Posted on 03/20/2002 2:12:41 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
Expulsion by the book, superintendent says
Administrators' hands tied by state, federal statutes, schools chief contends
03/20/2002
BEDFORD - The Hurst-Euless-Bedford schools superintendent said Tuesday that administrators' hands are tied in cases involving zero-tolerance policies.
The acknowledgement followed the expulsion of an honor student who was found to have a knife on school property earlier this month.
During a news conference Tuesday, Gene Buinger said that if school district administrators could untie state policies that sometimes bind their hands in student disciplinary matters, many of them might.
But they can't.
"School districts need more discretion as to the length of penalty, and how that penalty is carried out," said Dr. Buinger, who also said he would support adjusting the law.
Honor student Taylor Hess of L.D. Bell High School in Hurst was expelled from school after officials found a 10-inch bread knife with a nonserrated blade in the bed of his pickup while it was parked on campus.
Robert Hess, Taylor's father, said the knife was left behind after the two helped move the student's grandmother from Cedar Hill to the Bedford area.
Taylor, who was given a one-year expulsion, could end up in the Tarrant County Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program. A hearing regarding the matter is scheduled for Thursday.
"He's been victimized," Mr. Hess said. "He feels let down."
The knife was turned over to Hurst police, who said they would not pursue criminal action against Taylor.
"There has to be intent," said Lt. Steve Moore of the Hurst police department. "This seems to be more of a bad accident than anything."
H-E-B district administrators said district policy and the Texas Education Code prohibit a student from possessing an illegal knife, one with a blade longer than 5 and a half inches that is "designed to cut or stab another by being thrown," according to the Texas Penal Code.
The Texas Education Code and the district's student code of conduct also states that a student found to have such a knife "must be expelled."
Dr. Buinger did not discuss Taylor's case specifically Tuesday, but he did offer details about laws and policies that lead to the expulsion of students who have knifes on campus.
The district may not substitute alternative punishment for such matters, Dr. Buinger said. The policies are not the creation of local school districts, but are instead required by Texas law, he added.
"In an effort to create safe schools, the state legislature and Congress ... have basically tied the hands of the school district and local administrators who best know the student," Dr. Buinger said.
The district does have some latitude regarding the time-length of punishment, a matter that has been brought into question because of Taylor's expulsion that is set for one-year.
Until the law changes, districts will have to follow the zero-tolerance policy as it is written, Dr. Buinger said.
But that makes no sense, said Sharon Overath, a parent with a student at L.D. Bell.
"I understand zero-tolerance, but I think you can take something to an extreme," Ms. Overath said. "We need to look at the total student and a student's record should carry some weight.
"I don't want to hear we can't make an exception, because we do it all the time with plea bargaining and the justice system."
Some say the zero-tolerance policy doesn't allow room for innocent mistakes or coincidence.
"At first, I thought [zero-tolerance] was great, because I support anything that will keep firearms and weapons out of the schools, but now I don't know," said Kimberley Moore."I have a son who's a senior who has been a honor student since the ninth grade and I'm just thinking if this happened to him and he was suspended, I would be upset," she said.
The policy not only leaves little room for discussion, but also lumps "bad kids and good kids in the same group," said Ms. Overath, who has five children in the school district.
"We're just taking a broad brush and drawn it across the whole board," she added.
Looks like a box cutter would be allowed.
Faculty and Staff E-mail ...........(NOT LISTED)*
*As mandated by the Superintendent and the Communications Department:
Faculty and staff e-mail addresses, other than head administrators and principals, are intentionally not posted on the HEB ISD Web site. HEB ISD employees may find e-mail listings to all employees in the address book within the GroupWise Network. Parents may request e-mail addresses directly from their child's teachers. All other e-mail addresses may be requested through the Superintendent's office.
Based on the below, I think buingerg@hebisd.edu is a reasonable guess for an email address.
OFFICIAL | DESCRIPTION | FIRST_NAME | LAST_NAME | STREET_ADDRESS | CITY | STATE | ZIP | ZIPEXT | AREACODE | PHONE | FAX | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SUPERINTENDENT | DISTRICT EXEC ADMINISTRATOR | GENE | BUINGER | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 2834461 | 3543309 | |
BOARD MEMBER | DISTRICT BOARD MEMBERS | LORRAINE | TATAREVICH | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 2824384 | 3143156 | ltatarevich@home.com |
BOARD MEMBER | DISTRICT BOARD MEMBERS | RON | MAY | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 2821211 | 5719151 | 1ronmay@home.com |
BOARD MEMBER | DISTRICT BOARD MEMBERS | TOMMY | TAYLOR | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 2684651 | 3143302 | tommytaylor-heb@home.com |
BOARD MEMBER | DISTRICT BOARD MEMBERS | ELLEN | JONES | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 5711744 | 5454561 | west411@email.msn.com |
BOARD PRESIDENT | DISTRICT BOARD MEMBERS | JOHN | CLANTON | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 2859121 | 3143175 | johnclanton@home.com |
BOARD SECRETARY | DISTRICT BOARD MEMBERS | FAYE | BEAULIEU | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 6858156 | 5715119 | fayebeaulieu@home.com |
BOARD VICE-PRESIDENT | DISTRICT BOARD MEMBERS | JEFF | BURNETT | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 7888105 | 3159572 | jeff@firsthurst.com |
ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT | DISTRICT STAFF | JOY | BUSEY | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 2834461 | 3543311 | buseyj@hebias.edu |
ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT | DISTRICT STAFF | STEVE | CHAPMAN | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 2834461 | 3543311 | chapmans@hebisd.edu |
ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT | DISTRICT STAFF | KARRY | CHAPMAN | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 2834461 | 3543557 | chapmank@hebisd.edu |
