Dalmatian190
05-26-2006, 07:37 PM
You know, things that make you wonder...stories 1 & 2:
Story 1:
Student suspended for sharing caffeine gum
May 26, 2006
LOWER BURRELL, Pennsylvania --Chew on this. A junior high school student was suspended for three days for sharing chewing gum because it contains caffeine, school officials said.
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Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail | Breaking News Alerts The girl, whose age and grade were not released, gave another student Jolt gum. The gum is "a stimulant that has no other redeeming quality," said Burrell School District Superintendent Amy Palermo.
Products acting as a stimulant are prohibited and possessing them is grounds for disciplinary action, Palermo said.
The suspension was mainly based on the girl's decision to share the gum with another student, she said.
"What if the gum had been given to a student with a heart condition? As a parent, would you want your child to be able to get that type of product?" Palermo said Thursday.
The school has soda machines, but they are not turned during school hours and drinks containing caffeine are not sold in the lunchroom.
Yet in the same nation that Caffeine can be treated with a zero tolerance, we're doing this to protect the kids...
Just up the road from me:
Putnam students protest school cuts
By JESSICA DURKIN
Norwich Bulletin
PUTNAM -- Nearly a quarter of the student body at Putnam High School walked out of class Wednesday to protest cuts to the school budget that threaten as many as eight teaching jobs.
The walkout and protests came the day after the proposed $15.3 million school budget for 2006-07 failed at referendum, 541-435. About 100 students marched to Town Hall and demanded answers from Superintendent Margo Marvin and Mayor Bob Viens.
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"I don't think it would be good for us to keep getting ripped off with the loss of teachers," said junior Nick Rybacki, 16, after the walkout.
Rybacki said he decided to join the walkout after seeing the number of students participating. He left school during a 9:30 algebra class.
Freshman Sara Jean-Louis, 15, said the students know they won't get more money, they just want to save the budget from deeper cutting. She said she hoped the protest would be a visible motivator to get more support for the next budget vote.
"We don't think enough people went out and voted to keep our school's budget," Jean-Louis said. "We need to keep the teachers we have, and we don't need larger classes -- we'll have to dumb ourselves down to our learning ability."
Superintendent Margo Marvin said she applauded the students' mass reaction to cuts, saying it showed their strong support for quality education. Marvin compared their spirit to the student protests against the Vietnam War three decades ago.
Marvin said about $200,000 has been budgeted for the anticipated utilities increases -- an amount of money that could pay four teacher salaries.
Many of the students who left school in protest Wednesday morning marched on Town Hall Wednesday night hoping to keep the Board of Finance from making additional deep cuts.
"All we want is a good education," said freshman Sheila Reyes, 15, as she made the mile walk from Jade Garden restaurant on Kennedy Drive to Town Hall.
"We're the future of this town and we want them all to realize that," said student Mercedes LaBelle, sporting a T-shirt with the message "Vote Yes" and carrying signs supporting the budget.
If voters want to keep the property tax increase to one mill, the school will need to cut another $500,000 from its budget, Marvin said. The Board of Finance added that amount in April to the originally proposed $14.8 million budget, so a cut would take the budget back to its starting point. Marvin said the Board of Education will have to determine in the next few weeks exactly what will be cut
The follow-up today after the administrators started to realize there was a bit of political backlash was they where "punishing" the students -- 1 day's detention, but on the honor system since they didn't have a list of who walked out.
Which begs the question -- Where the administrators so incompetent they couldn't stop a student walkout, and once it happened couldn't "lock down" their school, nor even make a list of who had walked out despite reports today the Superintendent, Principal, and Assistant Principal accompanied them on their demonstration...jeepers, if you can't control a walk out, I wonder what would happen if they ever had to implement their emergency plans...
Or where the Administrators allowing an illegal activity (truancy) to take place for their own political purposes.
Somehow, one wonders if you offered the students the option of organizing a protest on Saturday that they could have an even bigger turnout, how many would've complained they couldn't since that would cut into their holiday?
