Girl, 12, suspended four months for gym wall graffiti

ABC 13 ^ | July 7, 2007 | AP

[Ptarmigan]

(7/07/07 - KATY, TX) - Writing "I love Alex" on a gymnasium wall dealt a suburban Houston sixth-grader four months at an alternative campus for an infraction school officials lump in the same severity as making terroristic threats.

Written with a baby blue marker, the graffiti by Shelby Sendelbach, 12, was considered by the Katy Independent School District as a Level 4 infraction -- also the same level for drug possession and assault.

Only murder, gun possession, sexual assault and arson are considered more severe by the district.

[stephenjohnbanker]

Thanks, I tried my best. I pulled my daughter from public school in the 5th grade. Four years later, she had read much of senior HS level literature, and had mastered differential and integral calculus. At age 16, she attended
college in Dublin, then returned at 17 to attend Stanford.
By the way, she participated in 2 sports, and wrote a few articles for the local newspaper. Julia still thanks me for yanking her out of public schools.

[airborne]

Do you suppose she would have gotten the same treatment if she had professed her love for another girl?

[ChuteTheMall]

She needs to change Alex to Alexis, in order to get the blessings of the ACLU, DNC, NEA, etc.

[stephenjohnbanker]

“If she had written “I love Susan”, all would be forgiven.”

LMBO!!

Lecture circuit : )

[ThomasThomas]

I assume they took 27 8-by-10 color glossy pictures with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence against her. Hopefully the Judge will fine her 50 dollars and tell her to clean up the mess.

[deport]

Houston Chronicle article with more details

Shelby Sendelbach and her dad, Stu
Sendelbach, display photos Thursday,
of grafitti, "I love Alex" that the sixth-
grader wrote on a gym wall. The Katy
Independent School District initially had
her charged with a felony for her expression
of puppy love. Steve Ueckert: Chronicle

[samtheman]

She should be forced to clean the wall up and have some detentions.

Seems pretty obvious to me. But then, I'm not a public school administrator.

[knarf]

"The first role of any bureaucracy is to prevent the exercise of comment sense .... "

Probably a typo, but I like it the way it is.

[plain talk]

Back in the day, she would have received 3 licks with “Big Bertha”.

[therut]

I wonder if the have the death penalty for smoking in the bathroom???????????? Sex in the gym however is good normal expected behavior.

[Frank_2001]

Also, blame the lawyers IMO-school districts are afraid of getting sued for discrimination, so judgement calls go out the window.

[Thinkin' Gal]

Meanwhile, infractions worthy of severe punishment are often soft-handed, due to the fact that the perpetrators are either from designated “victim” groups or are treated as “victims” themselves.

The educrats do prefer to shoot the fish that are swimming in the barrel. This girl was an easy zero-tolerance target. This is nothing more than institutionized bullying. There are way too many bureaucratic thugs who get their kicks by abusing children psychologically. The system enables these personalities to do their thing under the guise of authority. Real administrative decision-making calls for reason and discernment, qualities lacking in the mental midgets with monstrous egos.

Of course, this would be a non-issue if the girl had written "I love Alexa" in a rainbow of marker colors. Lesbian rights are higher up on the food chain than zero-tolerance policies.

[El Gran Salseron]

Katy Independent School District is THE most conservative school district in the state of TX. Katy, TX is a far West suburb of Houston. Think “redneck” school district. I can assure you that there is no socialism involved. There is almost military-like discipline in that school district so that I am not surprised by their actions with this issue.

After the four months suspension is expired, ask her if she wants to put anymore grafitti on the walls of schools in that district.

After the courts ruled out corporal punishment the schools had to get tough in other ways. Before that, I can assure you that in Katy the student would have received a good paddling.

[bannie]

The punishment might be so severe because often taggings are gang signs.

[ZGuy]

Here’s another one in the never-ending series. . .

[2ndDivisionVet]

Courts have ruled out corporal punishment? No wonder children run amok nowadays! Most parents don’t spank anymore, either.

[stinkerpot65]

Government schools are evil.

[VeniVidiVici]

I can guarantee you that this is a zero tolerance policy aimed at gang graffiti.

The administration is more than happy to throw the book at a little white girl for expressing her love for a boy as it supports their contention that the rule is applied evenhandedly against all races.

[Gabz]

Either homeschool or parochial/private school is the answer.

I spent 12 years in parochial schools, I saw worse than this on a regular basis.

And BTW - I graduated HS in 1978.