Witch hunt at my kids school

[1stdeadeye]

Some people need to seriously get a life. I think I would worry more about the kids sitting around their homes all day playing violent video games rather then kids who are actually *gasp* writing!

So tell your son to keep his chin up. Idiots have a way of latching on to a new crisis every few weeks, so this to shall pass!

I had no idea about his mother, so if this helps him to deal and cope, then tell the inquisitors to back the hell off or you will give them a bunkering they'll never forget!

[Bluestrike_2]

Words have multiple meanings. Those meanings are not always fully understood. IMHO, there is a little too much of a reaction for this.

[sneakyhacker420]

welcome to the modern schools

today my wood tech teacher explained to me how he was in the same boat as me when it came to passing classes, and sucking at acedemics, but he pointed out how they required 1 year of math, 1 year or english, and so on for basic academics back when he was in school... and the rest of the time you could focus on what you liked, metals, arts, woods, etc., so most anyone was able to pass, wether or not you hated your academic classes

but now-a-days, you have 4 years of math, 4 years of english, 3 years of science, and that overloaded crap, just so that the more academically-oriented people won't go brain dead in school

so basically now, we are forced to concentrate more on academics, having to repeat classes that we fail because we just dont feel motivated to them or w/e, and then the minor classes are now the non-academic ones, which is the complete opposite of what it was 20-30 years ago


but its basically the way the school system is now... too cautious of the few people who they think are superior than the others, just cause they got a certain letter printed out on their tests, rather than seeing a hand-made table that you just made, which would have passed with flying colors if it was considered an academic class

one again... based upon the ignorance of the american nation :o

[InfinatyBPS]

School faculty are idiots, they think they're helping you by trying to stop you from killing yourself, all they're doing is stressing out you and your family. I write tons of dark, depressing poems and stories, and if I were to get BS problems for it, I would bite someone's head off. Seriously, I would say, " I wrote it, because thats what I felt like writing, because thats what came to my head, if you don't like it, thats too god damn bad Are you gonna control my thoughts, my feelings, are you gonna make everything better for me? Didn't think so dumbass, so how about leave me alone and let me write whatever I feel like, in this beautiful country of mine that says I can, THE USA!!!" Seriously, the hindering of my creative expression pisses me off severely.

[-Carnifex-]

That's some scary stuff. Hopefully the school handles it appropriately and suspends or expels these kids (Maybe they can press criminal charges for the threats?). Very, very frightening that these kids feel this way.

[Emily]

Originally posted by -Carnifex-
That's some scary stuff. Hopefully the school handles it appropriately and suspends or expels these kids (Maybe they can press criminal charges for the threats?). Very, very frightening that these kids feel this way.

Suspends or Expels these kids??????? These kids didn't threaten anyone nor did they do anything wrong. All they did was write poems about how they feel. How many times have you said "i wish you'd die" or "i'll kill you"? Most people in this world have said something like that but NEVER means it to actually happen. And the school has not handled it properly thus far. They are targeting those that write not those that are actual a threat. The ones that people need to worry about are those that are too quiet. The ones that don't express their feels and concerns about things. At least these kids in question have a way of expressing their feels and are getting them out. They aren't keeping anger or any other emotion pinned up in side, letting it eat at them until they blow.

I know Caleb. I've spend enough time around him to know he is NO threat to anyone. He is one of the nicest teenagers to be around. He is thoughtful, considerate, respectful, caring, loving and an all around great guy. I also know that he is the type of person that if he believed that anyone was a threat to anyone else that he'd help that person and protect the others. Caleb and they other teens on his team are the only teens I enjoy being around and that's saying something casue I dont enjoy being around teens. Most of them get on my last nerve.

[cphilip]

Actually if you read that last two lines carefully you will see that he does not say "he wishes him to die". He says HE feels like him (almost) waiting/wishing to die because he is so old and dried up and all. Thats what it says. Or something along those lines when you disect it down carefully. Set to rhyme so written crypticaly. Then you see the other kids (mine included) comment on the writing of it not the particular content of any of it. And in my kids case he refers to an inside joke about that particular teacher of him always using or asking them to prepare Power Point presentations for him to use and how they will perservere their Senior year as Senior Cadet officers. More or less encouraging each other to stay the course and stick together as a Corp.

