Teenagers have learned a lesson: "I can disobey a teacher, then disobey the principal, then disobey a cop. And if the cop manhandles me on video, the cop will get in trouble, and I will be a hero among my peers."

Expect copycats.

Why can't kids just obey a command the first time given? Problem solved.

My Dad would have been appalled at MY conduct, lecture me about bringing it on myself, force me to go to the police station to apologize to the cop, then ground me for a month.

BULLSHIT! It was a school cop, for one thing. For another, that officer was merely going to remove her from the classroom, which is what she told to do. Then the student punched him. I don't care how young and innocent you think your unmanageable brat is, she hits a cop, she can stretch out in the slammer. And if you're so outraged that she's is being treated like the criminal she is, then you can join her in jail as far as I'm concerned. You obviously raised a thug, if you're so against your pwecious, pwecious cherub taking the appropriate consequences of their actions.

There is no excuse for involving police in school situations such as this. School should be all about administrative control. Kid doesn't want to obey teacher, you give them detention, then suspension, then expulsion. You tell the child what to do, and then what is going to happen if they disobey. Worst case you call the parents and tell them to pick up their child now. Police violence should not even figure into it.

". Schools must discipline themselves as well as their students, and that means not encouraging or even allowing teachers who can't handle unruly but non-dangerous students to react by calling the police."

Might as well shut the whole thing down. Reminds me of the scene in Aliens, where the NCO says, "What are we supposed to use, Harsh Language?"

If the teacher cannot get the child to either hand over the phone or leave the classroom, what exactly do you think her options are?

Or do you just magically assume that a teacher with sufficient force of personality would be obeyed?

Mistake here. The cop should have had backup.
They should have picked up the student, or handcuffed her and taken her to a detention room, sans phone, and held her there, until a parent or juvenile authorities could pick her up.

The use of force by the cop made me gasp. That was a small female and he really hurled her in a way I wasn't prepared for. If she had been an older female he likely could have killed her with that much force. It was excessive and I believe that's what he intended to do the entire time, resistance/hit by the girl or not. Something's gotta be done about how to handle grown kids who don't toe the line. That throw by the cop is not justified here. What she did is not justified here. Nothing was done right. Why wasn't she just stood up and then escorted out? Cuffed if she then resisted? Treat a thug like a thug, but don't break their neck over a little teenage rebellion in the classroom.

Ok Matt. You give her detention, she says no. You give her suspension, she says no. You expel her and ask her to leave, she says no. You call her parents to pick her up, they say no.

What do you do next? Ask the UN for a strongly worded letter? Have everyone else leave but her? What if she follows?

There is moral use of force. This is such a situation. I agree this shouldn't have happened. And I kind of despise our schools. But in this case the school is not at fault. If anything this should have happened to her at a younger age.

"Ok Matt. You give her detention, she says no. You give her suspension, she says no. You expel her and ask her to leave, she says no. You call her parents to pick her up, they say no."

She has to pee sometime. Alternately, I'd get three guys to pick her up, desk and all, and move her out of the classroom. When her parents got there they'd be informed that she has been expelled and does not need to come back, ever. And if you're concerned about what she does after being removed from the classroom, you can always handcuff her to the desk until her parents arrive or set someone to watch over her. There are plenty of alternatives to a beat down.

In my fantasy world, the non-parents of the world go Galt on the parents.

"Your kids? Your schools. You teach. You supervise. You enforce."

"Ok Matt. You give her detention, she says no. You give her suspension, she says no. You expel her and ask her to leave, she says no. You call her parents to pick her up, they say no.

What do you do next? Ask the UN for a strongly worded letter? Have everyone else leave but her? What if she follows?"

Good example. And I would like to point out that this entire editorial illustrates quite nicely, the flaws in fuzzy headed leftist logic.

There is always the unspoken assumption that if just the *right people* were in charge, that kind words, and force of personality would triumph in every situation.

No *force* is ever necessary in la la land.

There is always a better alternative that they believe in their tiny little hearts and brains, was untried. (Like getting rid of all those nasty firearms followed by any dangerous sharp objects, or toys that tots might choke on.....)

Alternately, I'd get three guys to pick her up, desk and all, and move her out of the classroom. ...you can always handcuff her to the desk until her parents arrive or set someone to watch over her. ~ Posted by: matt at October 29, 2015 8:49 AM

That's called unlawful detention - the legal term for kidnapping.

