Writing tickets to school children

[Texas Proud]

Interesting that I even saw this at all... just that someone left their newpaper where I ate lunch.... I just thought that considering the views of others on the hampster thread... that we are going too far for more things today than we ever did before...


The gist.. Cops in Texas have been writing a large number of tickets to students for what used to be handled by the school district... making them a Class C misdemeanor... taking up time and resources...



Stop ticketing the schoolchildren of Texas | Viewpoints, Outlook | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle



Back in my day... the kid was put in detention... got 'swats'.... or even a 3 day suspension.... if you were real bad, you were sent to a special school... I wonder what has changed over time...

 

[rescueme]

Back in my day... the kid was put in detention... got 'swats'.... or even a 3 day suspension.... if you were real bad, you were sent to a special school... I wonder what has changed over time...

- Detention? School budget dosen't allow for a teacher or other quasi-professional to sit there and babysit.

- Swats? Corporal punishment is greatly looked down upon today, even though it is still practiced in many southern states. "In my day", the paddle was used freely by the "penguins"

- Suspension? Put the kid out on the street with no supervision during school hours due to the parents wo*king or worse yet - not giving a darn about their kids.

It's a different world (and stay off my lawn...)

 

[M Paquette]

Your tax dollars at work.

And just think... For a ticket to be issued, these actions must be in violation of a law. A 12 year old applying perfume... Charged as a Class C misdemeanor? That's worse than an infraction. The kid will have a criminal record, and this will show up on background checks until they age out or get expunged.

And all this using police time, courtroom space, and judges. Good grief.

 

[Aiming_4_55]

Your tax dollars at work.

And all this using police time, courtroom space, and judges. Good grief.

This cost all of us and the kid's family $$$. What a waste of resources!

 

[SunsetSail]

Interesting that both CNN and Fox commentators find this shocking, as do I.

I wonder how this is going to work with the increasingly frequent stories I read about schools punishing students for behavior outside of school hours and off campus - such as social networking bullying and similar actions.

I figure it's only a matter of time before a parent gets upset and there are 4th amendment violation suits.

 

[Westernskies]

Looks like it's time to update ReW's xtranormal movie...

 

[RetiredGypsy]

So teachers or schools are so worried about lawsuits from their own administrations of discipline that they turn to the police.

The police, for who can possibly guess what reason, decide this is a good idea. Instead of laughing at the parents and schools for trying to force them to abuse their power, making them look like monsters for doing it to children no less, they actively set about destroying lives at an earlier age that what they usually average.

So parents get to go to court with or without filing lawsuits, there's a lot of resentment toward the police, which diminishes their ability to easily perform their actual job; there's unwarranted resentment toward some children who have caused the parents to lose hundreds of dollars and waste their time.

Yep. Business as usual shifted to a wider demographic. Way to go there.

In other news, in California a student called 911 on a teacher because he rattled her desk and startled her. The police here acted rationally, arriving because they were called and dismissing the issue (hopefully taking the kid to the back room and chewing her out loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear, and then fining her for abuse of 911). The school itself then overreacted and suspended the teacher.

It absolutely astounds me that people are still willing to become teachers anymore.

 

[MichaelB]

I'd a never made it out of high school. Thank the Lord for second chances, adults with common sense and people that cared.

Maybe they should just make children illegal in Texas...

 

[SunsetSail]

In other news, in California a student called 911 on a teacher because he rattled her desk and startled her. The police here acted rationally, arriving because they were called and dismissing the issue (hopefully taking the kid to the back room and chewing her out loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear, and then fining her for abuse of 911). The school itself then overreacted and suspended the teacher.

It absolutely astounds me that people are still willing to become teachers anymore.

Here is a link to that story with some additional information but not much. I couldn't believe the teacher was put on administrative leave.

 

[Leonidas]

I know John, we're not buds but we do share a lot of friends in common, and for a Democrat he's pretty darn conservative so I send him a little campaign cash every now and again. With that disclosure I have to say I completely agree with the man on this issue. The school districts have abdicated all responsibility in adjudicating student behavior problems. If your honor roll kid is assaulted by some other failing criminal/student, and defends himself, he get suspended right along with the aggressor. Everybody gets a ticket, and the school washes their hands of the mess as they pass it off to the Justice of the Peace Court.

IIRC, this issue is laid out in the state education code, in which it says that the school district police can be "supervised" by non-police personnel (i.e. educators). Not trying to offend the school cops, but if the "real police" got called out on this kind of craziness they would quickly tell the school district to take care of its own business. I'm not sure why the JP's haven't done something similar.

I generally like teachers and support them, but promote them up the chain into the administration and it seems like they all turn into political weasels with no testicular or intestinal fortitude. In Texas the concept of a separate school police department is a relatively recent innovation (25-30 years or so I guess). And I've known some of the guys who were chiefs / managers in these departments as they changed from security guards into poleece. The stories of the how educators view the police, and try to use the power for some twisted ends was outrageous.

