Posted on 09/21/2006 5:44:48 AM PDT by laotzu
A fake web page on the website, myspace.com, has some Northside ISD students in legal trouble, News 4 WOAI learned Wednesday. The teens are accused of using the site to spread malicious rumors about their vice principal.
The vice principal is taking the students to court, News 4 WOAI learned.
On Clark High School's web page, a picture of Assistant Principal Anna Draker has been removed. According to Draker’s attorney, a couple of students doctored her pictures and posted them on myspace.com.
The civil lawsuit claims a couple of students who Draker disciplined retaliated by filing the myspace page. The web page was filled with lewd, defamatory and obscene comments, pictures and graphics, according to the suit.
The students even attacked the assistant principal's sexuality by posting false rumors, Draker’s attorney said. The suit claims Draker has been harassed by others accessing the web page.
Assistant Principal Draker is also suing the students parents, suggesting they have a duty to supervise the teens, according to court papers.
Good for her. So many kids these days are unsupervised and out of control. Where are the parents?
My thinking is being consistant with current federal laws. Anyone under the age of 18 can not enter into or be bound by a contract. Upon entering MySpace or other websites a contractural agreement is made between host and users. If user is under age 18, no contract agreement can be made or enforced, hence, no violation regardless of posting content. Case dismissed!
Thin skinned. You've gotta expect things like this when your smart-ass, spoiled, unappreciative children publically slander someone who is a valued, and appreciated part of society.
It is guys like the VP that undercut the parent's authority. Schools supply internet access with computers in the libraries and classrooms. Smack the kid for disobeying a direct parental order to stay off the internet and the schools call the cops. Of course, the parent may never know if the kid is on the internet. All a parent can really do is shut down access at home and chain the kid to the house.
Myspace, Facebook and other sites of this type are routinely blocked at schools. To access these sites the students must do so from home, not the school.
As far as whether or not the parents know if the kid is on the internet.....it's pretty easy to block sites even at home--it can be done from the service provider, password, and/or direct blocking software. The parent can also check the history to see if the kid has gotten through. It takes some vigilance, but it can be done.
I'm sorry, I don't agree with that. My husband and I decided to homeschool our children after elementary school. Last year, on a field trip with my fourth grader, I was absolutely amazed and appalled at the mean, vindictive, bullying of the students in his class. The girls as well as the boys were out of control. I witnessed one child tell my son not to speak to him or he would hit him. When I addressed his behavior, he lied to me and the teacher.
I spoke to the teachers about it. My son was bullied quite a lot. The teacher said she'd sent kids to the office, had the counselor in to talk to the kids, and tried to contact the parents. The parents of the worse students didn't return phone calls, come to conferences, or respond to notes. In talking to the teachers I learned fifth grade was even worse. Needless to say, I pulled my son early.
My point is, there are parents out there who are concerned about their children and those that aren't. I know from experience you can't be with your kids all the time, and they will make poor choices. They must be disciplined and taught not to do these things. My concern is the mean-spirited nature of a lot of kids and the way they go about tearing others down when they get in their way or feel they have been slighted.
Your boy is a momma's boy. I feel sorry for him, fatso.
Wow.
Don't concur. First when real disciplinary power was taken away from the schools, it forced things like this into the courts.
Second, it is because she is in a position of authority that she shouldn't tolerate this kind of crap. Teenagers must always learn that they can't commit unacceptable adult acts and get disciplined as children. Its a tough lesson every kid gets growing up, I had mine, but ignoring this would be irresponsible and dereliction of her duties to the school and these kids.
You sir are an ass.
"Your boy is a momma's boy"
Maybe, maybe not. You couldn't possibly know. But what you CAN know is that this Real Mom has already surpassed your own Mothers accomplishments wrt YOU and parenting, which explains your gratuitous and malicious attack.
YOU, small sir, seem to be the proverbial motherless child.
The parents should use the kids college funds for the thousands of dollars in lawyers' fees this will cost. Make the punishment fit the crime and let these geniuses work their way through college. They'll find out how smart they really are.
Old fart alert:
In my high school which was run by priests, many of whom were POWs as military chaplains in WW2, behavior of that type was treated with a thorough ass-kicking and no complaints from the parents.
"My son was bullied quite a lot."
My son's school spent a week on "anti-bullying", which included reading and doing a book report with a homosexual theme (that is the real agenda of the anti-bullying campaign).
I had a meeting with the teacher over the book and she tried to blow it off as being nothing and that the "anti-bullying" was very important. I told her I taught my son there were only two things he needs to know about bullies, that is, if he's bullied to haul off and knock the tar out of the bully. The other thing was if I ever heard he bullied anyone I'd knock his block off.
You remind me of the guy I ended punching in the nose in 7th grade so he would stop threatening me with violence.
"I will call the WAAAAMbulance.
Your boy is a momma's boy. I feel sorry for him, fatso."
Why don't you do the world a favor and keep your foolish outbursts to yourself. Loser.
I agree that you, sir, are a complete ass.
What is your major malfunction?
Yes this should be expected, but it should not be accepted. Kids will be kids no doubt, but it's up to parents to teach them what is acceptable and what is not. Retailiating against discipline is NOT acceptable. Since teachers can't spank, can't stand them in corners, etc. etc. what other recourse do they have then to take them to court. I've always believed if parents had to start "paying" for under age childrens bad behavior they would be more apt to make the little darlings behave.
Becky
Sounds a lot like what I've told MY boys. In fact, it sounds EXACTLY like what I've told my boys.
