Student Whose Hair Set Afire Told To Stay Home

TheDenverChannel.com ^ | May 26, 2004

[R. Scott]

Make sure she has the ability too.

[Roberts]

My daughters, aged 13 and 7, take karate lessons. Sadly, I have no doubt that they'll need to use it at some point to defend themselvs, given the direction American youth are headed when it comes to treating girls with respect. We owe them the ability to take care of themselves.

[EGPWS]

A 13-year-old Denver girl said she was threatened with a knife at her middle school and her hair was set on fire, yet she was the one who was told to stay home for the remainder of the school year while her alleged attacker wasn't suspended or even investigated.

Jeesh, move along, for this kind of stuff has been going on in our country since "The Beaver" was prominent in TV land.

Why I remember when I was in the sixth grade I was cheated out of losing a marble tournament because my foe and the referee were friends and in my frustration brought up the fact that they were cheating. I was sent home for it.

I shouldn't have disputed the decision of the referee.

It's basically the same thing isn't it? /sarcasm

[Jeff Gordon]

steering clear of any M. L. King Blvd

Amen.

[jtminton]

I've taught her how to punch and she can almost throw a softball farther than I can. Plus, she has a 16yo brother. She can hold her own. :)

[NCC-1701]

"...The punk that did this needs to get expelled..."

The punk that did this needs to be in jail for assault and other reasons.

[EGPWS]

My daughters, aged 13 and 7, take karate lessons. Sadly, I have no doubt that they'll need to use it at some point to defend themselves, given the direction American youth are headed when it comes to treating girls with respect.

For your own sake keep a low profile on this for if it gets out, "Karate'" will take the same path as "hand guns" have for the "Karate'" challenged self defenders!

[Corporate Law]

Hopefully she will sue and then get enough to pay for a private school and get out of that school. I can envision a "payoff" like that by the public school district to make the publicity go away.

[zeugma]

Does it say anywhere whether or not the attacker was a football player?

[rockrr]

Your story is eerily similar to mine. My daughter didn't hit the boy, but instead complained to her teacher. When the teacher refused to intervene, she called me.
I called the school to report the incident and was put off by the staff at the front desk.
When I arrived they had my daughter in custody, watched over by a security officer (rent-a-nazi). I demanded to speak to the principal. She declined, so I barged into her office. I explained (in one of those Clint Eastwood quiet voices) that she had one opportunity to do the right thing. I told her that I insisted that the boy be suspended from school for the assault (and recommended expulsion). I demanded that she get the little perverts parents into the office toot sweet so that I could face them directly. I didn't give them a choice on whether or not to involve the cops - I called them myself. And I told the little punk that if I ever heard of him touching my daughter again, he would lose the use of that appendage permanently.
The principal was beside herself (scared sh!tless) because I laid all of this out in a calm monotone voice that dripped with earnestness.
And I followed it with "And if you can't take care of this, I will".

[R. Scott]

Good Girl!

[dufekin]

My guess is that as a part of her punishment for "instigating and participating in violence" (the rule under which obvious victims were punished when I went to school; the School Board always vetoed punishment of bullies), she will be prohibited from taking her final examinations and will fail her classes on account of failing the finals. Therefore, she will need remediation in summer school, classes in which are dominated by bullies--especially the bus ride afterwards--who also failed.

May God bless and protect this girl; the bullying definitely is not finished and is bound to get worse before it gets better.

[AD from SpringBay]

"He shouldn't come back in school. I should be in school taking my education and it's not fair," said Glowczewski.

The girl shows a strong grasp of reality that comes from the public school. Now I'm just guessing that since color wasn't mentioned - the girls is white and her attackers are not. And I bring this up because you can bet your house, if the attackers were white and the girl was not, this would be on the world news tonight's crisis du jour special. Yes, Glowczewski, it's not fair.

[Freedom2specul8]

Yet another victim of liberals who are afraid to enforce disciplinary procedures..

People are STUPID.

[BJungNan]

This is very, very common at public schools. When it comes to outcast students, the administrators as much children as the children they are supposed to supervise.

[dufekin]

I guess all those no-tolerance policies only apply to really dangerous things like aspirin and plastic forks.

The purpose of zero-tolerance policies is to prevent students from defending themselves and to pacify them through fear. Of course the enforcers of zero-tolerance policies ignore real bullies; serious gangsters, bullies, hard-core druggies, and criminals are just too scary to punish. Victims are usually easier to punish; hence, we get stories like this. I heard plenty of stories like this when I went to school.

[R. Scott]

For your own sake keep a low profile on this for if it gets out, "Karate'" will take the same path as "hand guns" have for the "Karate'" challenged self defenders!

Nothing new.
When I was in high school in North Carolina (1961) I was “that damnedyankee”. I enrolled in a Judo/Karate club. The first time I had to use it (5-1 odds) the principal informed me that any more use of such a dangerous skill would get me expelled.
I ignored him.

[BJungNan]

I think the rule for avoiding danger by steering clear of any M. L. King Blvd in large metro US cities probably applies to any school named ML King as well.

You mean you don't take that exit either?

[tutstar]

I watched the video, thanks for mentioning it.

It's absolutely unbelievable that this child was attacked and then told to stay home. The principal and assistant principal should be fired. No questions asked.

They have likely violated some of the ADA with their negligence in reporting it to the police and not dealing with the bullying before it got out of hand.

[Freedom2specul8]

There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG with parents standing up to lazy, incompetent, ignorant and fearful school staff. You called the cops, and you knew exactly what the right thing to do was.

The so called staff is so afraid of the bullies AND their parents, that they forget that there are tough parents like you out there that aint going to take their bs.

Oh and utilizing the media for your purpose is worth it from time to time. Do you know the name of the reporter who covers your school district perhaps? It helps to be on a name to name basis with them too.