Sixth-grader charged in grade switch caper

palm beach post ^ | 2/12/03 | Nirvi Shah

[freepatriot32]

PORT ST. LUCIE -- While other students ate turkey tetrazzini in the cafeteria, a St. Lucie West Middle sixth-grader used the excuse of forgetting his lunch to return to his reading classroom and sat down at his teacher's computer to change five reading assignment grades, St. Lucie County sheriff's deputies said Tuesday.

The 11-year-old student, who faces a 10-day suspension and a principal's recommendation that he be expelled, was arrested Monday on a felony charge of offense against intellectual property.

The boy told reading teacher Susan Seal he left his lunch in her room, according to a sheriff's report. Instead of retrieving his meal, he sat down at her computer, changed the grades of five reading assignments and saved the changes. Math teacher Tanya Schmidt saw the boy at the computer and asked what he was doing.

"He told her that Mrs. Seal sent him to get a floppy disk," according to the report.

When Schmidt talked with Seal, she found out the student was lying. He was sent to the office, where the dean called the school resource deputy.

According to state law, "Whoever willfully, knowingly, and without authorization modifies data... residing or existing internal or external to a computer... for the purpose of devising or executing any scheme or artifice to defraud... is guilty of a felony of the second degree."

"He modified data. I'd say it was a scheme to defraud," said Ellen Mancini, an assistant state attorney in the St. Lucie County juvenile division. "That's what he did."

Despite the boy's age and the rarity of the crime -- Sheriff Ken Mascara said it is the first case he has seen -- Mancini said she would be comfortable prosecuting it

"It's cheating. It's depriving other students of the fairness of the system," she said. "It's as much a fraud as anything else. Sometimes, you have to do things as an example of the authority of both the school system and the legal system."

St. Lucie West Middle teachers use electronic grade books to track grades, determine averages and create biweekly progress reports to send to parents, Principal Helen Roberts said. Teachers have passwords to access their books, but Seal's was open when the student went into her classroom, Roberts said.

"There's also a way to lock it down, and we sent out reminders about how to do that," she said.

The St. Lucie school district lists "the changing, erasing, removing or otherwise manipulating computer data through unauthorized entry" in its code of conduct as among the most serious infractions. It calls for an automatic 10-day suspension and recommendation for expulsion and "may result in... referral to appropriate law enforcement agency."

Neither the student nor his parents could be reached Tuesday.

The student couldn't get into the school district's mainframe and couldn't access grades in his other classes from the teacher's computer, school district spokeswoman Michelle Sjogren said.

The student was booked into the St. Lucie County jail, then released to his father. Mancini said he could face several years in a juvenile detention facility, if convicted.

"Obviously, this is a very serious offense," Sjogren said. "Students need to know it has serious consequences."

Staff writer Will Vash contributed to this story.

nirvi_shah@pbpost.com

[martianagent]

Fascism in schools isn't totally new. I'll never forget having a really bad case of flu and having some stupid principals assistant call and ask why I wasn't at school and, hearing that I had the flu, asking if she could speak to one of my parents to verify that. I told her that unlike herself, both of my parents had honest jobs and worked for a living, and hung up the phone.

[waterstraat]

PORT ST. LUCIE "used to be" a nice, quiet, peaceful town without much crime when I used to go there. I guess it isnt safe to go down there anymore with even grade school kids now committing felonies.

[Zavien Doombringer]

We are now in a pure litigation society, where people are now asking the courts to decide thier life choices, and petty disputes. Since when did our public school system become a proxy court house? Where is the true crime in an 11 year old? I would wonder about a 22 year old in college, but not an 11 year old. I actually think it was quite humorous, as wrong as it is, that kid has balls.

[vnix]

Twenty years ago, he would have got a d, today, he'd be a shining star in our public school system

[Zavien Doombringer]

Let me add this...

