Generally speaking?
Just how many felons are there in middle schools these days?
Posted on 08/31/2010 11:18:40 AM PDT by a fool in paradise
Marcel Williams is plopped down on a couch in his family's duplex apartment. The stillness is unusual for the 14-year-old, who a few years ago roamed football fields as a star running back for the national champion Flagler Junior Pee Wee Bulldogs.
Since then, Marcel said he had been earning A's and B's at Buddy Taylor Middle School, where he also expected to continue playing football this year.
Instead, school just started and Marcel finds himself slouched on the couch, expelled from the classroom and the football field until next year because of something called "tea-bagging" -- a crude taunt Marcel practiced while keeping his pants on.
Marcel said the boys were horsing around in the back of a school bus on their way home. Several other kids were suspended over the incident but Marcel said he was the only one expelled.
"We were just playing. I didn't know they would take it that far," Marcel said of the reaction of school officials.
The punishment does not fit the misdeed, said Marcel's father, Darial Williams, 43.
"I'm not condoning this, but why make this as severe as it is?" Williams said. He said he has not had disciplinary issues with his son before.
"I've never had any problems with Marcel, no bullying," Williams said. "He's not stubborn."
Neither Buddy Taylor Middle School Principal Winnie Oden nor the School District's director of student services, Katrina Townsend, would discuss Marcel's case, citing student confidentiality -- that of Marcel's and the other student.
But "tea-bagging," as students call it, can be a gesture subtle enough that teachers may not even know it happened, or it can be flagrant -- a student, still wearing clothes, rubbing his crotch in another's face, Townsend said.
It's generally handled as a "school discipline issue," with a detention or a call to parents or some other action, Townsend said.
But criminal charges propel it to another level, she said.
That's what happened in Marcel's case; the taunted boy's father pressed criminal charges, Marcel and his family said.
And what Marcel called "tea-bagging," law enforcement officials called lewd and lascivious exhibition -- a felony.
The taunted student's father later changed his mind and declined to press charges against Marcel. But it was too late to stop the School District's disciplinary process. The incident went to the Discipline Review Committee, which recommends consequences to the superintendent, who makes the final decision.
"Generally speaking, for all students that have felony charges or incidents where there is a student victim on their campus, it's considered very serious," Townsend said.
Nine students were expelled from Flagler County schools during the 2009-2010 school year; all involved felony charges.
A school bus security camera recorded the incident involving Marcel but district officials declined to release it, citing student confidentiality and protecting the victim's identity.
Marcel's father said school administrators stated they had never seen such a severe, long-lasting "tea-bagging" as in Marcel's case.
Darial Williams wonders if district officials had seen other cases of "tea-bagging," why didn't they address the problem earlier, making it clear to students and parents that such behavior was happening and unacceptable?
"If you are driving down (Interstate) 95, and you see a small brush fire, are you just going to pull over and watch that small brush fire become a big wildfire?" Darial Williams said. "Any sensible person would call 9-1-1."
Marcel's family provided a copy of a police report that described the incident as lasting for "quite some time" before Marcel was "pulled off" the boy by other students.
But Marcel said no one had to pull him off. The horseplay just ran its course and ended. He said several other students were doing it, too.
"Everybody was playing around and stuff and tea-bagging each other," Marcel said. "I was messing with him and stuff and then I tea-bagged him."
Marcel said the other boy was in on the joke. Marcel said the kid he taunted was laughing and covering his face and making mock sounds of disgust.
Marcel's family also showed a reporter a note from one of Marcel's friends who wrote that the boy was laughing as Marcel tea-bagged him.
Marcel thought the whole thing was over when he walked off the bus. Until he returned to school the next day and he and the other boys were summoned to the principal's office. They were suspended. Ten days later, when Marcel tried to return to Buddy Taylor, he said he was told he was trespassing.
Darial Williams said he has talked to the other boy's father, who has agreed to help Marcel get back in school. But the father declined to be interviewed.
On May 26, district officials expelled Marcel until Jan. 11. At that time, he will be allowed to attend the eighth grade at Pathways Academy, the district's alternative school. Once teachers at Pathways are satisfied with Marcel's behavior, he will be allowed to attend Indian Trails Middle School. Marcel will not be able to return to Buddy Taylor Middle School.
Meanwhile, he is attending "virtual school" via a computer at home.
Marcel is stunned. He said when he was at Buddy Taylor there was a "national butt-slapping day" and a day to "pop girls' bra straps," which were relayed via cell phones. So the suspension for tea-bagging knocked the wind out of the running back like a well-placed hit from a linebacker.
Townsend said school personnel review the code of conduct with students at the beginning of every year districtwide.