There is no excuse for involving police in school situations such as this. ~ Posted by: Matt at October 29, 2015 8:12 AM

The teacher and principal went as far as they were legally allowed to go. Then, and only then, did they call the police officer assigned to the school. When he put a hand on the girl to remove her from the classroom, she lashed out and punched him.

Now, I get that she was going through some stuff having recently been through a family breakup and placed in foster care and a little understanding on the part of the school would have been nice (if they even knew about it), but this girl escalated the situation, not the school and not the officer.

As for reasonable force, the officer has not patted her down so he does not know if she has a weapon. All he knows is that she has shown a tendency toward violence.

Police have a big enough challenge keeping us safe. They shouldn't be asked to do all of our other difficult jobs as well. ~ LA Times

This goes back to what I said in an earlier post. We're criminalizing our social problems. The police are not equipped or trained to be social workers and psychologists.

The school needed a better way to handle a teenage girl having emotional issues than to call the police on her. That they were not given that better way is on the school system, not the officer.

She has to pee sometime. ~ Posted by: matt at October 29, 2015 8:49 AM

Wanna bet she can hold it through a 55 minute math class?

What all the people concerned about this girl seem to be ignoring is the right of the other students in this class to get an education (or whatever passes for an education in the public school system these days).

They're in a math class and the concerned folks want someone to sit and talk to the disruptive girl, continuing the disruption. Perhaps wait while she disrupts class until she has to pee and then lock her out. What about the students who came to class to get taught math and instead got a front row seat to her drama? At what point do we stop putting up with the people who drag the public into their drama?

"What's say you climb down off the cross use the wood to build a bridge and get over it." ~ Christopher Titus

Bet school cops are asking for explicit instructions now.

The mistake cops are making is using too much force for the situation. Kid over-reacted. Kid is a kid. Not going anywhere. Call for a female cop plus a backup if you really want to arrest a kid. Got plenty of time. No rush. No doubt you can take her down but she's a kid so do you really want to?

That's his problem. He dealt with an anger issue by getting angry and violent. He wanted to show her he could take her down. That's wrong.

Here is a good perspective from a teacher:
https://educationrealist.wordpress.com/2015/10/27/on-the-spring-valley-high-incident/

"Defiance is a big deal in high school. It must not be tolerated. Tolerating open defiance is what leads to hopelessness, to out of control classrooms, to kids wandering around the halls, to screaming fights on a routine basis.
…
We have a school resource officer (SRO), but I’d call a supervisor for defiance, and I’ve never heard of a kid refusing to go with a supervisor. If there was a refusal, at a certain point the supervisor would call an administrator, and it’s conceivable, I guess, that the administrator could authorize the SRO to step in."

I love this from the L.A. Times editorial:

Teachers have tough jobs and sometimes must deal with teenagers who are defiant and disobedient. They deserve some backup -- from principals and school administrators.

They deserve "backup" from the kids' goddam parents first and foremost.

Ok Matt,

As has been pointed out you advocated kidnapping and losing a day of education for everyone else. What about when she shows up tomorrow even though she has been expelled? Are you going to arrest her for trespassing? What if she says no again? Is it finally OK to use force and send her to jail?

The reality is schools have no effective disciplinary tools against anyone who just says no. That is why they have to call in the cops for fairly minor offenses. That lack of discipline is a major part of why our schools do such a craptastic job. All it takes is one bad student and 30+ kids lose a day of education.

Kevin,

In this case I think she was recently placed in foster care and doesn't have any parents to provide that backup.

but I’d call a supervisor for defiance, and I’ve never heard of a kid refusing to go with a supervisor.

I believe in this case, the teacher did call teh supervisor and the kid refused to go with the supervisor.

From the NYT article: "she refused to abide by the directions of the teacher, the school administrator and also the verbal commands of our deputy....

The reality is schools have no effective disciplinary tools against anyone who just says no. That is why they have to call in the cops for fairly minor offenses. That lack of discipline is a major part of why our schools do such a craptastic job. All it takes is one bad student and 30+ kids lose a day of education.

The reality is parents have not taught their children discipline. That is why they have to call in the cops for fairly minor offenses. That lack of discipline is a major part of why our schools do such a craptastic job. All it takes is one bad student and 30+ kids lose a day of education.

Fixed that for ya.

