Gumbo4x4
Note to the ladies who forgot to
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2012
Because it's death and destruction. Not appropriate for school or Sunday school. It would be prohibited in my district.
I used to have to wear a coat and tie to Sunday School
Because it's death and destruction. Not appropriate for school or Sunday school. It would be prohibited in my district.
Because it's death and destruction. Not appropriate for school or Sunday school. It would be prohibited in my district.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) A West Virginia student was charged with causing a disruption at a middle school when he refused to remove a T-shirt that displayed the National Rifle Association's logo and hunting rifle.
Jared Marcum, 14, said the shirt did not violate Logan Middle School's dress code policy.
"I was surprised. It shocked me that the school didn't know their own dress code and their own policy. I figured they would have known not to call me out on that shirt because there was nothing wrong with it," Marcum said in a telephone interview.
Marcum's stepfather, Allen Lardieri, said the youth was waiting in line in the school cafeteria Thursday when a teacher ordered the eighth-grader to remove the T-shirt or to turn it inside out.
Marcum said was sent to the office where he again refused the order.
"When the police came, I was still talking and telling them that this was wrong, that they cannot do this, it's not against any school policy. The officer, he told me to sit down and be quiet. I said, 'No, I'm exercising my right to free speech.' I said it calmly," he said.
Police charged him with disrupting an educational process and obstructing an officer, he said.
"The only disturbance was caused by the teacher. He raised his voice," he said.
The Associated Press typically does not identify juveniles charged with crimes, but Marcum and his family wanted his name and case known.
A call to the Logan Police Department rang unanswered on Sunday and an automated message said the voice mail system was full.
Lardieri said Marcum wore the shirt during five class periods before he was ordered to remove it.
Logan County Schools' dress code, which is posted on the school system's website, prohibits clothing and accessories that display profanity, violence, discriminatory messages or sexually suggestive phrases. Clothing displaying advertisements for any alcohol, tobacco, or drug product also is prohibited.
Their lawyer, Ben White, said that the T-shirt did not appear to violate any school policy.
"I just don't understand why this teacher reacted the way he did," said White, who said he asked school officials to preserve surveillance video of the cafeteria.
White said he planned to meet Monday with Principal Ernestine Sutherland.
A message left Sunday at a phone listing for an Ernestine Sutherland in Logan wasn't immediately returned.
White said schools can place restrictions on students to prevent disruptions, but can't take away their First Amendment right to free speech.
"If a teacher is telling you to do something that's wrong, I don't think you should follow it. But I also don't think you need to do it in a disrespectful way," he said, adding that he does not think Marcum was disrespectful.
White said he also wants to get the criminal charges dropped.
And I'm sure the student's version of the facts as reiterated by his dad and his lawyer are exactly how it happened.
Guns portray violence. That shirt is against district policy.
Gumbo4x4 said:Well, they ARE the only ones talking
But, if they are are telling lies about what time of day this happened, and about what the published policy is, it would be pretty easy to disprove.
How about just gross exaggerations? We know what the policy says, but even though it doesn't clearly say no clothes with guns on them, if the school feels the shirt is disruptive then the policy allows for that to be banned.
As for the boy being arrested for merely politely declining to change his shirt, my spidey sense tells me there is more to the story
Gumbo4x4 said:Schools change policies on the fly all the time. I don't have an issue with that, though it does create a sticky situation for the first time it's implemented.
As for the latter, it says right in the article I posted the kid refused to cooperate with the officer.
How about just gross exaggerations? We know what the policy says, but even though it doesn't clearly say no clothes with guns on them, if the school feels the shirt is disruptive then the policy allows for that to be banned.
As for the boy being arrested for merely politely declining to change his shirt, my spidey sense tells me there is more to the story
Yes. It also says he wasn't being disrespectful and the only person making a disturbance was the teacher. That's what I'm not buying.
Gumbo4x4 said:Could be. That said we all know that the kid gets sent to the office for failing to comply with the teacher regardless of how respectful the kid was or was not.
Now, if the kid came to school deliberately trying to make a statement with the shirt (as some have alleged) my guess is he also came to school with a plan to keep his cool if confronted.
Yes, and no one is better at keeping their cool than a 13 year old boy.
According to the yahoo article, the father hadn't even met with the principal yet. Going to the media before he even had the full story is silly.
The dad clearly wants his 15 minutes.