Marcel's father said he feels his son's future, academically and athletically, is being jeopardized due to an overreaction.
"If it goes the way it's going now, it may effect his admission into a college, hopefully not, but these things tend to follow you," Williams said.
What kind of idiot does not know that such behavior is not acceptable anywhere?
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Maybe most 14 year old middle school boys?
I think the dad’s point is that if there were other cases the school should have made a big deal to sanction them seriously so that his son knew this behavior was viewed this seriously. Kids even young teens do not without being taught know how adults will react to various behaviors.
BTW, to me way the real issue here is that the article is so filled with discussions of him being an athlete. The kid should not be treated better or worse for being an athlete. However the father is right, if the school thinks this is such serious behavior, it need to sanction it as such serious behavior EVERY TIME.
Chill, newwbie.
Were you never a 14 year old?
Is it normal in your world for 14 year olds to put their crotches on someone’s face? Oh, boys will be, uh, boys? With other boys? Methinks ‘Marcel’ is heading on a whole other path. Maybe Barney Frank should get involved?
I wonder what this Dad would think if a reporter held him down and rubbed his crotch in his face long enough that others had to pull him off...all the while recording it? Would that just be joking around or would he press charges?
Is MSNBC talking heads inciting felony sexually lewd and lascivious exhibitions from high school students, are they?
What kind of idiot does not know that such behavior is not acceptable anywhere?
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Maybe most 14 year old middle school boys?
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Yeah, I think most middle school boys are basically operating on hormones and trying to be good - but they can’t. I’d like to remind everyone to think back to these years and remember that middle school is basically a zoo, with poo flying.
This “teabagging” incident didn’t happen naked, the other parent’s dropped the charges. Further, there seems to be disparity in discipline. Yes, I find the father’s “fire” argument weak, and the kid’s demeanor is lacking - but do I think a kid that has never been in trouble before, is a good student and was engaged in behavior with a group of other boys should be kicked out of school? No.
As a caveat, we don’t know all the specifics - no one has seen the tape - so I could be proven wrong. Alternative schools are the worst alternative out there - basically they are an introduction on how to be a thug. I don’t think this kid is a thug, I think is an arrogant 14 year old. He could become a thug if the school district tries hard enough.
Around these parts, felonies (theft, dealing drugs, robbery, burglary, rape) involve unsupervised probation and transfer to another school. Now, if it's somewhat serious (murder), the perp might attract the attention of the district attorney who will attempt to put it on the docket.
Apparently some have forgotten what it’s like to be a kid. Expulsion sounds a bit extreme - make him pull the weeds on the football field for a week and be done with it. What’s next? Cutting off the offending digit when someone gives another the finger?
Your FReeper name is apt.
Sounds like a fun school to attend, if you like bullying and inappropriate behavior.
At the very least it’s sexual harassment and bullying, and Marcel should have been suspended. What kind of parenting is going on in his home? No morals, no nothing. But college, of course, since that’s affirmative action. I could say a great deal more but won’t because I don’t want to be called a racist bigot. However, it doesn’t matter what color the kids are, they should have decency, common sense, moral integrity and good manners. Marcel isn’t sorry, either. No remorse. Expect to see his face on the police blotter before he ever applies to college.
Remember back in the days BBC, Before Bill Clinton, when oral sex was not a topic explained on national television by the network anchors? Thanks to Anderson Cooper, Chrissy Mathews, and the other Obama sycophants in the mainstream media, “teabagging” has now been added to the list of terms in ordinary conversation. The libs have continued their successful assault on healthy moral values. In my entire public school career as a child, no other guy ever stuck his crotch in my face, nor did I see that done to another guy. I’m disgusted that it’s happening today and “no big deal” to anyone but a NAMBLA/PFLAG pervert.
The other kid should have punched him in the gonads, that would have been what happened in my day if some kid tried that sh** with any of the guys I ran with.
Put yourself in the position of the kid that was being humiliated. I don’t think he wanted to go to school the next day. I don’t think he’ll forget the event, ever. The 14 year old should be prosecuted. Let’s see how he does in juvi when the “children” he’s with learn why he’s in.
When it comes to African Americans the general consensus seems to be that their youth are over-sexualized at a young age. Just look at the styles of “dance” that have come from their culture. Their girls seem more mature at younger ages and it is a known fact that their tweens and teens engage in sexual intercourse way younger than must other races.
Not necessarily making a judgment here just saying this sort of sexualized behavior is not totally surprising in light of this; unacceptable as it is.
Well, not put in juvi, but he should be prosecuted, and have the fear of juvi, then get community service. It’s assault . . . and an ugly one.
Newbie or not, you are right!
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