Posted on 06/24/2004 8:22:25 PM PDT by Coleus
| Ridgewood officials defend teachers' decisions to remove yearbook messages | |
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 (06/24/04) RIDGEWOOD - Administrators in the Ridgewood School District are defending teachers' decisions to remove certain messages from the yearbooks of seventh-graders. Officials say the teachers found vulgar, sexually explicit messages written in Benjamin Franklin Middle School yearbooks. More than 60 students had their yearbooks inspected and teachers used "white out" to erase the pear writings that they found offensive.
While Superintendent John Porter Jr. says teachers were within their rights in making judgment calls on behalf of parents, some adults disagreed. They say the teachers overstepped their boundaries. A number of parents thought they should be the ones censoring their kids' yearbooks. Two parents were so appalled that they requested new yearbooks for their children. The school district granted those requests. |
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| Thursday, June 24, 2004 |
RIDGEWOOD - The end of each school year finds students busily scribbling notes in each other's yearbooks, from "Have a great summer," to "See ya next year."
Then there are the little private comments and inside jokes.
It was these comments and other scribbles, school officials said, that prompted teachers and administrators at Benjamin Franklin Middle School on Wednesday to review the yearbooks of nearly 60 seventh-graders.
They then notified the parents of a dozen or so students, and, in some cases, used correction fluid to remove the offending remarks.
Schools Superintendent John R. Porter Jr. said certified school staff were operating within their rights in making judgment calls on behalf of parents for students' well-being.
"They acted for the good and well-being for all kids," added Principal Anthony S. Bencivenga. "They took very appropriate action. And they did it with compassion and concern."
Some of the youngsters objected.
"I think it was outrageous. It was a violation of the Fourth Amendment," said seventh-grader E.J. Aguado, 13, whose mother, Elizabeth Llorente, is a reporter at The Record. "They need a warrant to search our private stuff."
E.J. said school staff covered the phrase "pull up your pants, lean back, and do the roc-a-way" - a hip-hop reference that he said was common among his friends.
"Some of the things are just jokes amongst ourselves," the teenager said.
The young would-be lawyer just might have a case, said Ed Barocas, legal director of the ACLU of New Jersey.
"Taking their yearbooks and searching them seems problematic," Barocas said. "On school grounds, they do not shed their constitutional right to free speech."
The flap began Wednesday morning when some students approached teachers and asked them to sign their yearbooks. The teachers noticed vulgar expressions, ranging from "Your mom is hot" to "Rape me," as well as profanities, the principal said.
Bencivenga said some students told teachers that they were troubled by notes that other students had written. Suspecting that profane comments were more widespread, he said, the teachers began checking the yearbooks. In some cases, they went with students to their lockers to retrieve the books, Bencivenga said.
"They talked to the kids, asked to see the books," the principal said. "This was something that really needed to be handled."
In some cases, parents who were alerted to the findings tossed out the yearbooks, and school officials supplied replacements, Bencivenga said.
Amy Sullivan's 13-year-old son came home from his last day of school Wednesday and told her about the day's events. She said she read her son's yearbook, finding one reference to sex: "The only safe sex was no sex."
However, she said, she didn't find it offensive.
"Give me a break - it's the last day of school," she said. "It seems to me that this should've been handled by individual parents."
Although she believes school officials acted properly in dealing with the students who complained about their yearbook notes, Sullivan said they could have approached the situation differently with the others. She suggested calling in all the parents and going through the yearbooks with them present.
"These yearbooks are a big deal for these kids," Sullivan said of the books, which cost roughly $20 each. "Maybe they could have been a little more mellow about this one."
E-mail: vadarevu@northjersey.com
Judge dismisses lawsuit over sex, drug survey in Ridgewood schools
Somebody educate me. What are "pear writings"?
Sounds good to me.
We did when I was a kid.
Or as I have told a few of my older grand kids - Your constitutional rights end at my front door and we will do things my way.
just misspelled "peer", that's all.
They just like everything "peachy keen" !
pears are too gritty.
Thanks for the info. It was a sincere question. I honestly thought it was some new kind of writing style or something.
I'm the last guy to make fun of someone elses speling!
Kids have little inside jokes. I expected something really raunchy. Kudos to that kid for respecting the 4th amendment, properly applied or not.
Back when you were in high school had your significant friend (girl friend or boy friend) written a hot/obscene notation in your yearbook you would have run to the teacher and asked them to cover it over with whiteout? I bet you're ashamed to this day for not running to the teacher. Missionary position only, right? /sarcasm
...then they can talk about Christianity if they choose?
By the way, the dynamic in the article here is not running to the teacher and asking for notations to be whited out.
Don't the teachers have anything more important to do than inspect yearbooks? Such as teach?
I grew up in Wyckoff the town next to Ridgewood...it is a spoiled kids playground and has the highest suicide rate in the nation last time I checked.
Lighten up or your panties will bunch and perhaps you'll notice the sarcasm tag.
If a student brought a diary to school do you think the teachers should treat the diary differently than a yearbook? Do you think teachers should censor the Bible? What other written material should be censored against individuals (we're not talking about curriculum rather, individual possession).
If a student brought a diary to school do you think the teachers should treat the diary differently than a yearbook? Do you think teachers should censor the Bible?
The Bible is not profanity.
You understand The Point and chose to obfuscate acknowledging the connection. What's up with that?
The whole town of Ridgewood is on crack. A few years back they actually instituted a day where all sports and other activities would be suspended so families could spend time together. The fact that they needed the government to promote spending time together as a family should tell you something about these yuppie idiots.
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