National Youth Rights Association

Post edited 3:25 pm – October 1, 2012 by co3penguin

My son and I have been victim and witness to many situations of denial of human rights by the school system here. Is there a place to turn for rules of engagement between students/parents and Admin? 

 My son is in the 10th grade and here are of a few most recent activities. My son saw a principal walk up to a student standing in the hall with a group and the prin. grabbed the students pants and pulled them all the way up to his waist… they weren't even that low,(by today's standards).

    The admin. has locked a female student out of the restroom facilities indefinitely during school hours because they suspected her of smoking in the restroom  but had no proof or evidence.

   My son picked up his chair after everyone in the class was finished with assignment and there was only 10 minutes left of class all students were socializing. The reason for standing  was due to a degenerative disease in my sons hip that causes problems with the bones and stiff joints. The teacher sent him to the office and he was suspended. 

The teacher said my son was out of classroom for a timed 10 minutes to go to the restroom and was missing , he was in the hall talking to me on the phone for 14 minutes about some problems at school -they had people running through the halls looking for him. There are cameras monitoring the students every move. He was then in trouble for awol. He is even followed and watched within 12 feet even during lunch. 

I am questioned as to why certain students are riding in my car to school (it's suspicious). 

Every Time I am called to come to the school for a meeting. School security is called to drive over and monitor me as I park and walk into the building. 

   If a student says anything against a teacher or staff they are sent to the office and possibly expulsion.

One teacher is teaching Mythology . She doesn't have the qualifications or a curriculum set out and what she talks about in class is more like religion and hearsay (not factual) and then tests on things she has not even presented to the  students factually and therefore 85% of the students are failing. The 2  students that do pass have had mythology class or exposure to  the facts  and have studied this subject on their own before.

   If a student is known as a smoker off campus they are ostracized and brow beat into   joining an I quit group after school or have their conversations and every minute of the day observed ,watched, followed, and examined. 

   I am not allowed to sign my student out for lunch break with me. The first time I tried I had teachers who were monotoring the students yell at me in the parking lot and waving their arms in my face saying I cant have my kid for lunch.

   My sons friends are searched for tobacco products any time they talk or hang out with my son because they know he smokes off-campus… 

This is only the problems that have come up in the past two months

Also he was sent to  the office for wearing long pajamma pants and when he told them he had shorts on under should he take the pj's off? They said no and then sent him to the office.

He is now suspended as of last week but when  I picked him up they could not and would not tell me what rule he broke. 

Tired of this… I may be getting a lawyer.

I do  need a resource to find out What are the students rights… in black and white…

  

Post edited 12:05 am – October 2, 2012 by co3penguin

thanks for the post… I want to be able to refere to  rules from a civil rights book to them I need something besides the bill of rights… to quote from Is there a good resource 

 I think maybe I wasn't clear …the girl was kept from using the restroom facilities locked out not IN. The principal did not pull the boys pants down he pulled them all the way up .. you know how the boys wear their pants lower than the waist(on their hips). Instead of telling the student to do it . The principal did it for him while  he was standing in the hall talking to friends, so there was witnesses to this action.

I have already said that I didn't feel the principal was qualified for his job. I have a meeting with him tomorrow.To get my child back into school. I want to fight this, for the kids. What they are getting away with is so wrong. 

 

The sister school to this one which is a middle school run by the same people, has the same things going on, but the kids aren't as aware that their rights have been taken. My son was standing in a group of kids telling the teacher what had happened in a fight, and the teacher picked my son out of the crowd and he was suspended for (stirring the pot) I guess that is their way of saying unlawful assembly?

Help!!  For the kids.

Yes I will be writing a letter to the school board. 

Post edited 10:46 am – December 21, 2012 by Quathy

Hi Penguin,

As far as I understand, and I have done a lot of academic research on student rights and worked as a uni advisor, k-12 schools have a lot of leeway in setting their own regulations. There is a legal doctrine called in loco parentis which basically means that the teacher or school can act in lieu of the parent to do what they feel is best for the student. If you choose to put your child in public school rather than homeschooling they take over. Each state and each school board have their own rules and so you have to look up what laws are in place in your area….The first thing I would do is email the board and ask what their policies are on the things you describe above. Ask specifically if they are in line with boar dpolicy. If they answer no then ask how to file a complaint. If they are then you can still file a complaint but unless there is media attention it is unlikely that the board will revise its own rules. 

there are two things you say which stand out as likely not being board policy. I doubt the board would approve of a teacher teaching information which is not in the approved curriculum which is also un verified. I would start by asking the teacher in email where she gets her information. Take a specific handout and ask her to provide the citation for it. Don't bother asking her about stuff she said in class unless you have proof she said it. If your child has a test that says they got partial marks and has the 'correct' answer next to it, you can ask her where she got this information. If she gives you a religious source you will want to go to the schoolboard with it because this is not ok. 

The other thing is the harassment. I am getting the impression that your child may be getting the third degree. Perhaps you guys may have complained int he past and he is taking the backlash. If a student is being teated differently than other students and there is no discernible goal for doing so (like with special needs students) then it is discrimination. If you frame your complaint as a discrimination complaint and say that he is being treated differently administrators ears perk up. I they follow your son around more than other kids this would be a good argument. If they do this to all kids it may be a board policy. In that case the media would be more beneficial but you need proof…only really worth it if there are multiple students and parents complaining in this case. They'll probably just say if you don't like it homeschool.

Always conduct your inquiries in email so you have proof. If you do they will understand they are on record.

Hope this helps, please let me know if you have other questions… I may be able to help.