the case is still under investigation.

A district spokesman said there is still a series of meetings the district will have before Gomez is officially expelled.

witty subliminal message
Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards.
1*

[nacmacfeegle 0]

Ridi-fukn-iculous....
Unless there is more to the story than is being reported.

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He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

[mnealtx 0]

Ah, the 'zero-tolerance' idiots strike again, I see....

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[white_falcon 0]

You know something is SERIOUSLY wrong with a country that Suspends a kid for threatening bodily harm with a rubber band, but lets a murderer walk on a technicality.

sheeeeesh



scott

[pajarito 0]

I'm not saying the kid might not have been out of order (but hey...he's a kid for crying out loud), but I think the teacher needs to be suspended for not being able to handle her class. To a degree, if you're going to teach 13 year olds, you'd better expect them to act like 13 year olds and be able to deal with them appropriately. This is absolutely ridiculous. It's nothing that most of us here haven't done.

[christelsabine 1]

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I'm not saying the kid might not have been out of order (but hey...he's a kid for crying out loud), but I think the teacher needs to be suspended for not being able to handle her class. To a degree, if you're going to teach 13 year olds, you'd better expect them to act like 13 year olds and be able to deal with them appropriately. This is absolutely ridiculous. It's nothing that most of us here haven't done.

Agreed whole-heartedly.

dudeist skydiver # 3105

[unformed 0]

Jesus fucking christ. At worst, this kid should be made to sit in the corner with a Dunce hat. We used to beat the shit out of each other for shits and giggles.

This ad space for sale.

[Kennedy 0]

Just one more bit of evidence in the ever growing mountain of proof that

ZERO TOLERANCE = ZERO INTELLIGENCE

witty subliminal message
Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards.
1*

[freethefly 6]

I use to get the worst beatings of my life from teachers with paddles when I was a child back in the 60's. I have harboured deep hatred for any nazi like authority ever since. The goosestepping nazi mentality from then has found a new outlet through paranoia of childern with rubberbands. Remember they use to beat childern within inches of certian death for just talking in class. Now that beating childern is no longer in vogue, giving them a record seems to be the in thing. Why not get fingerprints and DNA early and they could then be more easier tracked. From shooting rubberbands to spitballs can be a very serious thing so I can see the need for DNA samples so to identify the spitball shooters of the future. Forget the fact that they demand that childern bring a very sharp item to class everyday and throughout the day teachers constantly remind the childern, the very childern they so fear and loath, to keep that item sharp. Hell, ban the pencil and give them chalk if so afraid.

"...And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black."
Neil Young

[rehmwa 2]

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You know something is SERIOUSLY wrong with a country that Suspends a kid for threatening bodily harm with a rubber band, but lets a murderer walk on a technicality.

Like the "COUNTRY" suspended the kid. sheeeesh

Freethefly - likely the zero tolerance types are the ones that hated getting paddled by the teachers. A whole different, almost opposite, mentality is driving this zero tolerance thing. If they allowed paddling like they used to, then likely this paranoia by the teachers wouldn't be as bad.

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[ryoder 1,590]

It needs to go even further. It's high time we put a seven-day waiting period on purchase of rubber bands. Also we need a ban of "assault" rubber bands; You know what I'm talking about; Those big ugly rubber bands that have no sporting purpose. And don't try to tell me they're needed for packing tandems, because I've heard that excuse before.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[white_falcon 0]

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[]

Like the "COUNTRY" suspended the kid. sheeeesh

If you didn't understand what I meant, then its not even worth explaining.



scott

[rehmwa 2]

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If you didn't understand what I meant, then its not even worth explaining.

That I do agree with. Don't take it personal, scott, it's the general concept that throws me off.

fake intellectual quasi-position trying to make this a more complex issue than it really is by picking on some type of establishment rather than the individual cases. It's a form of stereotyping in which a certain crowd of people stand around and make statements like this and they all nod their heads and act sympathetic to each other - wallowing in their superiority over the rest of the 'unenlightened'.

I'd rather bust on the individuals who are doing these exceptional (by 'exception' I mean out of the ordinary, not commendable) and that's something we can control.

I really don't know which specific individual you are talking about that got off a murder charge, but if truly guilty, that would be a tragedy too of an entirely different scale than just ruining a young man's educational record. (innocent vs guilty compare to guilty vs innocent)

By attributing it to some vast "country" or "culture" or "system" or "government" is just an exercise in claiming futility in life. It's rather depressing, really.

I suspect you're far from depressed though, my above is just a gross generalization which I like to rail against by writing gross generalizations.

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[Buried 0]

what is this world coming to?!?

Where is my fizzy-lifting drink?

[rehmwa 2]

Quote

It needs to go even further. It's high time we put a seven-day waiting period on purchase of rubber bands. Also we need a ban of "assault" rubber bands; You know what I'm talking about; Those big ugly rubber bands that have no sporting purpose. And don't try to tell me they're needed for packing tandems, because I've heard that excuse before.

I'd rather the thread go down this route. Funny sarcasm that.

Perhaps we could just put band locks on them so that kids can't use them and they can be restricted to adult use for hunting food and keeping rolls of paper from unrolling unexpectedly - thus causing severe paper cuts. This will of course require training and licensing - best administrated by the 9th circuit.

Then, how dangerous is a handful of sharpened pencils wrapped by a rubberband?

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[freethefly 6]

I think the zero tolerance type enjoyed the swoosh and smack of a firm piece of lumber in the hand of the sadistic neo-she-nazi type teacher that I ofton had way back then. It wasn't untill high school that I would get a teacher that would make a dead man stand up. I blame her for my poor math grade.
With all the paddling that I got in class thirty years ago I am still prone to acting out violently.
Saturday at the DZ I did in fact shoot several people with rubberbands. Most were seriously injured and had to be airlifted out for emergency medical attention. I was arrested, tried by a jury of my own peers and given a paddling by a sadistic neo-she-nazi type teacher. To tell the truth I have somewhat become accustom to the paddling and eagerly await the next. THANK YOU, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER!! ZERO TOLERANCE!! THANK YOU, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER!!

"...And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black."
Neil Young

[rehmwa 2]

nice - thanks

ahhh, this could be such a happy place with the right mixture sarcasm, humor and self deprecation

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[christelsabine 1]

I blame her for my poor math grade.

[JohnRich 4]

Not to worry though - the Supreme Court just banned the execution of minors, so the kid is safe.

I'm sure glad I didn't have this particular teacher when I hid that crawfish in the teacher's desk drawer back in 5th grade...