"What about when she shows up tomorrow even though she has been expelled? Are you going to arrest her for trespassing? What if she says no again? Is it finally OK to use force and send her to jail?"

At this point she is no longer a student so yeah, you got it exactly right.

I'm no teacher, but I would have had everyone leave the class, teach in the quad/cafeteria/library/gym/or empty classroom. As the kids are walking out I would tell the kid if she has remained in the classroom to expect to be expelled. If she comes with you, she comes with you, and as she's leaving the door of the class, again, "you can expect to be expelled", you do what you can to best teach the class, you call in the principal to witness, and then after class, you have her expelled.

When I hear the Sheriff say this:

>Lott told reporters Tuesday that his department's internal investigation should be completed within the next 24 hours, when he will announce Fields' fate with the agency.

>"I wanted to throw up," Lott said after first viewing footage of the incident. "This makes you sick to your stomach when you see that initial video. But that's just a snapshot."

My first assumption is he knows damn well what his officers do and this is a "shocked, shocked" moment.

Perhaps she figured Little Achmed The Clockfaker had done pretty well by provoking authority. In that case, she could be counted on to make a screaming atrocity of any attempt.
Or if she just wanted to be a "pot" as my sainted mother used to say.

Conan: That's called unlawful detention - the legal term for kidnapping.

No, it isn't. And the legal term for "kidnapping" is "kidnapping." Leave law to the lawyers.

No, it isn't. And the legal term for "kidnapping" is "kidnapping." Leave law to the lawyers. ~ Posted by: Patrick at October 29, 2015 4:46 PM

Patrick, when you get a law degree, you can explain the law to me. Until then, "leave law to the lawyers."

I'll stick with using kidnapping in the broadest sense of the word - and detaining someone unlawfully in the hallway with handcuffs falls close enough to kidnapping that I recommend the school avoid that approach.

You just love to nitpick word usage don't you? You 'bout flipped a lid when I called the character of something schizophrenic. And, yes, I understanding that constantly changing one's policy is not actually schizophrenic in the clinical sense (but the word got my point across, so I used it).

Since I know you're a student and you nearly had a cow today over the word "triggers" (insisting the term could only be used after a clinical diagnosis of PTSD), I'm gonna bet you're a psych major (or, possibly a patient).

...and then after class, you have her expelled. ~ Posted by: jerry at October 29, 2015 1:13 PM

That seems like a harsh resolution to what should have been a resolvable situation.

Why does everyone go for the death penalty solution to problems like this? She's a teenager. Teenagers have attitude problems (so do some adults). Things like this can be resolved without ruining her future by expelling her from school.

Well, if you're going to push me on it, I guess I think school already have both too many expulsions and not enough expulsions.

But this level of disobedience?

I tutor too many good students tired of all the shit that happens in their classes and frustrated by the lack of time the teachers have to teach the subject.

So I wouldn't do anything to reward her and teach her or others that that behavior is acceptable.

So until both she and her parents can explain how this will never happen again, and she apologizes out loud to the class for being an asshole, she should be kicked out of that class and not assigned to another one.

Oh, boo-hoo-hoo. Grow up, Conan. You'd think someone who called himself a "grammarian" would be appreciative when being corrected on his epidemic misuse of words.

Now hear this: "Kidnapping" is a legal term. You don't need to call something, anything "the legal term for kidnapping," because "kidnapping" has a definition in U.S. law.

And I am a psych patient. I've mentioned this before, but I guess you missed it. I have a diagnosis of PTSD, MDD and other initialized illnesses that I will not mention. I've mentioned that I'm on four drugs used to treat patients with my particular issues (though it's now up to five).

And I keenly resent the SJW appropriation of the word "trigger," like it's the latest fashion accessory, when the term was created to diagnose and treat PTSD patients.

If you'd been following the previous thread on "triggers" that you alluded to in your post, you might have found some spectacularly wrong-headed ideas about trauma triggers communicated by a certain blog-poster that I have never seen on this blog before or since then, who believes she was "triggered" by watching a horrible death of an unfortunate cat who wandered into traffic. I'm certain it was terrible to watch, and I don't blame anyone for being upset, but to say the event was "triggering" (at least as she described it), is a gross misuse of the term.

