Posted on 12/30/2010 8:29:42 AM PST by Kaslin
Zero tolerance common sense. UPDATE: School responds, I Google.
On its face, this looks like it’s an asinine decision which is probably the product of a culture that makes lawsuits possible in every breath we take. How else to explain what the school principal has done here? It’s either the school’s fear of a lawsuit, or a total lack of common sense among the school’s leadership, or there’s something we don’t know about all this that hasn’t shown up in the media reports. I’m not discounting that third possibility, but based on what we know from media reports, this is indefensible:
An athletic and academic standout in Lee County said a lunchbox mix-up has cut short her senior year of high school and might hurt her college opportunities.
Ashley Smithwick, 17, of Sanford, was suspended from Southern Lee High School in October after school personnel found a small paring knife in her lunchbox.
Smithwick said personnel found the knife while searching the belongings of several students, possibly looking for drugs.
“She got pulled into it. She doesn’t have to be a bad person to be searched,” Smithwick’s father, Joe Smithwick, said.
The lunchbox really belonged to Joe Smithwick, who packs a paring knife to slice his apple. He and his daughter have matching lunchboxes.
“It’s just an honest mistake. That was supposed to be my lunch because it was a whole apple,” he said.
Not only has Smithwick never been in trouble before, she has been taking college courses in advance of her high school graduation, indicating that she’s smart and responsible. Throw in the soccer skills, and she may be a lock for scholarships, and this suspension with the accompanying media attention obviously jeopardizes that.
News accounts all focus on the school superintendent, Jeff Moss, but by his own statement he didn’t actually make the decision here. School principal Bonnie Almond, who doesn’t show up in any of the news stories that I ran across, is the decider.
Darla Cole, the chief school resource officer in Lee County, told WRAL News she could not comment on the case.
Lee County Superintendent Jeff Moss told the Sanford Herald that he can’t discuss the specifics of the case, but school policy allows principals to consider the context of each case and determine discipline.
Moss said students who accidentally carry a weapon and report it to teachers will get a light punishment. If teachers find it, he said, the discipline is harsher.
So going by all that and the known facts in this case, if Smithwick had told the searcher about the knife ahead of time she would still have been punished, but lightly. Mitigating circumstance: Smithwick had no idea that the knife was in her lunchbox. She was evidently as surprised as anyone when it turned up. This demands ruining her senior year and jeopardizing her higher ed?
I’ve directly contacted the school principal, seeking an explanation for this decision. I’ll update when I hear back. And if I don’t hear back at all, I’ll update with that too. We’re in the midst of the holidays now, but these folks eventually have to show up for work and deal with what’s been done. The fact is, this is a public school so the principal is a public servant, and the public has a right to know what is driving this decision. The superintendent has taken the “my hands are tied” defense off the table.
Perhaps President Obama can call up the school to ask for a second chance…?
Update: I have not yet heard directly from the school principal, Bonnie Almond. But the superintendent, Jeff Moss, did issue a statement to WRAL TV, denying aspects of the Smithwick’s side of the story.
Lee County Schools Superintendent Jeff Moss said in a statement on Wednesday that the 3-inch-long knife was found in the teen’s purse, not her lunchbox. The search was conducted on Oct. 20 after a faculty member at the school discovered a student on campus with marijuana.
Moss also denied Smithwick’s claim that she was issued a long-term suspension over the incident.
“She is currently enrolled as a student at the school,” Moss said.
Not a bad statement, Mr. Moss, but it doesn’t stand up to much fact-checking. This photo shows the “purse” in question.
Note the logo on the side: BYO. A little time with Google reveals that that is a variation of the BYO Rambler Lunch Tote — by definition, a lunchbox, not a purse. Major retailers such as Office Depot and Kohl’s carry the “stylish alternative to a brown bag,” and obviously they’re available online for about 10 bucks. So the Smithwicks’ story holds up against Moss’ statement on this point.
