Tebowing and other unusual reasons for suspensions |
On Board Online • July 2, 2012
By Eric D. Randall
Editor-in-Chief
Twenty-nine seniors in Albany County’s Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District were so proud of their pasting tens of thousands of Post-It notes over school lockers, doors and windows in what they thought was a harmless prank that they posted a video of their antics on YouTube – and listed their names. The students were suspended from the last day of school and barred from a senior picnic held that day.
“The well-intentioned prank went a little too far,” the district said in a statement on its website. While no permanent damage was done and the some of the students involved helped with cleanup, it still disrupted the learning environment and “made for a rocky start to the school day” the next morning.
“Unsupervised occupancy of the school after hours is a safety and liability concern,” Superintendent Elisabeth Smith told On Board. “Students used rollerblades and scooters in the hallways and jumped down staircases. We do not want a young person to be injured.”
The district statement also praised the students, who included the class valedictorian and salutatorian, as “often demonstrating great spirit, compassion and conscientiousness” and said they had “earned the respect of our staff and their fellow students” in their high school careers. “Yes, there will be a consequence for their error in judgment,” the district said, “but we remain proud of their contributions to our school community, value their creativity, and will applaud their graduation on June 23.”
Surely that was the most unusual suspension in New York State this school year, right?
Maybe not. In December 2011, two high school students were suspended after kneeling in the hallway of Riverhead High School on Long Island. They were mimicking NFL quarterback Tim Tebow. But when dozens of other students started to join in, it created a traffic jam.
“The boys had been asked on numerous occasions to not cause traffic jams in the halls anymore by Tebowing,” Superintendent Nancy Carney told On Board. “It was a safety issue and students were blocked from getting to class on time. The high school administration followed through with the suspension because the students did not stop the practice. The media attention this received was very unexpected!”
The Denver Broncos’ quarterback wasn’t thrilled about the incident when asked about it by reporters. After praising people who have “the courage to do something different,” he sided with school officials: “You have to respect the position of authority and people that God’s put as authority over you, so that’s part of it, and just finding the right place and the right time to do things is part of it, too.”
After the Riverhead incident, blogger Jacqueline Burt looked for other examples of unusual suspensions around the country and didn’t find a shortage. Here are six odd reasons students have been suspended, as reported by Burt and www.theweek.com:
1. A creative haircut. Patrick Gonzalez, a 12-year-old student at Woodlake Hills Middle School in San Antonio, was given an in-school suspension after his enthusiasm for NBA star Matt Bonner went too far. Gonzalez had the San Antonio Spurs forward’s likeness shaved into his hair, which school officials claimed was a violation of the school dress code. In order to return to school, Gonzalez had to shave his head bald, removing traces of the tribute. But all was not for naught: Bonner was so flattered by Gonzalez’s devotion that he called it “the nicest thing a fan has ever done for me,” and sent the middle schooler playoff tickets and autographed swag.
2. Hugging a friend. Florida middle schooler Nick Martinez thought nothing of giving his best friend, a female student, a quick hug between classes – until he was suspended for the embrace. As it turns out, Southwest Middle School in Palm Bay has a strict no-hugging policy, in order to prevent harassment and keep students focused on learning.
3. Growing hair for charity. Michigan teen J.T. Gaskin is a leukemia survivor, and he knows firsthand the crucial confidence that a wig from the Locks of Love charity can give an ailing cancer patient who has gone bald. After hearing that a friend’s sister had been diagnosed with cancer, Gaskin decided to grow the 10-inch ponytail required by Locks of Love for a donation in her honor. But Gaskin was only able to grow his hair about 2.5 inches before he was suspended by his school, Madison Academy, for violating a dress code stipulation that boys’ hair be “off the collar, off the ears, and out of the eyes.”
4. Singing a hit song. Hip-hop group LMFAO’s popular single “I’m Sexy and I Know It” is “so catchy, even a 6-year-old boy can pick it up. That’s what happened in Colorado, where young D’Avonte Meadows started singing the tune – which includes lyrics like “Girl, look at that body” – to a classmate in his school’s lunch line, and was promptly suspended for sexual harassment. It’s hard to blame the boy for being familiar with the track, though. It’s featured in an M&M’s commercial and was parodied by Elmo on Sesame Street.
5. Calling a teacher “cute.” A 9-year-old North Carolina boy was suspended for calling a teacher “cute.” A substitute teacher overheard Emanyea Lockett give out the compliment chatting with a friend and reported him. “I said Ms. Taylor was cute,” Lockett says. “That’s all I said.” His mother hardly thinks the act qualifies as sexual harassment: “It’s not like he went up to the woman and tried to grab her or touch her in a sexual way.”
6. Chivalry. At a middle school in Virginia, an A student at Southampton Middle School was given a one-day suspension for holding an exterior door open for an adult who had her hands full. The student knew the adult, but the school has a policy that prohibits letting a visitor in before he or she is vetted by a security camera. According to the school district’s superintendent, the strict rule is essential to ensure that the high-tech security system is effective.