Posted on 10/09/2009 7:48:04 AM PDT by ReagansRaiders
Soldier suspended from school Posted: Oct 8, 2009 05:26 PM
A NEWS10 EXCLUSIVE By MARK O'BRIEN
LANSINGBURGH -- High school senior Matthew Whalen is the kind of student any parent would want.
He's an Eagle Scout, on the honor roll, taking Advanced Placement classes, and never been in trouble with the law. He's received commendations from the City of Troy and the Boy Scouts of America for saving a woman's life, and this past summer, he completed Army basic training. All of it was accomplished before the age of 17.
"I'm just trying to do what I can while I can," Matthew says.
His goal is to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, a dream since he was in grade school.
"I have a first-grade yearbook that says I want to be driving tanks in the Army," Matthew says. "I mean, this is something that I know I've always wanted to do."
But the dream could be in jeopardy, thanks to a two-inch pocket knife that officials at Lansingburgh Senior High School found in Matthew's locked car last month. The pocket knife was a gift from his grandfather, Robert Whalen, who's the Hoosick Falls Police Chief. Matthew says he kept the knife in a side compartment and never tried showing it off or threatening anyone with it. Instead it was a part of the survival kit that was his car.
"My car is designed in a way that if I ever broke down, I'd be OK," Whalen explains. "I have a sleeping bag. I have bottled water. I have an MRE. I believe it's better to be prepared and not need it than need it and not have it."
Matthew says school officials approached him on Sept. 21, asking if he had a weapon on him. When Matthew answered he did not, he says the officials asked if he had a knife in his car. Matthew said it was a pocket knife, and took officials to his car when asked. He also turned over the pocket knife when asked.
The Lansingburgh Central School District has a zero-tolerance policy on weapons. According to the district's Codes of Conduct, students are not allowed to have "a weapon of any kind" on school grounds. Even though a pocket knife is not considered a weapon under New York State penal code, the district also prohibits students from possessing anything "that reasonably can be considered a weapon."
According to Matthew, the school suspended him for five days, during which time a Superintendent's hearing was held to determine the extent of his punishment. Matthew's family contends only the high school's principal and athletic director were present, not the Superintendent or the assistant principal who initially suspended Matthew. And despite a letter from Matthew's Scout Master explaining how a pocket knife is a common tool for scouts to have, the district suspended Matthew for another 15 days. The Whalens say they received no explanation as to why, and they claim there was no opportunity to ask.
"I want him to have fair treatment based on his character," says Matthew's father, Bryan Whalen. "It just totally baffles me that they would go after this when they have much bigger fish to fry."
The Whalens say during the Superintendent's hearing, officials admitted that Matthew cooperated fully, didn't have the pocket knife on him, had no intention of using it, and never threatened anyone with it. "They'd already made their decision," Whalen's father says.
In a statement to NEWS10, Superintendent George J. Goodwin says, "We do not comment on discipline related to an individual student. Our policies are clear that weapons are not permitted on school premises and subject to disciplinary consequences."
Legal expert Thomas Carr, of Tully Rinckey PLLC, says school districts are within their rights to impose and enforce safety policies, even if a pocket knife is not considered a weapon under New York State penal law. But he also says such school rules can quickly become so-called "gray areas" that leave the meaning of what's considered a weapon open ended.
"If this 17-year-old is driving his car to school," Carr says, "let's face it, the tire iron in the trunk to change the wheel is much more of a deadly weapon than a one-and-a-half inch blade knife."
Carr also says the Whalens might have grounds to pursue legal action against the district if Matthew felt he had no choice but to allow school officials to search his car.
At this point, the Whalens are not sure when or if they will sue the district. Instead, they want the district to reinstate Matthew immediately and remove this from his official student record.
"He needs to be doing the application for his admission to West Point right now," Bryan Whalen says. "They're delaying that, and that could be very costly for him."
Matthew says he wants to follow in the military footsteps of his father and grandfather. His grandfather, Robert Whalen, received two Purple Hearts for his service in the Vietnam War. Bryan Whalen served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and at Ground Zero, as his unit was on the scene by the evening of Sept. 11, 2001. He's also received the Soldier's Medal from the U.S. Army, and he pulled survivors from a burning helicopter that had crashed at the Stratton Air National Guard Base during an air show crash in 1991.
Matthew guesses a student must have told school officials, but he doesn't know who did it or why. His father thinks it might have been a prank to see Matthew get a little heat from administrators and that the intent was for it to never get this far.
"It's just plain wrong of what they've done," he says. "It isn't a weapon!"
But the family feels the district overreacted, if not for suspending Matthew in the first place, then for adding an additional 15 days to the original suspension.
"If they had told me, 'Take this out of your car,' I would have said alright, and it never would have been an issue," Matthew says. "I was upset with it, but I can understand that. They have the zero-tolerance rule."