Only if you glance over it and do not know the inside jokes could you conclude its any kind of threat. But if you read it carefully without emotion you clearly see it was not. And clearly reading it was not what they have done. Probably, in my estimation, because they were looking for something that is not there. And most likely they were presented it by someone that has an axe to grind that portrayed it that way to them and they failed to take the time to disect it and analyze it themselves and then compair it to what they know about the people involved. A new Vice Principal that does not know the kids is the one involved in that aspect of it.

So while I would have asked them about it. One at a time starting witht the Author. I would not have called them all into one room together and made them miss class to do it. I would have checked it out. But I would have done so low key starting with the author of the poem before I concluded I needed to look further. And I would have read the poem several times to make sure I didnt read it wrong the first time. It took me several carefull reads to pick up the subtle difference in the wording.

[shartley]

[cphilip]

Yes... thats pretty much it in a nut shell Sam. I have not heard anything further from this from the School. I am not certain they want to pursue it any further now that they know some of the information and have had time to think about it. But from what I gather they reacted rather haphazardly yesterday. I certainly would have checked into it once it came to my attention. As I have stated already... but I think I would have first talked to the Resorce officer of the school who knows these kids very well. And then to maybe the Guidance office who should know these kids by now (they are all Seniors) and then read it several times and then interviewed the Author of the Poem.

However thats not what happened. It appears they went on an internet search for ALL thier poems... of which I find no other similar nor disturbing ones... and printed them all out and then called them all in at once. And even one of them was right in the middle of his Senior project presentation. My kid was in the middle of a class participation project where he had to leave his class partner unassisted and therefore cannot recover the information gained nor assist with the write up of the project as he was not their. Something you cannot duplicate nor make up.


Anyway there also seemed to be no one that knew the background of the kids taking that into condiseration in the whole process until it was presented in a group meeting. The Vice Principal seemed to be calling all the shots. And she is new to the School and the position as well. She does not know personalities or backgrounds. She worked in a vacuum so to speak. Probably a mistake on her part to not realize she should have called in people that knew them first. Resource Officer and Guidance would have been a good choice.


I have the assurances from the ROTC Director that "they" are not the ones conducting this investigation. I am not certain if that means they are not behind it (solidly in principal or directly in causing the initiation) or if they are saying to me that its out of our hands. I am not certain I understand what that means. It was something my Kid was told by the Director of ROTC to tell me. I do not have direct contact with him to that statement. And Caleb says he does not know what that ment. He was called in later and told to "Make sure I knew they were not the ones doing it". Thats all they said to him. That could have several meanings.

[cphilip]

Well all is well that ends well. Seems the inquisition is over. No one of the three in this group is in any trouble now other then perhaps some personal hard feelings

However this was preceeded by another group of two students it seems that wrote some hurtfull untrue allegations about another student on the same site. Totaly unrelated but the names were then included and this poem discovered and thats what brought these three in. Seems they eventually decided that Calebs involvment was so slight and periferal to the main reason they were looking into it that he was just let go. As well as the other two. However this unrelated two people are in deep doo doo. I do not know what they wrote but it was just happenstance they came across this poem by interlinking comments from one writing to another. Not the central issue at all it seems. However they were never told that. I just was.

So overall I feel they did a fairly good job of handling it in the end. Now that I know what went down pretty much. However I still feel if this was a seperate discovery those other two should not have even been in the same room. It should have been treated as seperate as thats exactly what it was. It was probably done for convienience.

But I have made peace with them over it and they all fine with the outcome too so we move on.

Be carefull what you write kids. It may be read differently than you really mean it. And be even more carefull what you say. Because people can twist that around a lot and you have even more difficulty disproving it. Think before you speak and write. It might come back to haunt you some day.

[cphilip]

Well I take that back. They have restricted him from using the internet at School. None at all. None. And yet none of his posts or poems was made during school time. Athough some of the other kids were done from school they all got the same thing. No internet. No matter what level of involvment. Presumably because some of it was done from School. But no matter if your wasn't that was the restriction metted out. And yet Calebs Econ class requires him to look up stock prices and research those. And manage his Stock account. So he is not allowed to do so today as they have placed a restriction on it.

So I still have some issues to deal with it seems.

[Sir_Brass]

cp, then maybe you can help him with that since he cannot have net access at school, then you can prepare the data for him to look at and use when he gets home.

I, as a writer, am very leery of this. It's not like the website was the school's domain and whatnot. ALSO, how did they find out the realworld identities of these kids?

I have accounts on fictionpress.com and fanfiction.net and though I give my first name there as well as some other info, I don't think I've given enough to where a simple looking over of my profile would tell them who I am (except someone from school could tell). heck, if I wanted to, no one would be able to tell who I was or where i was from or anything without having to do a tedious IP trace and whatnot.