As for Mr. Moss’ statement that Miss Smithwick is still enrolled at the school, that’s probably true and also irrelevant. A student can be enrolled and suspended at the same time. Iirc, being suspended doesn’t remove a student’s name from the rolls. It takes expulsion to get a student’s name removed, and all the reports indicate suspension, not expulsion. The question isn’t whether she’s enrolled, but whether she’s allowed to attend classes, and whether she’s banned from setting foot on campus, as she claims. Mr. Moss’ statement addresses neither.
As to why the search was conducted in the first place, I hope Mr. Moss isn’t playing games by bringing up the allegation that another student’s being caught with pot triggered the search that led to Smithwick’s suspension. Catching kids with drugs unfortunately happens frequently on school campuses, triggering searches of other students’ belongings. That has been true for decades. It doesn’t speak directly to why Smithwick was suspended, though.
So on the two direct responses Mr. Moss presents in his statement, he loses. And we still haven’t heard directly from the principal who made this decision at all. Why?
(hat tip to Bob Owens on the school’s response)
well the world is a safer place now /s
Stories stink!
This just reinforces my feeling that I would home school my children today...crazy stuff before, but this is all out of control.
Schools are out of control, and that’s just the way the Obama regime likes it. How else do you lull working parents to sleep so they cause as little hassle as possible while you indoctrinate the kiddos in global warming, compliance thinking and cooperating with others as the top three principles to worship.
Every so often the tyrants overplay their hand as enforcers will. Parents are all working now, and basically too pooped to parent, not to mention causing any resistance whatsoever to the dang curriculum. And church on Sunday...out of the question. Too pooped.
Schools are out of control, and that’s just the way the Obama regime likes it. How else do you lull working parents to sleep so they cause as little hassle as possible while you indoctrinate the kiddos in global warming, compliance thinking and cooperating with others as the top three principles to worship.
Every so often the tyrants overplay their hand as enforcers will. Parents are all working now, and basically too pooped to parent, not to mention causing any resistance whatsoever to the dang curriculum. And church on Sunday...out of the question. Too pooped.
what the heck? What am I doing to cause double posts? Sorry. Again!
Sounds in favor of the girl so far....but I have one question. If the Dad and she had matching lunch bags and thus the mix-up, I can’t see Dad carrying that bag to work. The only thing that I can think of is that there is a brown paper bag inside and that is what the Dad was meant to have. ?????
If I were a student there, I’d be tempted to get the entire student body to bring in a paring knife. I have zero tolerance for the superintendent’s weasely words. Next stop: school board.
Confidential to Bryan Preston: if writing for a national audience, it is helpful if somewhere in the story you mention in which of the 57 states the incident occurred.
I remember when I quoted this axiom to a principal after a similar (but much less severe) incident put my daughter in jeopardy.
"But we must have rules and the children must abide them" she retorted.
"Unreasoning rules are unreasonable rules and not worth respecting" I replied. You have determined that you lack the fundamental ability to use your brain and your judgment to apply common sense to the kids you are supposed to be shepherding, and instead want to jam them through the cookie-cutter. And then you wonder why your results are so poor and your reputation is even poorer."
I hope the parents of this kid can find a way to get her out of the deadhead school she is currently incarcerated in, and into a more prosperous situation.
That's exactly what would have happened at my HS back in the day.
In fact, I remember something similar did happen. Go ahead. Kick us all out. Your funding is based on attendance.
FOAD, Nanny State Thugs.
Yet another reason why our publicly funded schools should be run on a pure voucher system.
The district caved and the superintendant announced her resignation shortly afterwards.
I believe the email campaign and the outpouring of public support and sympathy for the student along with hate mail and pressure accomplished much.
Since my kids were actual students at the high school the principal and the SI were bound by policy to respond to my personal emails in support of the student in question.
I did not hold back and the principal has not spoken to me since but mission accomplished.
So can a credit card...or a key.
The nuts are running the world.....
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