I have seen people who are "triggered" (and may I assume that you have not?) during my participation in support groups for veterans like myself. One particularly memorable incident left one of my fellow veterans wandering by himself outside, in a perfectly safe environment, but seeing, hearing, smelling, the whole nine-yards some hell that he had experienced, oblivious to his physical location.

So, you'll have to forgive me if I don't take kindly to people who treat trauma triggers like it's latest social trend. If these special snowflakes want to claim they're "triggered" by certain things, by all means, send them to the shrink to determine if these are truly triggers. And if so, they should be suspended from school/work until such time as the therapist determines that they have the necessary coping skills to function in such an environment.

We'll see how well these snowflakes cling to their self-identification as trauma patients when they find they have to restart their courses because they lack the necessary coping skills to continue.

I tutor too many good students tired of all the shit that happens in their classes and frustrated by the lack of time the teachers have to teach the subject. ` jerry

In my 9th grade English class we had a student who would sit in the corner and draw (if we'd had cell phones then, I'm sure he would have been this girl). The teacher ignored him, telling him that if he wasn't going to put in any effort, she was going to use her time to teach the students who would.

I appreciated that. In other classes I watched as the pace of the class and ability to get through the material was slowed by students who wouldn't put forth the effort and teachers who insisted in trying to reach them. It's difficult to take the year end assessment test (required to more to the next grade) when your class barely reached the halfway mark. Luckily for me, I'd read the entire text book within the first week of class.

That stunted me for college as I'd gotten through high school with little effort - easily outpacing classes that catered to the lowest common denominator. College required a level of effort I should have learned in high school.
__________________________________________________

And I am a psych patient. I've mentioned this before, but I guess you missed it. I have a diagnosis of PTSD, MDD and other initialized illnesses that I will not mention. I've mentioned that I'm on four drugs used to treat patients with my particular issues (though it's now up to five). ~ Patrick

I did miss that part.

That explains the familiarity with psychological terms and near fanatical insistence on absolutely correct usage. I've noticed the same tendencies in friends who have undergone therapy.

...who believes she was "triggered" by watching a horrible death of an unfortunate cat who wandered into traffic. ~ Patrick

And what memory pray tell did that trigger? Or is she confusing traumatized with triggered?

As far as levels of trauma go, I think the loss of a pet, even a beloved one, is a less-than-scarring event.

So, you'll have to forgive me if I don't take kindly to people who treat trauma triggers like it's latest social trend. ~ Patrick

Those were the very same people I was mocking when you jumped down my throat about how I used the word "trigger" when I ridiculed their demands for trigger warnings on college classes and reading assignments.

I have seen people who are "triggered" (and may I assume that you have not?) during my participation in support groups for veterans like myself.

Only once, a long time ago.

Conan: And what memory pray tell did that trigger? Or is she confusing traumatized with triggered?

I think the latter. But you can see for yourself. The poster's name is Esther.

I watched the videos a few times and did not see her punch the cop, am I looking at the wrong one?

Supposedly, it was the third one.

Conan: As far as levels of trauma go, I think the loss of a pet, even a beloved one, is a less-than-scarring event.

In most cases, I'd agree. Unless you have some sadistic bastard torturing the animal to death right in front of you and you're helpless to do anything about it.

"If these special snowflakes want to claim they're "triggered" by certain things, by all means, send them to the shrink to determine if these are truly triggers."

Patrick is correct. This is what should be done PERIOD DOT.

SJWs and snowflakes need to learn there is a cruel world awaiting and being held to task is the first warning.

A Title IX complaint about missing vital educational time because a snowflake is "triggered" and refuses medical help would be a first step. (You don't want to be caught up in a math class in someone's flashback nightmare.)

Same thing for someone's not feeling "safe". A mental issue requires medical help if not meds then at least counseling. Denial is not a valid long-term option.

I'll get flamed for this, but...I have no problem with what happened. Kids that don't get their asses swatted when young learn there are no real consequences and they can do what they want. I'm glad she learned her lesson without a weapon being involved. Unfortunately the lesson was immediately invalidated by the officer being punished for it. So now someone further down the line is going to have to deal with her thinking she can do whatever she wants, again.

I've got 4 kids. They learned defiance has immediate and unpleasant consequences when they were young, specifically so I didn't have to do it when they're this girls age. But if they acted like that? Well, yeah, I'd prefer you call me and let me throw her ass out of the chair, but this girls parents probably wouldn't have handled it, so.....

