Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue gets sixth-grader suspended

foxsports.com ^ | 02/25/04 | Associated Press

[Destro]

Swimsuit issue gets sixth-grader suspended

Justin Reyes begins his first day of a three day suspension for bringing a SI Swimsuit edition to school. Parkersburg News & Sentinel, Tracy Ezolt/Associated Press

BELPRE, Ohio (AP) — A sixth-grader began serving a three-day suspension Tuesday because he refused a lesser punishment for bringing the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue to school.

The 12-year-old boy had the magazine in the gymnasium at Belpre Middle School before classes Feb. 18, and the principal cited him for violating the school's policy on nonverbal harassment and possession of lewd or suggestive material, according to superintendent Tim Swarr. He was ordered to spend two days at an alternative school where students from several districts are sent when they get into trouble.

But the boy, Justin Reyes, and his mother refused to accept the punishment, so the penalty was increased to three days of out-of-school suspension, Swarr said.

"Last time I checked, we were in charge of running the schools," Swarr said.

The boy's mother, Nicole Reyes, said the alternative school was too harsh a punishment. She said her son bought the magazine with money he received for Christmas, and she was aware of the purchase.

"It's not like it was Hustler, Playboy or Penthouse," Reyes said. "He should not have taken it to school, but I don't think it's morally wrong for a child that's almost 13 to look at it."

Belpre Middle School, about 90 miles southeast of Columbus, serves some 550 students in grades four through eight.

[Destro]

Why is it some nuts (religous and socialist) hate the heterosexual sex drive? Right out of the book 1984 where the party was about to ban sexuality.

The kid was on Jimmy Kimmel Live just now. Normal all American kid freckled face kid.

[Destro]

The 12-year-old boy had the magazine in the gymnasium at Belpre Middle School before classes Feb. 18, and the principal cited him for violating the school's policy on nonverbal harassment and possession of lewd or suggestive material

[BradyLS]

The teacher should have confiscated it and returned it when class was over for the day. Kid shoulda simply left it at home. Mom's just happy her little boy likes girls.

[Destro]

The teacher's name is Ms. Dickson

[blackbart.223]

"The 12-year-old boy had the magazine in the gymnasium at Belpre Middle School before classes Feb. 18, and the principal cited him for violating the school's policy on nonverbal harassment and possession of lewd or suggestive material."

I wonder if that school teaches safe sex by teaching kids how to put on a condom? Any takers?

[optimistically_conservative]

Un-freakin' believable.

I wonder if he, or a female student, would have been suspended for a vanity fair with Moore on the cover?

[M. Peach]

It probably would have been OK if it was some gay magazine...

[King Prout]

my cynical soul, fatigued from enduring the latest rounds of homosexual agitation, is of the opinion that that might be why the kid was punished.
"Normal" is intolerable, these days.

[lelio]

"It's not like it was Hustler, Playboy or Penthouse," Reyes said.

Way to turn that frown upside down! Ah, the day a parent defends her kid by saying "Hey, it wasn't Hustler!"

[lelio]

"It's not like it was Hustler, Playboy or Penthouse," Reyes said.

Way to turn that frown upside down! Ah, the day a parent defends her kid by saying "Hey, it wasn't Hustler!"

[CommandoFrank]

Want to bet that someone 'kept' his magazine?

[Destro]

No frown upside down moment there - the boy did not bring in porn for this magazine to be treated like porn is wrong. The mom is right.

[xm177e2]

Way to turn that frown upside down! Ah, the day a parent defends her kid by saying "Hey, it wasn't Hustler!"

The kid was basically accused of having a Hustler (having lewd materials) and the woman was denying the charge. It's as simple as that.

[Polybius]

February 25, 1934: The 12-year-old boy had the magazine in the gymnasium at Robert E. Lee Junior High School. The principal gave him 20 whacks with the paddle for violating the school's policy on possession of lewd or suggestive material.

[lelio]

Do you think having swimsuit model magazines in a classroom of 12 year olds is appropriate?

[Squantos]

I'll bet they have text and references in Art class that has some of Robert Maplethorpes sick work........any takers ?:o)

Stay Safe !

[festus]

Ah yes. The good-old National Geographic. I was never so relieved as when I learned American womens boobs were not nearly so long and pointy, at least at the age when I got to do my shopping around.........

[blackbart.223]

"I'll bet they have text and references in Art class that has some of Robert Maplethorpes sick work........any takers ?:o)"

You're right. I hadn't thought about that.

[Squantos]

I've seen more tit in the Dillards sales section of the newspaper than SI has ever shown......

Sounds like this Principal has none.....Kid and his Mom need to show the School district a real suit !

Stay Safe !

[lewislynn]

Do you think having swimsuit model magazines in a classroom of 12 year olds is appropriate?

