Salanis
SuperDork
5/12/11 6:48 p.m.
So... are you all more upset that he didn't get to go to the prom? Or that the reasoning behind it was a "zero tolerance" policy?
Would you feel better if the principle were to have made this decision but backed it up by saying it was what he/she personally thought was the correct decision, and not just "rules are rules"?
What got me was all the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the possibility that the kid would miss his prom. Don't most high schools have a "don't muck up after this date or else" policy? The School systems down here do. Of course, back when I was in HS, if you did screw something up that bad, you didn't whine about it on the Today show.
racerfink wrote:
It's obvious some people here don't have to deal with kids on a daily basis...
Worse, I deal with customers. This situation is still ridiculous. I'm a firm believer in extrapolation, and my gut says that if the general public cannot come to a compromise on such a petty matter, how can the problems with a bit more gravity ever be resolved? Maybe trivial distractions such as these are a form of catharsis to momentarily distract us from the important stuff.
Prom sucks anyway. Get drunk and hit the after party.
For all the hardline stands on this, pro or con, you are ignoring THE functional backbone of court room judiciary:
plea bargaining and reduced sentences...
Just a little gasonline on the fire
Joshua
Reader
5/13/11 1:56 a.m.
If he had spray painted the words it would have been vandalism, but cardboard...really?
I've seen school districts bend the rules before, just depends on who you are. Before 'the big game' one district held a special mid-week board meeting to change (lower) the minimum grade average for extracurricular activity participation (read football in this case) because over a dozen players became ineligible due to their low grades.
Hmm, but I'm not thinkin' they would do that for a guy like Tate... or the band either
If he had written, "Sonali, will you walk to math class with me?", would he have been banned from math class?
SHELTON, Conn. -- A Connecticut high school headmaster has reversed her decision to ban a student from the prom after he broke school rules by hanging his prospective date's invitation at the school entrance.
The girl said yes, but Shelton High School senior James Tate was suspended for posting the invitation on a wall in 12-inch cardboard letters. School officials said it was a safety risk.
Under school rules, because Tate was suspended after April 1, he couldn't go to the prom with date Sonali Rodrigues.
But on Saturday, headmaster Beth Smith announced a policy change. Now, the school decides prom attendance for suspended students on a "case-by-case" basis. In Tate's case, he can go.
Smith acknowledged the "international notoriety" the case received on social-networking sites had an effect. Students also staged a protest sit-in.