OT: CP, I couldn't help but chuckle at your son's choice of pen names . I take it he's read Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card .

[Slimm Jimm]

If he was absolved of any wrongdoing then he should not be restrained from internet. Also, assuming you signed the waiver thingy that he could use the internet and has not done anything wrong from the school, he should be able to use the internet. But his school is different than mine, so it may be a different policy. He should at least be able to look things up that are required for class.

I think that the schools have taken the whole Columbine thing way to far. I do want you guys to know that I am (very) biased against the current public school system. I do not appreciate being profiled as a potential school shooter based solely on the fact that some of my attributes fit into a handful of slots that self-proclaimed experts have dictated as being indicative of a school shooter. I do sympathize with what the shooters went through, but they made a very wrong choice in shooting a handful of schoolmates. But because of them, the hell i have gone through worsened until i was able to figure out how to make it better. My senior year has been my best High School year ever so far, but I worry how this black mark on my record will affect me as i try to get into other schools or training.

I honestly don't think your son's problem is that extreme, but it does deserve attention. I think children should be allowed to express their feelings as they wish, and that the school does not have a right to limit them because of what they say or do. Maybe the occasional chat with a counselor and/or vice principal, but I suspect that your son's school went overboard and should not limit your son in any way, shape or form, if it has been decided that he is of no more concern.

High School can be one of the toughest times so far encountered by youth, and I believe that any appropriate outlet for emotional energy should be encouraged, regardless of whether it is just pressure from peers, a suicide of a loved one, or just good ol' fashioned stress.

Just my thoughts.

EDIT: I hadn't read all the posts above when i put this in. CARNIFEX, I can only imagine the kind of paranoia Littleton lives in even 6 years after the shootings. Even 15+ years after the shooting here at Fergus High, one of the first school shootings ever, some of the teachers are still leary of comments that students make. Everything I have just written has to do with how the schools tend to react with knee jerks to fix problems. I want to emphasize, schools tend to not like controversy, so they try to closely monitor everything that is said on school grounds. I have several rants about the public school system, also several good things to say, and this is only a portion of them. I just have to say, do what you feel is right.

[cphilip]

No seriously I got no problem after its all said and done with the checking on it. I do think the Meeting they had should have been broken up in severities and incidents as well as the punishments. Seems they delt with them with rather a broad pen. So I will negotiate that with them


I cannot nor he cannot do it at home. Its something they do each day in class and do some group work in teams with. He will have to regain that access. I do not think they thought of it when they imposed it so broadly. And I suspect several of them will be relented now that we all have discussed it. It just was not taken care of today.


They connected several of the other students through a report/complaint by a student. An unrelated issue at the time. But one of the comments on that one was from this kid that wrote the Poem I copied up above... and then Calebs eventually was noticed only because he commented that one time on that other one...and when they looked at his Poetry they detected his Faith as he wrote several poems about that. And he is the only one that is in ROTC that follows that particular faith. AND the only one that his mother had comitted Suicide. Those three things together connected him. Although his involvment was only to comment the one time on the secondary poem. However none of them had anything to hide nor tried to even. Had they asked they would have been shown the poetry. Some of Calebs teachers in fact post there. And thats where these kids were encouraged to go and write poetry. Nothing new at all. Its just this other two kids posted one that made someone mad because it was personal and then from that the post about the Colonel was found and it was a bit edgy so....well it snowballed from there.


You can read his stuff if you like. And you will see where the nickname comes from. And your on the right track.

[TigerMan]

This is what angers me about schools today, they get all the kids who aren't bad or mischievous, yet they let all the kids who actually do stuff bad get off the hook. Instead of tracking down kids who want to express themselves through poetry, why don't they track down kids who use and sell drugs? Why don't they track down kids who pick on or harass other students? I mean, sure he could've had a better choice of words, but in the end he wrote it on his free time and for his own cause (not for school I'm assuming). He didn't turn it in nor did he go and flaunt it all over the place like sending it to the teacher. What's next, the administrators going to go track down the kids who go to www.ratemyteacher.com and give them bad critiques? The adminstrators there need to get in check and realize not everybody thinks within the box. There are kids who're expressive, and they choose to express them through words not drugs or alcohol. The problem with adminstrators today is they think automatically that words will turn to action. One of my teachers said it best to us in that in the real world, you're innocent until proven guilty. For students in school, your guilty until proven innocent. I hope everything works out for your son.