"Why does everyone go for the death penalty solution to problems like this? She's a teenager."

Because this is far to common in far too many schools. If she was disciplined when she was younger there never would have been a problem now. But at this point there is little chance of retraining her.

You also assume her cell phone was quiet. What if it is blaring music from some game and making other noises. You can't teach in that situation.

So when you remove all the early and small disciplinary options all you are left with is 'the death penalty'.

Momof4; I'll "flame" you; but it is to light a fire in support.

This is one of the problems that I think we are having with "cameras being everywhere recording everything." That is the problem, the cameras are NOT recording/reporting everything.

We don't know (since no one thought to record it beforehand) what happened before the officer arrived. We don't know what was said or done before cameras were turned on.

Sure, that "body slam" looked shocking; but, what led up to that? It isn't like the guy just walked up to a random student and picked her up for no reason.

It would be nice if the school didn't need cops there; but, obviously, they are there for a reason. Students aren't showing respect for teachers or other students - and they get to walk all over others without consequences and they will only get worse.

Don't other students have rights? Don't teachers have rights?

What was this cop suppose to do when this student refused to comply?

For many cops today, not only do they have to deal with uncivilized behavior; but, they now have to worry about public opinion demonizing them and, in the case of this cop, their police chief not supporting them.

Jeez, who would want to become a cop today except those who will be nothing but bullies-with-badges? The good ones will be less likely to enter the police force if we keep bashing them when they make difficult choices in dealing with those who don't obey the rules.

Maybe that body slam looked horrible; but, that student could have avoided it if she complied in the first place. And, yep, now that the cop has been condemned for it she will think that she can do whatever she wants.

Let's not forget this wasn't some young innocent elementary school student. She is in high school; just a year or two away from being an adult. I think, momof4, you are right; she should have learned to behave long ago and hasn't. Soon, she will be out in public amongst the rest of us.

If someone mentioned this already, I didn't see it.

As I understand it, even if teachers don't do anything illegal, they can still get fired for disciplining unruly students in ways the students' parents/guardians don't approve of. Schools are understandably scared of being sued by such so-called parents. Too many modern parents are so child-centered that they can't grasp that most of the time, the teacher's version of an incident should be believed over the student's version when they don't match, so they do nothing but make trouble for teachers and schools.

She is in high school; just a year or two away from being an adult. ~ Posted by: charles at October 30, 2015 6:55 AM

Just a year or two away from being allowed to vote (voting is essentially sitting on the board of directors to run the country).

The poster's name is Esther. ~ Posted by: Patrick at October 29, 2015 8:40 PM

I went back and read Esther's comment. And I agree, I don't think she gets what a trigger is, "I was triggered into crying when I saw a cat that had been recently hit by a car and wasn't dead quite yet so it was flopping all over the road."

The SJWs trigger warnings requirements are because they are saying some things taught in a class could trigger a flashback to a past trauma, not that it could trigger a crying jag.

It's their definition of past trauma that invites ridicule. Being picked last in PE in high school and then having to read a book in college about a kid who was picked last does not require a trigger warning. But if the SJWs want to shut down the class or the teacher, that's their claim. They care soooo much for the downtrodden that they're protecting them in advance.

Or, of course, even if the two stories DO match, many parents think their precious creatures should be allowed to do as they please - and then the parents proceed to make any trouble they can.

"As I understand it, even if teachers don't do anything illegal, they can still get fired for disciplining unruly students in ways the students' parents/guardians don't approve of. "

That is absolutely true. Teachers get no backing from the administration. The root cause is the politicans to pander to special-snowflake parents.

So when you remove all the early and small disciplinary options all you are left with is 'the death penalty'. ~ Posted by: Ben at October 30, 2015 6:23 AM

That's disturbing.

And because of that, we've criminalized social wrongs. When did cutting up in class become an arrest-level offense?

Ben's right in that by not disciplining children early, we've set them on a collision course with society's control mechanism, the police.

And, to make matters worse, we're using the police to do social work. They're not equipped or trained for it.

Policing is socially-sanctioned controlled violence. People with psychological issues (even temporary ones) are not inclined to follow orders, sometimes not able to. As long as they don't represent a danger to themselves or others, there should be non-violent ways of dealing with it. Using your cell phone in class and ignoring a teacher's orders is disruptive and rude. That the school had no other way of dealing with the situation but to call the resource officer (police) reflects poorly on the school system.