Which bothers you more, 12 yr olds looking at models, or 12 yr olds looking at swimsuits?

Is it appropriate for 12 yr olds to go to a pool, beach, lake?...Aren't those swimsuits worn in public?

[montag813]

"Last time I checked, we were in charge of running the schools," Swarr said.

Last time I checked Mrs. Reyes (and other parents) paid your salary, you dipsh*t.

[Flyer]

He was ordered to spend two days at an alternative school

For being a normal 12 year old boy. Gee, he probably likes baseball, too.

[Zack Attack]

Man, when I was in 8th grade, we took a sports course. The school paid for subs to SI, one for each student in the class. At the end of the week, I the teacher usually let me take home any leftover copies. Some issues I had 20 copies of, but the week the Swimsuit issue came out, most everyone took theirs home.

So anyway, for us, this was considered a textbook for one course. :)

[drhogan]

this is really pathetic.

[Bonaparte]

Like the boy's mother, you don't get it. The school didn't say the boy couldn't look at it. They said it was against their rules to bring it to school. Nor did the school say they had anything against the "heterosexual sex drive," only that they didn't want that type of material brought to the school. They were well within their rights and even the kid's mother had the sense to admit that he was wrong to bring it with him.

[LibertarianInExile]

What no one seems to be asking is what this was for. I mean, a 12 year old kid is hardly part of show and tell any more. It could not have been anything but distraction to the class.

I would reckon the teacher is a harpy. The principal is probably a jackass who went off on the kid because the teacher complained. The kid was probably a smartass about it and that's how this got worse quick. He's got attitude written all over him, and with a mom like this, go figure.

Mom should have thought about the ramifications of her kid bringing the Swimsuit Edition to class. I personally wouldn't have issues with the kid bringing a Playboy to school, as long as he didn't wave it around in the classroom and distract students from learning, though if he got busted distracting others or waving a Playboy around, it would be all on him for being dumb. And at the age of 12, a Swimsuit Edition is going to provide for a prominent distraction for most boys--so it's all on him, and mom should have admitted that from the start.

The principal was right to punish the kid at least somewhat for providing the distraction in class (if he refused to put it away per teacher's instructions), and the mom's attitude should have been thus: my kid shouldn't have been doing what he did, so he takes his licks. She might have reasonably complained to the principal about the heavy punishment and nicely asked for the kid to be punished at home instead of this in-school crap AFTER THE KID WAS MADE TO APOLOGIZE to the teacher and principal for being disrespectful, which I'd reckon he was being from the anger of the principal and subsequent further punishment. Instead, mommy seems to have said her kid deserves sheltering and no punishment whatsoever even though she seems to acknowledge he did wrong. "It's not like it was a Hustler" isn't the same thing at all as "he didn't do anything."

Incidentally, they had the SI edition in my school library when I was in high school. We weren't stupid enough to bring it to school. Dumb kid.

[Flyer]

I think the mother's biggest beef was that she didn't want him to go to the "alternative school" for two days. The kid is permanently marked as a bad kid with that on his record.

This is so minor. They should have just taken it from him and let him pick it up after school.

[Bonaparte]

"Last time I checked Mrs. Reyes (and other parents) paid your salary, you dipsh*t."

That's exactly why he's enforcing these standards.

Is this what you want to see passed around among public school children?

[Bonaparte]

"Is it appropriate for 12 yr olds to go to a pool, beach, lake?...Aren't those swimsuits worn in public?"

The purpose of the SI swimsuit edition is to arouse prurient interest. That may be fine for adults, but not for children in school. The schools are entrusted with the community's children and are (or should be) held to a higher standard than the general public at pools and beaches.

[Democratshavenobrains]

This story sounds like its from 1988.

[RushLake]

If he'd had a copy of the faggot "Advocate", he'd probably have been lauded for celebrating diversity.

[American_Centurion]

I'll bet the school library had this same issue in the periodicals section.

I remember seeing SI swimsuit edition in the library when I was in Elementary school.

I will have to modify my first sentance, It WAS in the school library, unless this principal is and idiot he had it removed already.

[irishsoldier]

dang, well when i was in highschool, 5 years ago i was suspended for looking at a teacher wrong, somebody tell me that looking at a magazine is wrong, most magazines these days have women poseing in underwear/swimsuits/bras, what the hell boys and girls. This is why democrats cant be in control, i was looking at Si swimsuit edition when i was in school when i was kid during lunch

[Ghengis]

If he'd had a copy of the faggot "Advocate", he'd probably have been lauded for celebrating diversity.

Belpre, Ohio is in the heart of southeastern Ohio Appalachian country. Some teachers in this region are way out there wacko (most from Ohio University). Many are just solid citizens who grew up in a simple, rural life and want to stay there as an adult.