The district provides a tutor for Matthew for 90 minutes every day; he's banned from stepping on school grounds for any reason whatsoever, including assignments and sporting events. Matthew says it's hard to cram more than six hours of work into his tutor time, and he says his work is not being graded until he returns to school. All he wants is to return to class.
"The rest of my life could be affected by this," he says.
Some one should call the police on the school officials for having weapons, tire irons and gasoline, in their cars.
“LHS Principal - Doctoral Graduate
Congratulations to Angelina Bergin, principal of Lansingburgh High School, on being awarded a Doctorate in Education degree from Sage Graduate School. Best wishes Dr. Bergin.”
LOL. Now she should go for the Nobel Peace Prize.
http://www.lansingburgh.org/index.php
Seriously, the whole crew should learn what it’s like to get hit with a huge civil suit. Defamation, damages, violation of Civil Rights, whatever might stick. They should have at least as many sleepless nights as the Scout’s family!
Nice little tool that one. A bit pricey for Clan Lurker right now so I've had to make do with a Fiskars hatchet. I got that as part of a 'buy the ax, get the hatchet' deal a couple years back. Glad I took advantage of it. I could shave with that sucker.
I tossed that little CZ and a few spare mags into mine, too.
"Be Prepared" ain't just a motto.
L
I know a guy super well, :-), I mean we are as close to identical as you can get. Any way this guy drove his kids to school for years with a work knife in his glove box and a machete, crow bar and baseball bat in the trunk.
..... My sincere sympathies go out to your godson. This is an absolute outrage IMO. I recommend that your family organize to fight this on every public front. Rally your family and friends to write to City Hall and the local newspaper, radio, and TV outlets. Approach your son’s friends to do likewise. Organize public protests in front of City Hall. Put the spotlight on these “school administrators”; they will cringe.
Do you know exactly why your godson was singled out for interrogation? Who inside the school administration initiated the process? Based upon the article’s glowing description of his background, he seems a strange individual indeed to have attract such attention from the school. I have a suspicion that this was NOT an accident and that your godsaon was singled out purposely - perhaps because he has openly declared his intention to pursue a career in military service after high school. I would in fact suggest that you publicly and loudly make public just that accusation (in carefully chosen words). It will at the very least put these scum on the defensive and will pry them out of their standard “no comment, we don’t discuss internal student matters” position.
Publik Indoctrination Centers. It is far more important to search the locked cars of students than it is to teach them how to read, write, count or vote against tyranny. On the other hand perhaps, they are teaching them to vote against tyranny.
Meetings
Regular board meetings are held the last Tuesday of the month in Library Media Center. Board of Education Meetings are open to the public.
The remaining meeting dates for the 2009-2010 school year are:
* October 27, 2009
Separately, I'd sue the heck out of them. These "educators" are wielding a deadly weapon called ignorance.
“And if Matthew never showed his knife to others, why was he singled out for this kind of search anyway?”
Probably ratted out by another kid who knew the knife was there.
We must manufacture more white criminals in the name of diversity.
Actually a number 2 lead or a 0.7mm Pentel P207 pencil makes a very fine weapon to kill and not just write with.
Will they next ban writing instruments ... Excuse me, I forgot, they don’t teach penmanship any more.
Might I also recommend that you post the phone numbers, e-mail addresses and mailing address of the school? Perhaps outraged citizens from across the country could let this school know what we think about their use of taxpayer dollars.
Couldn't a sharpened pencil or a BIC pen be used as a weapon?
I know getting into West Point is top priority for Mathew ande the family, but going on offense and hiring a lawyer and heading this thing off right away should be his strategy. What damage of getting into West Point has already begun. Waiting for mercy at the hands of these Schoolboard manics, will prove disastrous. Mathew is experiencing his actual first hand to hand combat with these bunch of paper pushing anti-American commie loving elected politicians and Mathew comes from a long line of fighters and must think of his goal of defending the constitution and not whether it will interferes with exceptance to West Point. I wish him well and God Bless.
Who ever snitched was a little liberal....a military hater...this isnt a prank...
A sharpened pencil to the eye, a bic pen up the nose, a geometry compass into the temple... a peanut butter sandwich shoved down the throat... um... let’s see....
The unasked question here is why did school officials "approach" him in the first place? This smells like a set-up.
My science teacher brought a Garand to Jr. High in California in the early 1970s. Of course he took the firing pin out, and a few of us were sharp enough to notice. We had hunter safety classes at lunch.
In order to be helpful:
Lansingburgh High School
320 Seventh Avenue
Troy, NY 12182
(518) 233-6806
Angelina Bergin
Lansingburgh High School
Principal
518-233-6806
in 5th grade, Armin Harnedy brought in his father’s M-1 rifle to school for show and tell. The principal insisted he bring it to the office first so the principal could remove the firing pin, then Armin was allowed to bring it in class. Safety first.
My Junior High used to be the high school when it was first built in the 50’s. It has a rifle range in it’s basement.
good idea!
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.