My son was caught skateboarding on school grounds, yes it is prohibited and there are signs everywhere stating that. It was wrong what he was doing. That isn't going to be my point. Here goes,

When he was caught, it was the school security guard, after school hours (5-pm). The security guard then reported my son to the principle who was going to suspend him for a week. I told him to go ahead, and that I would sue. My reason, I began to tell him was this. "Dr. Fisher, my son attends this school from 730am to 3-pm, when he is here during that time frame, you have the right to dicipline my son for infractions. After school hours, he is mine. YOu are our of your jurisdiction". He began to reason because it was school property he had the right. again, I reiterated "Dr. Fisher, this school belongs to the City of Portsmouth, not you. The police are required to handle cases of after school trespassing. The dicipline isn't yours to give. Call the police next time". I never heard from the incident again, and niether has my son.

[Publius6961]

Do you think today's school would have had me prosecuted for forgery or defrauding the school?

If they can suspend you for using a chicken bone as a "gun", sure.
This is a real crime; it's not rocket science.

[MEGoody]

Your school and your parents handled this correctly. Calling in the police is over the top.

[MEGoody]

"The teacher (VERY RIGHTLY) failed them...only to have the parents threaten a lawsuit if the grades weren't changed...the parents won. LOVELY."

A similar situation happened in Kansas, only the students plagerized for a paper they were writing. Teacher flunked them, parents complained, students all passed, teacher quit.

[LibKill]

A felony charge?

How about a good old-fashioned spanking with a paddle? What's wrong with that?

[Thinkin' Gal]

You're right about the teacher's responsibility in the matter. What really concerns me about all of these ambiguous laws is this, how do you keep track of everything? What ever happened to childhood mistakes? The boy is wrong, and should be suspended. But, not prosecuted. Children are not being taught what is right or wrong, but later, they are held to the highest standard when it comes to prosecution.

What responsibility? These clueless incompetent nitwits never expect to be held accountable for anything, but woe to a child who is just learning about the world around him... what he learns is that these same "adults" will call the cops if he does something wrong. The state now gets involved in what used to be handled between the schools and the parents. I really feel sorry for kids these days, because many never learn what righteous judgment is. Good authority figures - people who know how to 'lay down the law' without involving authorities, while teaching a lesson and deterring future mischief - are practically non-existent. Everything becomes a federal case, nobody thinks for themselves, they call an agent of the government to take care of their silly problems, and voila! sane people are herded into the cattlecars.

[kjam22]

It's a different world these days than when we were kids. Parents didnt' sue the school at the drop of a hat. Corporal punishment was allowed... actually expected.

One thing that I feel certain about.. this kid will not be a party to identity theft or other related computer / internet crimes when he grows up.

I think the punishment is to stiff in this case. But I think lots ways that society and schools interact are screwed up.

[CharacterCounts]

The statute, most assuredly, was not intended to cover this type of conduct. Intent to defraud implies intent to take something of value from another.

This prosecutor needs to get a life.

[kjam22]

These things generally come down to the attitude of the person guilty of the crime. We don't know what conversations have transpired between the parents and the prosecutor. Maybe it is all the prosecutor. And maybe it is a parent that doesn't understand the system any better than the kid does.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I'll second that.

[Thinkin' Gal]

One thing that I feel certain about.. this kid will not be a party to identity theft or other related computer / internet crimes when he grows up.

You are assuming that he won't be working for the government. :-|

[kjam22]

LOL... yep. When these type of things escalate... there is generally a reason. Generally it is "hot" parent who is gonna sue everybody in the world. Gonna set that school straight.. etc etc. Not always.... but generally.

I find it hard to believe that it would be where it is now if the parent had been an "I'm sorry my child did this. I support the suspension and expulsion. I always try to teach my child to obey the law and rules and do what is right. Let me know when my child can come back to school and I will see to it that he/she never messes with a teacher's computer again."

[Route66]

Back when it was legal to discipline children in school, we did not have to drag the legal system into it.

Can you even believe we have reached the point where some sixth grade kid changing grades in the modern equivalent of what many of us remember as the teacher's grade book has been charged with a felony and MADE NATIONAL NEWS? God help us - and our kids.

[mvpel]

http://www.sepschool.org/

[FroedrickVonFreepenstein]

[ladylib]

There are a lot of kids in FL who have been charged with felonies at school.

If I had a smart-ass kid and I lived in FL, there would be no way I would send him to a public school.