I don't understand why the police were called/involved ~ ~ emphasis/bolding below is mine ~ Sooz

Eighth Grader Jailed Over Wearing NRA T-Shirt To School
By Nicole Flatow on Apr 23, 2013 at 12:00 pm

An eighth grade student in West Virginia was arrested and taken to jail after an argument with a teacher over a National Rifle Association T-shirt that displayed a hunting rifle. The Associated Press reports:


The U.S. Supreme Court has long protected student political speech, holding that students do not “shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse door.” School officials may censor speech, however, if it disrupts the educational process. More recently, school censorship of a banner promoting drug use was upheld by the Supreme Court. On these particular facts, the only disruption appears to have ensued once the teacher asked Marcum to remove the T-shirt, but there may be weak arguments that wearing images of a weapon would fall under the school’s policy against clothing that displays “violence,” and that the policy is tailored to avoid disruptions.

Because the police would not talk to reporters, it is difficult to make a full First Amendment assessment. But regardless of whether the school’s conduct was protected speech, there is no clear justification for police intervention, let alone arrest and jailing of a 14-year-old. According to accounts of the incident, Marcum did not engage in violence or other dangerous behavior. In fact, he appears to have done nothing other than argue for his right to wear the T-shirt. Teenagers are bound to challenge authority; sometimes rightly so. Criminalizing what is at most a school disciplinary violation perpetuates what is known as the school-to-prison pipeline, in which youth are diverted away from school and into the criminal justice system.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/04/23/1906941/eighth-grader-jailed-over-wearing-nra-t-shirt-to-school/

The t-shirt depicted a gun -- an item of violence.

We would have just called his parents and sent him home to change.

That would be far too sensible in Murrica where drama is everything.

I'm sure that will be the justification ~ but read the comments I emphasized/bolded in the last paragraph of the op ~

And despite oskar's belief otherwise, we would have handled it the same way you note, greeny ~ in-house, no police ~

Sooz

But you're a charter school that isn't part of the corrupt public school system.

I'm thinking it's not so much charter vs public schools ~ it's mindset ~ I see no legit reason for police intervention in what sounds like a simple school discipline issue described in the op ~ I see it as another FAIL in "zero tolerance" policies ~

FTR, yes, we are a charter ~ but here in Chicago charters are under the Chicago Public Schools and IL state umbrellas ~ we are "governed" by CPS' general policies and must meet all reporting requirements ~ and we must administer/take all mandated state tests ~ in return, we have MUCH freedom/flexibility in curriculum and teaching methodology ~ including the freedom to reinstate many programs [gym, art, music for example] that have been slashed due to budget decreases ~

Sooz

You have in-house, accountable administration as opposed to the corrupt top-down-follow-orders-or-be-fired model.

I completely agree that police should not be involved in a simple school rules violaiton. The shirt may have been or may not have been ok under the dress code but if a teacher/authority figure asks you to remove it, you do it. If you don't, we call your mom. If she gets unruly, then we call the police on her unruly behavior. Calling the police on an eight year old who is boisterous about his "rights" is ridiculous.

Sounds like something they would do here, where we suspend 7 year olds with gun shaped pastries.

queen, it was an eighth grade student, not an 8 yr old. Big difference since a 14 yr old boy might be quite large and intimidating.

I still think it was stupid to call the police, unless this kid has a history we don't know about.

I wonder....if he had taken off his shirt, would he then be suspended for being shirtless?

They wanted him to wear it inside out. One of the things I HATED most about my job for the year I taught was monitoring the lunch line. I did very little and, if a kid was wearing an NRA shirt I wouldn't have done much about it. However, I doubt there was tons of respectful discourse. A 5'2" woman could have sent a 6'2" 14 yo to he office, because cafeteria duty is brutal. Horrible girl fights over boys. Guys getting irked with other guys due to lack of respect.

I still remember the two guys coming back to the classroom talking about the "bitch fight" in the cafeteria. Two girls started to pull each other's hair because they were fighting over a guy. I said "language." They continued laughing and talking about it with sanitized language until the bell rang. So I am handing out their papers, and one of the guys said to me, "Thanks bitch!!!" The class of course was waiting for a huge reaction that I did not give. I think I said, "You know better." Talked to the head of the department and the boy, the department head and I called his mom at work d told her what happened. She made him apologize. I did not send him to in-school suspension because sometimes students want that. The sit in a room and do work and aren't allowed to talk or put their heads down on their desks. Lunch is shuttled in. I think they sometimes want the rest and do dumb stuff so they can go there.

We had 2 in-house cops to break up the daily hall fights.

Geez--never been a teacher but am glad I've not: it does sound brutal at times and calls for judgment calls that would be hard to make!

That said, I have always thought that "words are words" and have only the power that one gives them...by the same token pics are pics and their power comes from the mind of the viewer...it was not the pic of an assault rifle but rather a hunting rifle...in my pov, kind of like the pic of a pocket knife...siiigh...

the "zero tolerance" being touted by schools i think can be anathema to free thought and speech...the kid should have submitted to authority and turned the shirt inside out, and first opportunity should have written (like on one of the 'essays' that schools are always asking for) a discourse on why his freedom of speech had been violated...the pen is still mighty.

I did write 8 year old but I had in my mind eigth grader- middle school. Sure, he could be big and intimidating but like you, Roseanne, I still did not see anything in the article that would warrant caling the police. I'm no fan of the NRA but some school dress codes go a little too far. It got so bad in one school that the rule became you cannot wear any t shirt with words on it and that turned into a first amendment complaint that the school ultimately lost. Sometimes the more you react to something, the more problems are casused by the reaction than the action. the more rules there are, the more rules there are to break. Can we just stop the silliness and teach school? (For the record, I taught public school in Boston.)

Exactly, queenie! ~ and this is a lifetime battle that extends far beyond school ~

Sooz