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.
They allow pencils and pens at school, and I know for a fact they can be used as weapons. I’ve seen it done, and even done it myself. Seen a desk used as a weapon, too, for that matter.
Zero Tolerance policy = Don’t need to use a brain policy.
We took our rifles to school for JROTC and marksmanship club.
I made a custom laminate stock for an old Remington 700 30/06 in wood shop and kept it in my shop locker And this was in the early 70’s in Indiana.
Add an Air Force Master Sergeant to the folks proud of his preparedness and attitude. This country needs more people like this young man, and far fewer like that brain-dead administrator.
WRM, MSgt, USAF(Ret.)
The backpack is also stashed well out of sight and our lot is video monitored.
Try stashing it underneath your spare tire. Just a thought.
Here it is.
http://www.lansingburgh.org/lhs/index.php
FReepers, let's keep it polite, but let these folks know the whole country is watching them.
WRM, MSgt, USAF
Your godson has a great future ahead of him. Don’t let this one example of bureaucratic idiocy stand in his way. Just put it behind and tell him to keep doing what he’s doing.
“I actually teach at West Point. I forwarded the article to my boss who has friends at admissions. He is going to try to make them aware of the issue and hopefully this incident can be put in context and waivered if necessary. They will still have to make their own determination of course.”
Excellent! My cousin Will is in Iraq now, and guys like this kid are the kind of people I want leading him and his troops over there. Thank you for helping to teach all those kids how to do a very demanding and necessary job.
WRM, MSgt, USAF(Ret.)
Interesting. I used to trade ammunition with a son of a school committee member, and one of the teachers (a liberal ...very liberal actually...but a Vietnam Cav Veteran) knew of it and thought nothing of it. I’d be interested to know the military backgrounds of the school committee and administrators involved. It almost seems as if the kid were targeted, the way the story is written.
anything “that reasonably can be considered a weapon.”
Absurd criteria....what about: tire irons, baseball bats, screwdrivers, hammers?
Where does this stupidity end?
169 posts, not one replied to by you, RR. Where are ya?
Zero-tolerance was a response to the obvious futility of trying to win the War On Drugs.
The True Believers thought that re-doubling their fanaticism, and throwing all logic and reason out the window would curry favor with their Sky Gods of Prohibition.
Now we’re stuck with the cowardly idea, at least until Eagle Scouts start demonstrating the difference between a pocket knife and a real weapon to their oppressors, up close and personal.
There are many great things about the state of Indiana; letting kids take guns to school can be added to the list.
Can't say as I'll be sorry to see that day come.
It is obvious to me more and more every day that this is not the planet that I was born on.
Or maybe it is the same planet, but at some point, at least half the people were replaced by duplicates that look human, but are completely bereft of any ordinary human capacity for reason and judgment. That’s the only way to explain this idiotic “zero tolerance” nonsense.
Unfortunately, it appears that the half of the population that are bereft of reason and judgment are all educators or politicians.
From their website:
Please submit information on a Lansingburgh High School graduate who deserves recognition for an outstanding academic achievement, career or life accomplishment, community or citizenship acknowledgement, fascinating endeavor, etc. We want to hear it all!
Looks like this young man is just what they are seeking!!!
I hope they sue the crap out of the school district.
Give him a hug from me.
Mom of two Eagle Scouts...
did you see this?
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.
Race, In the 8th grade, one of my class mates brought in his hunting rifle in to that same junior high. He wrote a long report about hunting for our English class. He took the firing pin out. Some jerk went into the room where the rifle was stored and found some bullets that were in the rifle case and started to throw them to the floor trying to set them off. None went off. The idiot was suspended. I will freep mail you and give you the name. You probably remember him. This guy was on the football team. He dropped out of school 3 months before graduation to join the service. Right before he dropped out he got a Mohawk haircut. The Marines threw him out for his misbehavior within a few months.
I remember Armand too. He lived on Jackson St. I went over his house one time and he showed me some old classic car from the early 60's in his garage that he was restoring.
Next school board meeting ask em all if they have a tire iron or lug wrench in their trunk an then demand they resign for violating their own zero tolerance policy. .
As a former Deputy Sheriff I would shoot the attacker with a tire iron just as I would an attacker with a knife
Ask them where the insanity stops. Tire iron is not an acceptable answer.
Sorry for yer troubles. Respect to Matthew for all his efforts to excel.
Yes and all I can do is shake ny head first at the injustice done and secondly at the sheer stupidity of the school district.
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