Posted on 09/11/2010 8:53:11 AM PDT by Ralph the Hun
TROPHY CLUB, Texas - Administrators at Byron Nelson High School in Trophy Club suspended a 16-year-old boy on Tuesday because his eyes were bloodshot and they thought he might have been smoking marijuana.
The teen said he was not high. Instead his eyes were red because he had been grieving the loss of his murdered father.
Kyler Robertson’s father was stabbed to death on Sunday. His mother honored his wishes and let him go to school on Tuesday to be with his friends.
“I am sure he had a lot on his mind going to school. I had asked him not to go to school,” said Cristy Fritz.
Before returning to class Kyler had to go to the office to get a tardy slip. That’s when school employees accused him of being high because he had red and watery eyes.
Fritz said she got a call from administrators who told her Kyler would be suspended for three days.
“I was pleading with her to understand the severity of the situation, his emotional well being. How could they do this to him at this time? What are the alternatives?” she said.
District spokeswoman Lesley Weaver would not discuss the case with FOX 4, but said when administrators suspect a student is under the influence, a school nurse will observe symptoms like their behavior, odor and their eyes.
The district does not actually test students, though. That’s left to the parents.
Fritz said she was told by the assistant principal that she could have Kyler tested for drugs within two hours and if it was negative he could return to school. She did just that.
Kyler was allowed to return to class after he showed school administrators a copy of his negative test results.
The teen’s mom still wants an apology from administrators and she wants the district to remove the suspension from his permanent record. She is in the process of appealing it.
“We had other things to do this week than worry about a three day window for an appeal, a two hour window for a drug test and my son’s reputation and high school career,” she said.
Absolutely, that’s why he passed the drug test, yes?
And now you are the world’s sole arbiter of how much support he needs?
Does he not get to go to lunch with his friends, will no one pass him a note, give him a hug, touch his shoulder in support, hold his hand, or cry with him?
He’s not you.
ping
TX is of course, TX. I have two brother who are "Texan by choice" and both teach. They both hate dislike the liberals infesting the school system.
Obviously. But the parent should've informed the administration and/or guidance about the situation.
“Why are school officials, virtually all of whom have college degrees and most of whom have advanced degrees, so lacking in common sense?”
Simple fact answers the above question: The education department is the habitat for the bottom 10% of the IQ spectrum in universities.
True for the ‘professors’ and for their students.
The usual downward progression for the bottom 10% is:
1. Pre-law, mre-med, science or engineering major, but advised to transfer to English.
2. English major, but advised to transfer to Journalism.
3. Journalism major, but advised to transfer to education.
PS The collectivism index rises as the downward progression through the hallowed halls of the “Academented” occurs.
“If I was the kid’s mother I would sue the shit out of them.”
Safe bet is she will.
-Snip-
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/09/11/2459529/northwest-district-officials-apologize.html#my-headlines-default
With the allergies I had growing up I would have been expelled as many times as I had bloodshot eyes.
***And now you are the world’s sole arbiter of how much support he needs?***
Sounds like you are.
What was this principal smoking?
Some of the stupidest bureaucrats on earth are employed by Texas taxpayers as clueless public school administrators.
The School Board should suspend the principal and the nurse and have this incident put on their permanent work file.
So dumb. Any stoner kid knows to use Visine before going to class anyway.
Tests for pot show positive up to six weeks after smoking. He was tested that day. Negative. He is not a pot smoker.
It's time to abolish public schools. Give each kid a voucher worth $X at the private school of his parents' choice. Let the unemployed teachers form new companies to compete to educate kids for that voucher money. Auction the existing physical plants to the new companies. In the new environment, most of the administrators would find themselves redundant
, as they say in the UK, along with such of the teachers who were not actually good.
The surviving parent did. Read the article.
You are correct that they should've known. No conscientious professional in education accuses a child who's upset of using drugs....they talk to them in private.
It used to be that situations such as this went through school nurses. Now very few schools have them; too expensive with all of the other priorities, of course.
Fire 'em all. They just might've been within their rights to be so insensitive. But no caring parent would want these administrators anywhere near their kids if crisis management is necessary.
My daughters went to a school like that in TX -- over 4000 students. I dug deep and came up with the $$$ to send my sons to a private, Jesuit College Prep (about 400 students at the time). Best decision I ever made. It was too bad that there was not a comparable slchool for the girls, but they were AP students and in a closed environment, so they did OK.
When it was time for college, I had a hard time in TX finising a college larger than the HS. At the time, TX was full of teeny, tiny colleges and gigantic Universities.
You are absolutely right that that staff did not know the child and really didn't care at all.
Funny thing, the regular curriculum at the Jesuit Prep School was stiffer than the Advanced Placement curriculum at public school. And, at Jesuit, the Principal knew your name and a lot about you before the first week was over. My sons couldn't slack off and hide there.
Sounds like you are.
Nope. HE said he wanted/needed to go to school, not me. I'm merely willing to let him be the arbiter of his needs. You want to rule him.
Everyone processes grief in their own way and at their own pace.
It was what he believed and said he needed and you assume he was sneaking out to par-TAY.
See post #45. Which are you?
If he was tested by an independent lab then I would agree that he did not smoke pot.
See paragraph 8 in the article...
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