The officer did what he had to do. He attempted to remove her from the classroom (by carrying her since she would not respond to his verbal commands). She responded with physical violence and he shut that down quickly before it escalated. What if she'd had a gun?

The police are like nuclear weapons. Their presence on our side keeps the other side from going too far, but once they're put into use, it means the smelly brown goo has hit the whirling cantilevered surface.

My concern about what the cop did, is that it seemed likely to injure her permanently by breaking her neck or something.

So if she's already restrained in a school chair and he needs to remove her, and it's so important that the class just can't leave and find an empty classroom, then handcuff her first, and then you and the 30% of principals who are men can carry the girl and the chair out of the classroom.

But I honestly would just have the class up and move followed by suspension and letting her petition to be readmitted. Let her and her mom (dad?) figure out how to be readmitted.

I don't think suspension itself is the death penalty. What the death penalty these days seem to be is the penalty on top of being suspended which is the no readmission for a month or a year or never.

That's the shit that really hurts the kids and their families and all the other kids in the same family.

...it's so important that the class just can't leave and find an empty classroom....

Not a lot of empty classrooms in today's schools.

I don't think suspension itself is the death penalty.

Expulsion is. And that's what a lot of people here are calling for.

My concern about what the cop did, is that it seemed likely to injure her permanently by breaking her neck or something.

He tried to lift her up and remove her. It's not clear from the video of the toppling of the desk is from the cop's actions or the girl's flinging herself back to try and avoid getting picked up by the cop.

Nonetheless, his actions do seem extreme for dealing with a 16-year-old girl in a classroom. Granted, he didn't know if she was armed and she was the one who initiated the violence. Still....

Let her and her mom (dad?) figure out how to be readmitted.

She has no relationship with her father, she's in foster care, but her mother is alive is what the media are reporting.

========================================

The New York Daily News and other media outlets are doing this girl no favors, enabling her misbahevior by dismissing it as "age appropriate."

"To think that she has now suffered police brutality and is facing trumped up criminal charges for age-appropriate classroom behavior is just despicable." ~ NY Daily News

At what age is belligerent disrespect age appropriate?

Expulsion is. And that's what a lot of people here are calling for.

I honestly don't know. Do schools even expel any more?

This is a rarity, but I agree with momof4. I don't see anything wrong with this. The students themselves imply that she herself caused the desk to fall. I really don't think the cop is going to flip a desk to reign in a sixteen-year-old who doesn't do what she's told.

And I have no issue with kids dealing with the law for illegal actions. Why is it when two adults start beating on each other, they run the risk of going to jail, but when two kids do it, we look the other way?

As I said earlier, juvenile records are usually scrubbed upon reaching majority. I think what amounts to a presidential pardon is sufficient leniency.

Most interestingly, students at that school walked out of class with signs supporting the officer:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/10/30/student-walkout-backs-fired-deputy-sc-school/74874920/

Since those students are there every day, they are more in the know than the rest of us. They need to be listened to.

As I said earlier, juvenile records are usually scrubbed upon reaching majority. I think what amounts to a presidential pardon is sufficient leniency. ~ Posted by: Patrick at October 30, 2015 12:52 PM

Yes, if she is charged an convicted, her record is expunged when she hits 18 and she gets to go on with her life - perhaps having leared a lessonl

If she is expelled, then when she hits 18, she has no diploma (or one from a disciplinary school) and what is probably is very inadequate education (although one can question whether any public school can provide an adequate education anymore).

There is no mention in any of the articles of her being a disciplinary problem before this. So, I think there are less extreme ways to handle it than expelling her. If she were a chronic problem and punched a police officer, I'd be singing in the "shove her out the door" chorus.

In the wake of the reported support for the officer, I have to question the media depiction of her as a quiet student who was maliciously and without provocation abused by her teacher and the officer.

And, yes, there needs to be public atonement so as to avoid sending a message that this type of behavior (one-off or chronic) is acceptable.

It is a question of belief Conan.

Do you believe the media that this is a good student having a bad day. Personally I don't. A generally good student having a bad day doesn't act how she did. Just like Travon Martin wasn't the sweet little ten year old the media tried depicting him as her media image doesn't pass the smell test.

I am all for small punishments for small infractions and big punishments for big and repetitious infractions. But those options have been removed from our education system.