Given that his mind is on the subject at the moment, I might have to send John a note with my suggestions.

 

[RetiredGypsy]

If your honor roll kid is assaulted by some other failing criminal/student, and defends himself, he get suspended right along with the aggressor.

I don't know how far back you'd have to go for this not to be true, but this happened to me about 15 years ago. Very strange too, because I'd had to defend myself a couple times in actual fights, at the same school, with the same vice principle and principle both times. In one I never got in any trouble, and the other I was suspended for a day or two. The time I was suspended, there were adult witnesses who came in to speak on my behalf.

 

[donheff]

Sorta like the case of the throttled hamster. Another example of parents -- or, in this case, "in loco" parents -- trying to hand off discipline to the "authorities" who are not trained to deal with this.

 

[Nodak]

Class "C" misdemeanor tickets for misbehaving? Just goes to prove that the two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.

 

[Westernskies]

Class "C" misdemeanor tickets for misbehaving?

Hey, c'mon; I got one of those here on er-org last week..!

 

[bruce1]

Common sense

Class "C" misdemeanor tickets for misbehaving? Just goes to prove that the two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.

Common sense is fast becoming the rarest element.

 

[Walt34]

"Disgusted with the absurdity" doesn't begin to cover the way I see that.

No one in the school administration wants to take any responsibility so they dump it on the police, who, because their administration doesn't want to take any responsibility and say "Deal with it yourself" they in turn pass it off to the courts, who are probably equally disgusted, but the buck stops with them.

 

[Nodak]

We've gotten to the point where teachers are no longer allowed to discipline children since it may "harm their fragile psyches" and parents wont discipline the kids so the schools turn to the police. I don't have the answer but the whole situation is patently absurd.

 

[haha]

We've gotten to the point where teachers are no longer allowed to discipline children since it may "harm their fragile psyches" and parents wont discipline the kids so the schools turn to the police. I don't have the answer but the whole situation is patently absurd.

It's end-time, doncha know?

Ha

 

[rescueme]

I don't have the answer

I do, but of course you would have to jump in a time machine and go back 50 years.

I'm sure most have heard the story about the student who did something wrong and received corporal punishment (e.g. paddle). However, that wasn’t the worst of it. They feared the school (in my case, the nun) would call my parents and tell them of my "infraction".

I knew that I would be getting a second dose of "correction" when I arrived home that evening.

Kept me (and many I knew) on the straight and narrow...

 

[Nodak]

I do, but of course you would have to jump in a time machine and go back 50 years.

I'm sure most have heard the story about the student who did something wrong and received corporal punishment (e.g. paddle). However, that wasn’t the worst of it. They feared the school (in my case, the nun) would call my parents and tell them of my "infraction".

I knew that I would be getting a second dose of "correction" when I arrived home that evening.

Kept me (and many I knew) on the straight and narrow...

You're absolutely right but I don't think we'll ever get back there.

 

[donheff]

I'm sure most have heard the story about the student who did something wrong and received corporal punishment (e.g. paddle). However, that wasn’t the worst of it. They feared the school (in my case, the nun) would call my parents and tell them of my "infraction".

You're absolutely right but I don't think we'll ever get back there.

For every generation, the days of their youth seem like "the golden days" when parents knew how to parent, schools knew how to discipline, blah, blah. The reality was always a bit less golden than the memories.

My father was a school administrator and a wonderful writer but he always typed, never wrote long hand. He was a lefty and the nuns beat his knuckles with a ruler to force him over to the right hand. Later, he could never think properly when writing long hand, he could only write well at a typewriter. DW is also a great writer which contributed to her very successful law career. She was very interested in math as a kid but in 8th grade a nun told her, "you are not smart enough to do well in math." She took it to heart and never recovered an interest or facility in math. I guess she can thank the idiot nun for her lucrative law career?

Golden days my as**.

 

[Nodak]

Those were far from "golden days"; I also had the occasional sadistic teacher. Also was lucky enough to have a few excellent ones. As usual, though, the attempts to correct that which was bad 50 years ago have overshot the target and now there is almost no discipline.

 

[gratefuled]

Here is where I insert my "we're homeschooling!" happy dance.

 

[haha]

She was very interested in math as a kid but in 8th grade a nun told her, "you are not smart enough to do well in math." She took it to heart and never recovered an interest or facility in math. I guess she can thank the idiot nun for her lucrative law career?

Golden days my as**.

I survived this same combination of sadism and senility that dominated parochial schools. When I got out of grade school I went a Jesuit HS for exactly 1 week. The first time one of those twisted sadists hit me, I got up and left. For good. Public school by contrast felt like nirvana.

Still, I would do it over again in preference to the lunacy that rules today. I was a mouthy, defiant kid, and I would not be tolerated in today's school systems.

Ha