Regards,
PS: I'd also hand them their heads if they ever did anything like what the little darlings in the story did, too.
Children can commit torts.
IMO, parents ALLOWED the public educators to circumvent their authority. I don't blame the principle at all for going after the parents.
Becky
What really caught my attention last year was when the teacher contacted me and told me my son had punched a child. She didn't see it, so there wasn't anything that could be done about it; the other child told her the day after it happened. I talked to my son about it and he said the other child pushed him, he pushed back, the kid pushed again, and my son punched him. We've always taught the boys, walk away from words, if they touch you, have at it. We will never get after them for self-defense. My son is a very fun loving, easy going child. We were all shocked to learn he hit this kid, but hey, we know he listens.
Why the personal attack?
Most schools will block sites like Myspace.
We belong to an institution where kids would do this sort of thing regularly. The director's response was, "What can we do?" We actually found that we could report the situation to MySpace and they would take action.
So many people don't understand that it is the adults' job to run the world and the kids' job to be run.
Shalom.
This happened in Texas. When I was there most, if not all, ISDs supported parental authority and partnered with parents to educate the children.
Shalom.
Amen. Too many parents allow their children to run the family, to the detriment of the children. Let the parents be the adult and the kids be the children.
That is exactly what I have taught my sons and daughter. They know I will not tolerate bullies but I will defend anyone who sticks up for themselves.
This could be a ground-breaking case! Maybe every other person who has a fake site up about them can sue someone! Wow! I need to find someone to make a fake site about me so I can get offended by something pointless and sue them and get rich!
This case tells a lot more about the kids than it does the Vice-Principal. If they are capable of what is described in this post, they are kids who are out of control. I notice that this was their reaction to being disciplined. So already they must have been creating some problems.
A fake site about you isn't going to be quite the same as a fake and defamatory and slanderous one about the Vice-Principal of a school.
I see you are recently out of high school yourself.
Does your post indicate that you hold the actions of these kids as just an innocent prank?
This case is prima facia evidence of the attitudes that are created by the liberals running the school systems. They created these students in their own image, and now they are teaching them that they can also sue them because they "offended" them in the process.
Just remember, these students will be the leaders of your community in a few years, regardless of your take on this case.
"regardless of your take"
I'm not sure you are sure of my take on this.
As for the schools--they have been a problem for 40-50 years now. But so have parents. All I have to do is look around me--in the neighborhoods, around the local school grounds, in the malls and on the streets.
I have raised kids of my own and have had all kinds of experiences of having kids in schools.
The right training begins at home, and SHOULD continue at school, with parents working closely with the schools and making aboslutely sure that they are involved and that they have some clout about what goes on in their kid's school.
Of course, this is the ideal and unfortunately, this hasn't happened, nor has it even come close.
There certainly is a need for parent accountability. I see that as a vital part of the picture.
I am basically a contractor. I was contacted by a community college about teaching a class that they could not find a qualified "teacher" for. I informed the director of student services that there would be guidelines in the classes, there would be a grade scale, and that there would be a dress code, and there would be a code of conduct and he gets all red in the face and begins blurting about students rights. I figure that those who can do, and those who cant teach. Since I am one who does, and not one who teaches, I bid him AMF.
Oh, I forgot to add, that is why I said regardless. I dont care what your take is, it doesnt matter. Regardless of whose "fault" this is, all the finger pointing in the world is not going to change the fact that the kids from that school will be running for city council some day, holding community positions, and telling the people in their communities of San Antonio how they should be living their lives. If that doesnt scare some common sense into the people of the community, then they will have to live with what they have created.
Geez, settle down. Discipline is one thing, lawsuits are something entirely different.
Do you live in one of those "no children allowed" communities?
So vice principals don't have the power to impose after school detention or in-school suspension any more? No more "write 500 times" assignments?
Going to the lawsuit level on this is just silly and a waste of valuable court time.
There's detention, suspension, and expulsion. The article does not mention whether or not the parents were even contacted before it got to this level. Again, making this a lawsuit is just plain silly and a waste of the court's time.
In school, I was always terrified of my principals. I had a healthy respect because I knew if anything happened at school, my parents would give me a double dose of trouble when I got home. My children now know that this is mine and my husband's philosophy, but sadly not as many children have this healthy respect taught to them. Fortunately we are in a school district that has high parent participation and very good principals. I cannot imagine my children going to school with kids like this.
When my daughters were in elementary school a boy kept trying to kiss one of them. I told her that if he did it again to punch him and for all three of them to beat the crap out of him. He tried and they did. The embarrassment of getting whipped by three girls made him stop. BUT he came over with his brother (about 12 years old) who complained to me. I told him that his brother needed to stop or else the beatings would continue and to go away and send his parents over if there was anymore to be said. Never heard from any of them again.
Really? Why don't you upload some pictures of your wife/girlfriend/daughter to these guys and ask them to give her the same treatment, and make sure everyone your family knows gets to see it. See if its just a silly prank then. Maybe having them write a sentence 500 times would make your family feel better?
Again, no it's not. the article said the students did it in retailation to discipline. The kids are probably brats, and that is parents fault.
Becky
I failed to answer your questions. The answers are NO and NO. As this was a public school, the vice principal has absolutely no authority whatsoever to do anything concerning activity occurring outside of school activities and off of school property. Not so much as one word on a blackboard, and I'm guessing these little wonders' parents would be just the type to sue her if she did.
If they were adults and this were their boss, they'd be looking for another job right now. Time the get a little lesson about the grownup world.
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