Story 1:
Student suspended for sharing caffeine gum
May 26, 2006
LOWER BURRELL, Pennsylvania --Chew on this. A junior high school student was suspended for three days for sharing chewing gum because it contains caffeine, school officials said.
Article Tools
Printer friendly
E-mail to a friend
Odds & ends RSS feed
Available RSS feeds
Most e-mailed
More:
Globe front page |
Boston.com
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail | Breaking News Alerts The girl, whose age and grade were not released, gave another student Jolt gum. The gum is "a stimulant that has no other redeeming quality," said Burrell School District Superintendent Amy Palermo.
Products acting as a stimulant are prohibited and possessing them is grounds for disciplinary action, Palermo said.
The suspension was mainly based on the girl's decision to share the gum with another student, she said.
"What if the gum had been given to a student with a heart condition? As a parent, would you want your child to be able to get that type of product?" Palermo said Thursday.
The school has soda machines, but they are not turned during school hours and drinks containing caffeine are not sold in the lunchroom.
Yet in the same nation that Caffeine can be treated with a zero tolerance, we're doing this to protect the kids...
Just up the road from me:
Putnam students protest school cuts
By JESSICA DURKIN
Norwich Bulletin
PUTNAM -- Nearly a quarter of the student body at Putnam High School walked out of class Wednesday to protest cuts to the school budget that threaten as many as eight teaching jobs.
The walkout and protests came the day after the proposed $15.3 million school budget for 2006-07 failed at referendum, 541-435. About 100 students marched to Town Hall and demanded answers from Superintendent Margo Marvin and Mayor Bob Viens.
ADVERTISEMENT
"I don't think it would be good for us to keep getting ripped off with the loss of teachers," said junior Nick Rybacki, 16, after the walkout.
Rybacki said he decided to join the walkout after seeing the number of students participating. He left school during a 9:30 algebra class.
Freshman Sara Jean-Louis, 15, said the students know they won't get more money, they just want to save the budget from deeper cutting. She said she hoped the protest would be a visible motivator to get more support for the next budget vote.
"We don't think enough people went out and voted to keep our school's budget," Jean-Louis said. "We need to keep the teachers we have, and we don't need larger classes -- we'll have to dumb ourselves down to our learning ability."
Superintendent Margo Marvin said she applauded the students' mass reaction to cuts, saying it showed their strong support for quality education. Marvin compared their spirit to the student protests against the Vietnam War three decades ago.
Marvin said about $200,000 has been budgeted for the anticipated utilities increases -- an amount of money that could pay four teacher salaries.
Many of the students who left school in protest Wednesday morning marched on Town Hall Wednesday night hoping to keep the Board of Finance from making additional deep cuts.
"All we want is a good education," said freshman Sheila Reyes, 15, as she made the mile walk from Jade Garden restaurant on Kennedy Drive to Town Hall.
"We're the future of this town and we want them all to realize that," said student Mercedes LaBelle, sporting a T-shirt with the message "Vote Yes" and carrying signs supporting the budget.
If voters want to keep the property tax increase to one mill, the school will need to cut another $500,000 from its budget, Marvin said. The Board of Finance added that amount in April to the originally proposed $14.8 million budget, so a cut would take the budget back to its starting point. Marvin said the Board of Education will have to determine in the next few weeks exactly what will be cut
The follow-up today after the administrators started to realize there was a bit of political backlash was they where "punishing" the students -- 1 day's detention, but on the honor system since they didn't have a list of who walked out.
Which begs the question -- Where the administrators so incompetent they couldn't stop a student walkout, and once it happened couldn't "lock down" their school, nor even make a list of who had walked out despite reports today the Superintendent, Principal, and Assistant Principal accompanied them on their demonstration...jeepers, if you can't control a walk out, I wonder what would happen if they ever had to implement their emergency plans...
Or where the Administrators allowing an illegal activity (truancy) to take place for their own political purposes.
Somehow, one wonders if you offered the students the option of organizing a protest on Saturday that they could have an even bigger turnout, how many would've complained they couldn't since that would cut into their holiday?