Don Gwinn
Moderator Emeritus
Myself gets it. We don't have enough information to take sides here. Have you all forgotten that poor innocent child who was unfairly punished for writing a simple story for his English class about zombies?
It turned out that his "story" wasn't about zombies, wasn't for English class, and wasn't really a story. It was a plan for shooting and killing specific students and staff at his school, and he wasn't turned in by paranoid zero-tolerance teachers but by his own grandparents, who were prompted by his history of such things--the history no one at THR or TFL knew.
Similarly, none of you have been trying to teach this kid for the past 150 school days, so none of you know what he's like. None of you know the context in which this teacher heard what he (she?) heard. None of you know what this kid does every day in that class, but the teacher does.
On a related note, anybody wonder why they had seven kids testify as to what he said? There are several possibilities, mostly unhelpful to this kid's contention.
1. There are only seven other kids in the class--probably a BD (Behavioral Disorders) class. This is where they warehouse kids who have decided they don't care if they get suspended, arrested or whatever else and are absolutely uncontrollable within the limitations set by the school. Most schools have several such rooms now. Expulsion is mostly not an option.
2. Only seven out of a normal class agree with his side of things--that would be seven out of 25-35 kids in an average class.
Particularly in a BD classroom, it would not be unusual for even kids who detest this kid to band together in any story that makes the teacher look bad. Happens all the time.
It turned out that his "story" wasn't about zombies, wasn't for English class, and wasn't really a story. It was a plan for shooting and killing specific students and staff at his school, and he wasn't turned in by paranoid zero-tolerance teachers but by his own grandparents, who were prompted by his history of such things--the history no one at THR or TFL knew.
Similarly, none of you have been trying to teach this kid for the past 150 school days, so none of you know what he's like. None of you know the context in which this teacher heard what he (she?) heard. None of you know what this kid does every day in that class, but the teacher does.
On a related note, anybody wonder why they had seven kids testify as to what he said? There are several possibilities, mostly unhelpful to this kid's contention.
1. There are only seven other kids in the class--probably a BD (Behavioral Disorders) class. This is where they warehouse kids who have decided they don't care if they get suspended, arrested or whatever else and are absolutely uncontrollable within the limitations set by the school. Most schools have several such rooms now. Expulsion is mostly not an option.
2. Only seven out of a normal class agree with his side of things--that would be seven out of 25-35 kids in an average class.
Particularly in a BD classroom, it would not be unusual for even kids who detest this kid to band together in any story that makes the teacher look bad. Happens all the time.