Posted on 10/15/2013 7:29:05 AM PDT by servo1969
School “zero tolerance” policies claimed another victim as Massachusetts high school student Erin Cox was suspended from her volleyball team after giving an intoxicated friend a ride home from a party.
Police determined that Cox had not consumed alcohol, and agreed that the honors student had only come to a party featuring underage drinking in order to make sure a friend got home safely.
But Andover High School decided to punish Cox anyway, determining that she had violated the school district’s zero tolerance policy against drug and alcohol use. Cox was demoted from her position as captain of the volleyball team, and suspended for five games.
According to AHS’s student handbook, student athletes are forbidden from “knowingly being and remaining in the presence of other minors using alcohol or illegal drugs or controlled substances.” Since Cox admittedly attended the party–in order to help her drunk friend–she violated the policy.
But Cox’s mother says she did the right thing, regardless of district policy.
“She didn’t do anything wrong,” said Eleanor Cox. “She did what she thought was right, and I’m very proud of her.”
The Cox family hired a lawyer, hoping to get Erin’s punishment reversed. But the school doubled down, even claiming that Erin had been arrested by the police while picking up her friend. This was a lie, according to CBS News.
The situation has greatly distressed Erin, a model student, said her mother.
“She’s very fragile and I’m worried about her,” said the mother.
An Alabama high school student recently committed suicide after facing harsh disciplinary measures — including possible registration as a sex offender — because he went streaking at a football game. (RELATED: Student threatened with sex offender status commits suicide)
AHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Children must be taught to OBEY. They must be taught never to question authority or to use reasoning skills and moral precepts to guide their behavior.
This is necessary to socialize students to function as good citizens in the future. We must all obey our Fuhrer.
/sarc/
It would be nice if her entire team resigned in protest, but doubtful that today's students would value a protest for justice as much as the resume-enhancement that team participation adds to their college applications.
Massachusetts. Anybody surprised?
And just think - the GOP nominated a former governor of this cesspit as its most recent presidential candidate...
“zero tolerance” = “zero ability to think”
The equation has been proven again with this story.
It looks like it, and that would be unwise of course.
Better to advise the friend not to get so intoxicated she couldn’t drive, that life means more than getting buzzed at a party. But still, not saying no later if she did get that “desperate call.” Honors students should be honorable, but maybe I’m just being a Neanderthal here.
No good deed ever goes unpunished.
There is no situation so bad that can’t be made worse by calling the cops.
Looks like a mixed situation, with no clear shining halo on anybody.
The drinking age was 18 at one time but all of the states raised it to keep their federal highway money. It wasn't raised because there was some sort of moral awakening in the country. If you can die for your country I think you should be able to have a drink at 18.
Either way she prevented the possibility of her friend hurting someone else by driving either buzzed or intoxicated.
Proving once again that there are ‘Two Americas’...the solution for this family? Penske.
Is there not an argument that “zero tolerance” is by definition a violation of a person’s due process rights?
ZT may have its genesis due to the tort bar but it surely has been embraced as a refuge for incompetent administrators.
MASSHOLES!
If this accurate, then the family has another tool for the family attorney to use against the school and school officials. That sounds like malicious slander.
Maybe in a time when every suburb didn’t have a SWAT team and we weren’t living in a police state, but these a very different times
Good concept w/exception of “everyone showing up at school.” They get $ for each occupied desk. Stay out of school and school loses some funding. Remove funding from a lib and see how quickly they abandon their principles.
First, the facts do not fit that scenario:
Two weeks ago, a friend of 17-year-old Erin Cox messaged her and said she was too drunk to drive home from a party she was attending in Boxford, CBS Boston reports.Second, there is (with a few limited exceptions, such as signatories to an honor code specifically requiring it) no general obligation to report a crime, much less to report a possible crime that might or might not happen.
Cox drove to the home and snaked through a crowd of teens to find her friend....
(Link to another account that clarifies this point.)
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