I doubt The Advocate is welcome in that school at all.

That being said, the teacher and school administration enforced whatever violation that occurred to an extreme. More as a result of the culture wacko zero tolerance policies. As has been stated, they should have taken it away, given it back at the end of the day and told him to not bring it again. End of story.

Not that there wouldn't be differences down there now from my days in the region. I graduated from a school system about 30-45 minutes north of Belpre. My buds and I had shotguns on the truck window gunracks most days in the fall to go hunting after school. We all wore a folding knife on a belt sheath. In 7th grade, our history teacher brought his entire antique and reproduction gun collection to teach how firearms fit in with each period of history.

I graduated in 1979 though.

[goldstategop]

Varena Varenkova is every 12 year old boy's wet dream.

[EQAndyBuzz]

"Like the boy's mother, you don't get it. The school didn't say the boy couldn't look at it. They said it was against their rules to bring it to school. Nor did the school say they had anything against the "heterosexual sex drive," only that they didn't want that type of material brought to the school. They were well within their rights and even the kid's mother had the sense to admit that he was wrong to bring it with him."

Agreed. Confiscate the magazine and give it back at the end of the day. Add a note to the parent. Sort of like what happens when the girl shows up to school in a belly shirt, low cut jeans and a tongue stud, which violates school dress code policy. She is either sent home to change into something more appropriate or given an extra large t-shirt to wear until the end of the day. No suspension there.

[garbanzo]

Right out of the book 1984 where the party was about to ban sexuality.

Lots of things today are right out of 1984.

[GigaDittos]

He bought it for the articles. /sarcasm

[goldstategop]

Yes, not to look at the scantily-clad beauties between the two covers. ;-)

[GigaDittos]

Remove that image, at once!!!! I'm offended.

/sarcasm

[lewislynn]

The schools are entrusted with the community's children and are (or should be) held to a higher standard than the general public at pools and beaches.

So you do want public schools to establish what a "standard" is....as long as it's what YOU define as "standard".

SI is a sports magazine. Did it ever occur to anyone (like you) that that's why he had one that just happened to have swimsuits in it?

[lelio]

SI is a sports magazine.

What sports are in the swimsuit issue?

So you do want public schools to establish what a "standard" is....as long as it's what YOU define as "standard".

Huh? You want to give a free license to 12 year old boys what's approriate to bring into school? Bringing in the swimsuit issue is okay for high school students, but not for those that just entered the junior high school.

[LibertarianInExile]

Well, exactly. But seems from my reading her attitude was immediately confrontational instead of apologetic. Typical of parenting today that the child is coddled instead of made to bear the responsibility for his action.

The principal probably overreacted to a smartass kid. But the mom should have reacted knowing full well that the principal was within his rights to suspend the kid after that. She should have made him apologize at the least.

This will not end well for the kid at all, and all because the mom thought she was protecting the kid by shielding him from reality, which is, you don't bring near-porn to school, wave it around with pride, and then expect everyone to be happy about it--usually those running the joint won't be with ANY distraction, let alone one that PC teachers will be crawling up the walls over.

[LibertarianInExile]

Given your last reply, it's obvious you've never read one. You might consider knowing WTF you are railing against before you do so. Some of us do read the articles.

[LibertarianInExile]

What list of materials do I get to choose from? It's way better than "Heather Has Two Mommies." :)

[berserker]

"It's not like it was Hustler, Playboy or Penthouse," Reyes said. ... Way to turn that frown upside down! Ah, the day a parent defends her kid by saying "Hey, it wasn't Hustler!" [post 9]

Actually, it is closer to Playboy than most people think, there are ten pages of nudes covered with body paint in this "swimsuit" edition.

[LibertarianInExile]

Ping to http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1085000/posts

[Destro]

Not suspension offense for 3 days??? A letter ome to advise parents and that is all--along with the returned magazine.

[Destro]

You don't get it - the schools "right" (no such thing) is a thinly concealed fiminazi agenda The 12-year-old boy had the magazine in the gymnasium at Belpre Middle School before classes Feb. 18, and the principal cited him for violating the school's policy on nonverbal harassment and possession of lewd or suggestive material or the agenda of religous whackos but more so leftist.

[zook]

"This story sounds like its from 1988."

No, in 1988 there would never be a question about a kid bringing SI to school. At most a teacher would have copped it and held it until the end of the day.

SI is not a porno mag, nor does it constitute sexual harrassment, not even the swim suit issue. A kid has a right to possess it, even in school. This principal is absolutely nuts and this is just another example of the insanity of bureaucratic zero tolerance policies. I will bet you good money that SI is in this school's library, if not the elementary school, then certainly the high school.