ASSOCIATE SUPERINTENDENT | DISTRICT STAFF | GLEN | CUMMINS | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 2834461 | 3543311 | cumminsg@hebisd.edu |
ASSOCIATE SUPERINTENDENT | DISTRICT STAFF | PAUL | FANNIN | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 2834461 | 3543311 | fanninp@hebisd.edu |
AT-RISK/DROPOUT PREVENTION | DISTRICT STAFF | MARY | MCCABE-MORRIS | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 2834461 | 3543311 | mccabe@hebisd.edu |
BUSINESS MANAGER | DISTRICT STAFF | MICHELE | BECK | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 2834461 | 3543558 | beckm@hebisd.edu |
CHILD FIND CONTACT | DISTRICT STAFF | BARBARA | BRADSHAW | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 2834461 | 3543311 | bradshawb@hebisd.edu |
DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT | DISTRICT STAFF | DONNA | RAWLINGS | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 2834461 | 3543311 | rawlngsd@hebisd.edu |
DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT | DISTRICT STAFF | LYNNE | RIGG | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 2834461 | 3543558 | riggl@hebisd.edu |
PEIMS COORDINATOR | DISTRICT STAFF | PAUL | FANNIN | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 2834461 | 3543311 | fanninp@hebisd.edu |
SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKER | DISTRICT STAFF | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | ||||||
SPECIAL EDUCATION DIRECTOR | DISTRICT STAFF | MARIAN | CLINTON | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 2834461 | 3543311 | clintonm@hebisd.edu |
TAAS COORDINATOR | DISTRICT STAFF | KIM | ROSE | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 2834461 | 3543311 | rosek@hebisd.edu |
TECHNOLOGY COORDINATOR | DISTRICT STAFF | JOHN | SELLGREN | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 2834461 | 3549408 | sellgrej@hebisd.edu |
TED ADMINISTRATOR | DISTRICT STAFF | JUDY | RAMOS | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 2834461 | 3543311 | ramosj@hebisd.edu |
WEB ER CONTACT | DISTRICT STAFF | MICHELE | BECK | 1849 CENTRAL DR | BEDFORD | TX | 76022 | 6096 | 817 | 2834461 | 3543558 | beckm@hebisd.edu |
I saw the knife on TV a minute ago. It's one of those real long serrated bread knives.That makes more sense than the article that describes it as nonserrated.
It would bend in half if you tried to stab anyone.
Actually, if schrool administrators think that a bread knife is a weapon, then that is one more reason not to send kids to public school. A bread knife is only a weapon if you are a loaf of bread.
The second is that these are "policies" and not laws and this policy is set by each school district. So...it is up to the school district to make the call on this infraction.
It looked like this (above) but thinner. Flimsy looking and cheap. The kind of bread knife that bends real easy.
I ran all the bread knife images I could find against my "moronic school administrator conversion software". It gives you an idea what the "edu-crats" saw when they looked at the knife with their "edu-crat eyes":
A
What has happened to good old fashioned common sense?
The rival has to be kicked out of school for a year. God knows we cannot use our brains about this.
What a great way to get rid of someone competing for your girl/guy, or who might possibly edge you out of that starting position on a team -- or even as a way to dry-gulch your competitor for validictorian.
What has happened to good old fashioned common sense?It's out of style. PC and ignorance is the in thing now, I guess........
This knife was not designed to "cut or stab someone by being thrown".
This is not a throwing knife. It was not designed as a throwing knife. Because of its balance, you probably couldn't throw it at all more than a few feet without it turning sideways.
Re the PCing and loss of common sense. It is prevalent out here to the max.
A few years ago, a young teenager we knew, a son of single Mom, really liked my mini Swiss Pocket knife. The one with the minature scissors, knife blade about 2 inches long and a nail file. It is a handy little tool and not much of a threat except maybe the user if he held the wrong way.
So I bought a new one and gave it to him. He proudly took it to school and was showing it to his peers. A rat teacher, sees it and takes it from him. I get the call from the principal's office since I gave the kid the knife, and they couldn't get hold of his mother who was out working as a saleslady.
I drove to the school and went to the office. After a short heated discussion with the prinicipal, the teacher and the off duty cop. They lightened up on the boy. I went from a dangerous knife provider to a conservative who promised to get them fired, tarred and feathered and then ran out of the community, if they made this a big deal. I told the cop to go out and bust up some of the Mexican Gangs on Campus if he wanted to do something to protect the kids. (We were having a real problem with Mexican Gangs shooting and killing each other, and he was acting upset about a minature Swiss Army knife!"). When I told him that his direct supervisor was a friend of over 20 years, he left the office.
The compromise was that he would miss 3 days of school and the knife would be seized. I said that if the knife was not given to me, they would be exposed to be even bigger fools. They gave me the knife, and I drove the young boy to his home.
I shudder to think what would have happened if his mother had gone down instead of me.
"At first, I thought [zero-tolerance] was great, because I support anything that will keep firearms and weapons out of the schools, but now I don't know," said Kimberley Moore.
If you smack me in the head with a two-by-four, you might spark my dormant brain cells into functioning for a brief flashing moment.
Now back to Oprah.
Bingo. Government schools lead to this kind of crap eventually.
This is just more evidence of the "Death of Common Sense". Not to mention the cowardice of the administrators and teachers involved in this case. I wouldn't give a nickle for someone who wouldn't stand up and say "enough is enough". This boy could suffer ramifications for the rest of his life for absolutely no fault at all on his part.
Anyone with balls would defend him and defy the law and see who shows up to defend this bullsh-t law. You are only afforded a few chances in life to do something which is truly meaningful and helpful to another human being, and you can't let them get away.
I long for the fifties type people who I grew up to respect as a child. They would never have allowed this to happen.
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