Posted on 12/15/2007 3:03:53 PM PST by DryFly
(12-14) 17:53 PST NAPA VALLEY -- A Napa Valley middle school's decision to bar a child from class last winter for wearing a pair of Tigger socks has proved costly.
The Napa Valley Unified School District is on the hook for at least $95,000 in lawyers' fees under a legal settlement announced Thursday between the district and five Napa families who challenged the school's dress code.
That's enough to pay the salaries of two teachers for a year, but it's only about a quarter of what the district would have had to pay if it went on to lose the Tiggergate lawsuit instead of settling.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Unfortunately for you, most states disagree and have provided for public education in their state constitutions.
And probably will be, sooner or later...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Unfortunately for the government school juggernaut, people are not stupid, and good ideas win!
First Amendment Rights, freedom of conscience, and government schools can not breathe the same air. The three can not coexist in the same space or at the same time.
It's nice to see someone take the long view, because this is finally what it's about.
The school administrators were delivering the object lesson that a student (or parent) may not question the obviously idiotic. It prepares them for district policies such as: it is fact that humans cause global warming because they are selfish wasteful polluters; it is fact that all white people are racist bigots and it is impossible for any minority to be racist, hateful or the instigator of violence towards whites; it is fact that all rich people stole all they have from poor people who earned it in sweatshops or slavery; it is fact that no human without papers can commit a crime entering the United States, and the property owners are criminals for having what the undocumented's need.
If the students question the idiotic dress code, they just might question the rest of the idiocy.
The ACLU didn't think of that. For us, it's called serendipity.
You have missed a critical point. It was not a school uniform, it was a dress code. However, it was so restrictive that clearly it was a uniform requriement which falls under a different set of rules in California. School tried an end around the law and got caught. Those responsible should really being paying the legal fees.
I believe it is called “Status Quo Ante.”
I’ve got a better idea, though. Become a conservative teacher. Teach kids history, and how to think. Not WHAT, but HOW! Then stand back...
“It’s truly disturbing if one reads the history of public education. Our system is based on Prussia’s, and Prussia’s system was basically intended to create citizens that are pliable and compliant to the whims of the state. I don’t see that such a system has a place in America.”
My understanding is that they were trying to raise compliant and pliable workers for their industrial and military systems. There, and here. I agree that such a system has no place here, but it is here. We have to deal with what is. That is partially why I became a teacher.
California, as a state, has different rules distinguishing dress codes and uniforms?
I’m all for dress codes too. We homeschooled, had pajama days.
We have had our own issues with school dress codes, even unintentionally. My daughter got pinched for have a shirt with a pastoral lake scene since it had the word Winchester on it (claim that it was firearms related). Though she and I disagreed, she changed her shirt and let it go. Another child was cited also for the word Winchester, though it was from the Winchester Mystery House. She got cleared when the parents went to school and protested. I suppose I could have done the same, but it wasn’t worth it to me or my daughter. One student got so annoyed with that kind of nonsense he wore his hunting vest to school. That caused some consternation, since it said nothing, but clearly was a purposeful thumbing of his nose at intent of the dress code and at anti gun liberals at the school. By noon he lost, but it did make the local paper.
I am so glad my youngest is almost through college and all this is behind me...
If that's the case, it's a different matter, then. So far as I know, there is no similar rule in our state.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I don’t enable alcoholics and I don’t enable the government school system.
I will not prop up and support government schools that, by their very nature, are incompatible with the First Amendment and freedom of conscience.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I have been a libertarian teacher. I homeschooled my kids until they entered college at the ages of 13, 12, and 13.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Re: Government schools
I personally do not enable alcoholics. I will not prop up and enable a government school system that trashes freedom of conscience and the First Amendment.
Unfortunately for you, most states disagree and have provided for public education in their state constitutions.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That’s why elections matter, because the winners get to pick the judges.
As long, long waiting lines continue to form for charters, vouchers, and tax credit programs, do you honestly think the delegates and representatives will be deaf to the pleas from these parents, their friends, relatives, and neighbors? As support for vouchers, charters, and tax credits tops the 80% mark among the poor and minorities, do you really think these delegates will turn a deaf ear to these voters?
And,,,then there is the daily reports of abuse, waste, ineffectiveness of the government schools on the Internet, talk radio, and cable.
Our representatives will appoint judges who will declare these government school mandates unconstitutional and incompatible with our Federal Constitution, and our representatives will change the laws.
But,,,,the best solution would be if the entire system simply collapsed on its own, by having parents withdraw their kids.
My tag line reads: “Good ideas win! Why? Because people are not stupid!”
Government schools always were, are now, and always will be incompatible with the First Amendment and freedom of conscience. This is a powerful idea that will win!
I also said, "The schools job is to enable those kids to function effectively in a free society, not to indoctrinate them to perform as sheep in an authoritarian one." That's important. Discipline should be restricted to the tasks at hand, that is for the purposes of learning both the subject matter and the principles of freedom. Dress codes have no relation to either. Neither does restricting freedom of speech, association, "press", or religion in such an arbitrary and authoritarian way as was done in this case.
"the uniform requirement was implemented after a good deal of community discussion, and with the approval and support of the majority of the parents. After the first few months, some parents didn't like the way some parts of the policy were being interpreted/enforced by some of the principals, and they petitioned the school board for clarification/changes, which were also implemented."
There was absolutely no justification to do this. It is not within the rights of anyone to dress others. That includes attempting to justify that intrusion of right by imposing it through democracy. It is repugnant to the idea of freedom and does nothing to foster learning of the basic subject matter. It's simply an exercise in arbitrary authoritarianism.
Just one of many reasons my children will never see the inside of the government indoctrination centers called “public schools” as a student.
My kids school has a dress code, and if you don’t like it, take your kids somewhere else.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.