The Idiots Are Running The Educatorium
A mother responded to an emergency call that her little boy, who has Asperger's, was having a panic attack in school. She did what mothers do -- dropped everything and ran straight to his elementary school classroom to calm and comfort him...and was promptly arrested for failing to check in at the front office.
Law prof Jonathan Turley blogs:
Notably, she had just met with the principal a day or so before. Thus, the principal knew Williams. However, ran up to her in the classroom and told her that she failed to sign in. When Williams noted that she was comforted her child and could sign in if someone brought the book, the principal told her it was too late -- the police were on the way.Let assume for a second all the principal saw was not a women with whom she just met but a blur running past the office. Once she clearly saw it was the mother of this panicked child, why wouldn't she call off the police. Instead, the mother was arrested and charged. This brings us to the officers who could have shown greater judgment and simply escorted out the mother with a warning. Then there are the police supervisors and prosecutors who could have declined the charge. No one exercised a modicum of judgment in this situation of a mother rushing to her child.
She was charged with trespassing. The school was locked down briefly and a letter sent to all parents about the incident. It was a mother rushing to her crying child.
Turley, like Harvey Silverglate, has written with concern about the criminalization of everything in America. From the link above to Silverglate's book, Three Felonies a Day:
In Three Felonies a Day, Harvey A. Silverglate reveals how federal criminal laws have become dangerously disconnected from the English common law tradition and how prosecutors can pin arguable federal crimes on any one of us, for even the most seemingly innocuous behavior. The volume of federal crimes in recent decades has increased well beyond the statute books and into the morass of the Code of Federal Regulations, handing federal prosecutors an additional trove of vague and exceedingly complex and technical prohibitions to stick on their hapless targets.
I'll be glad (and surprised) when parents start getting involved in local school elections. Being vocal before incidents works best, but requires many participants to be effective.
Bob in Texas at March 26, 2014 6:43 AM
I read this story a day or two ago. In addition to the mom meeting with the principal the day before, she had to be "buzzed" into the school. So someone knew who she was and why she was there, before the principal called the police. I'm surprised the SWAT team didn't show up for this.
Completely agree with Turley, it is shocking that not one person looked at the totality of the situation and didn't walk away. Better yet, it would have been epic if the police had put the principal in handcuffs for false reporting!
sara at March 26, 2014 6:49 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2014/03/26/the_idiots_are.html#comment-4429422">comment from saraI'm still in mourning for the death of sense.
Amy Alkon
at March 26, 2014 6:52 AM
"a letter sent to all parents about the incident."
My guess that was the real intent, to inform other parents that the kids were property of the school.
As to 3 Felonies a day, it' is probably much higher. So many laws no one knows about. Computer and tech ones are rather non-intuitive. from backing up a computer or worse upgrading to a new machine (possible copyright issues on every program on it) to many programs and tech are supposedly not allowed to leave the US. GPS (on most smart devices) used to be, probably still is since no one ever repeals laws. I believe the GPS was put into laws because it was considered targeting technology for missiles.
Joe J at March 26, 2014 7:00 AM
Parents need to get their precious children out of those mini-concentration camps referred to as "schools".
Ken R at March 26, 2014 8:38 AM
School officials, police and prosecutors: Decades ago these roles were sought-after by people with a spirit of public service. More often today these positions are sought-after by people who take pleasure in troubling others, especially others who are peaceful and safe to trouble (unlike actual criminals). If these officials were still children they'd be bullies... and probably be ignored or even catered to by school officials, police and prosecutors.
Ken R at March 26, 2014 8:51 AM
As a divorced male parent, I would be damn sure to check in with the office to avoid being arrested. This has been a mine field for men for years. If it had happened to a father it wouldn't even be news.
Jack at March 26, 2014 9:09 AM
That law professor is a shitty writer.
model_1066 at March 26, 2014 10:12 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2014/03/26/the_idiots_are.html#comment-4429938">comment from model_1066That law professor is a shitty writer.
Lovely.
Unsupported nastiness. Always appreciated.
1. Why do you feel he is a "shitty writer"? Is it, perhaps, that you are one of those in administration at the school -- or a relative of one of those?
Turley is a good enough writer to be published regularly in USA Today and elsewhere. And I read his blog regularly and find him to give good sum-ups of stories and accountings of the points of law/constitution behind his opinions.
Also, we who blog often aren't able to put the time in that we would into pieces we're being paid for. Sometimes, grammar errors slip in. In the excerpt I posted, there's a missing question mark. Not a big deal. Well, not to someone who doesn't have a hidden agenda.
Amy Alkon
at March 26, 2014 10:28 AM
Considering how productive Jonathan Turley is: professor, civil liberties lawyer, pundit, columnist, blogger, father -- I'll take his shitty writing every chance I get.
(He does sometimes fail to proofread.)
jerry at March 26, 2014 10:39 AM
"1. Why do you feel he is a "shitty writer"?"
Irony: the 1-no-2 error appears!
Radwaste at March 26, 2014 12:27 PM
If a school tried to keep me from my kid you can BET I'd be committing felonies!
Sosij at March 26, 2014 3:26 PM
If the school buzzed her in how could she be trespassing?
lujlp at March 26, 2014 5:10 PM
It's bullshit like this that wants me to keep my kids as far away from public schools as possible. Even private schools are turning ridiculous.
BunnyGirl at March 26, 2014 5:49 PM
>>If a school tried to keep me from my kid you can BET I'd be committing felonies!
No one was trying to keep her from her child. Schools have standard procedures for allowing adults on campus for the protection of all. This has been standard practice for years. I do think they went overboard with the prosecution, but she should have signed in. The amount of time she saved by not signing in is inconsequential.
Matt at March 26, 2014 10:13 PM
I've posted this quote before. . .
Rex Little at March 27, 2014 12:41 AM
Model_1066 has made a brave, compelling and fact filled argument that will convince readers everywhere that Professor Turley should be sentenced to remedial writing classes, post haste.
Seriously? Why bother?
MarkD at March 27, 2014 5:48 AM
Yes, that's right Matt. When the school called and said her child needed her, she should have stopped at a desk, explained herself, and filled out some paperwork. Because bureaucracy is SO efficient. And think of the CHILDREN!!
Sosij at March 27, 2014 11:22 AM
As "Jack" (above) implies, it's a good thing the parent was a woman. If it had been a man they would have done what "Sarah" expected and called out the SWAT team.
Though I wish it would never have happened, it provides a useful example that state terror is not just a weapon employed against men. Women who are content to allow men to be victimized by police dept.'s , family court, etc. should know they're not immune to persecution.
I'm reminded of what happened in Virginia when initiatives to encourage eco-minded driving resulted in falling gasoline tax revenue: the state imposed a tax on hybrids. Similarly, the nation's vast, interconnected Police State apparatus needs grist for its mill. Increasingly, this unaccountable law creation/enforcement machine will be coming after women too. We ought to bear this in mind when we hear the MRAs say "Men's rights are human rights".
As Mark Steyn put it,
“The bigger you make the government, the more you entrust to it, the more powers you give it to nose around the citizenry’s bank accounts, and phone calls, and e-mails, and favorite Internet porn sites, the more you’ll enfeeble it with the siren song of the soft target. The Mounties will no longer get their man, they’ll get you instead. Frankly, it’s a lot easier.”
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/351120/big-politically-correct-brother-mark-steyn
Lastango at March 27, 2014 12:25 PM
Leave a comment