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The punishment was in barring her from the class for the remainder of the term, not providing her with class assignments, making her sit in the office during the class, and then giving her an "F" for the class. That they rescinded the "F" after she appealed doesn't change what she experienced.
There is far more to the story than stated here most likely. The article though has the same problem I complain about so many times here. The basic complaint appears untrue which causes me to dismiss much of the rest of the complaint.
She is suing the McAllen Independent School District, principal Yvette Cavazos and teacher Reyna Santos for violating her constitutional right to freedom of speech and equal protection under the law — according to the suit, the district has a policy to excuse students from saying the American pledge of allegiance if they object, but not if they oppose pledging to another country
The punishment was in barring her from the class for the remainder of the term, not providing her with class assignments, making her sit in the office during the class, and then giving her an "F" for the class. That they rescinded the "F" after she appealed doesn't change what she experienced.
Barring her from the class wasn't for not reciting, it was for secretly videotaping the class and running off and going public on Glenn Beck and The Blaze.
well, saying it in spanish does facilitate the learning of spanish
but that doesn't make it a good choice
The anthem is a known standard, text the teacher doesnt have to verify with each student.
Just think if the Teacher had to hear a Ricky Iglesia or Pitbull songs recited. If I were the teacher, I'd want to hang myself by the end of the day.
When I was in English class, we had to recite a passage for the Canterbury tales in old English...What did that have to do with American English tought in southcentral Texas y'all?
Barring her from the class wasn't for not reciting, it was for secretly videotaping the class and running off and going public on Glenn Beck and The Blaze.
if you wait about 5 minutes on these kinds of threads, the real story comes out...
She shoulda chanted USA.......USA..........USA and flipped the teacher the double bird salute and walked out of the classroom. Damn moron teachers and their authoritarian BS.
There is far more to the story than stated here most likely. The article though has the same problem I complain about so many times here. The basic complaint appears untrue which causes me to dismiss much of the rest of the complaint.
She is suing the McAllen Independent School District, principal Yvette Cavazos and teacher Reyna Santos for violating her constitutional right to freedom of speech and equal protection under the law — according to the suit, the district has a policy to excuse students from saying the American pledge of allegiance if they object, but not if they oppose pledging to another country
She was not forced to recite the pledge.
But she was punished for refusing to recite the pledge. That is a form of coercion.
Look, I don't believe students in school are afforded the full coverage of the first amendment, when such an exercise interferes with the purpose of school, education.
However, I do believe that as a student she can and should exercise her conscience. In this case, she considers pledges of allegiance to be serious matters, not just random rhetoric. That's a reasonable position. Certainly we can all agree that loyalty oaths are serious matters, and that's exactly what a pledge of allegiance is, a loyalty oath.
Now in this case, the school didn't consider the Mexican Pledge of Allegiance to be a loyalty oath, but instead a language exercise. That is their prerogative, however, they can't dismiss the student's position out of hand, because her position was a reasonable one.
Now she maintains that both the principle and the teacher pressured her to recite the Mexican Pledge of Allegiance, but in the face of her adamant refusal, they presented her with an alternative. Which she accepted. However, after performing the alternative, her teacher gave her an "F", and refused to explain why. When a "B" student gets an "F" on a paper, it's reasonable for that student to ask why. It is not reasonable for the teacher to refuse to discuss it.
So the student goes home, and tells her parents what happened. Her father reaches out to school authorities to find out why her paper got an "F". When the school authorities won't respond to his inquiries, he goes to the media with his complaint.
At that point, the teacher of the class decides she doesn't want this student in her class. And the student has to go sit in the office. The student requests being allowed to return to class, but is refused. When asked how long she has to sit out the class in the office, she's told to ask the teacher. The teacher tells her it's indefinite. What it is is suspension, without any hearing or opportunity for the student to make her case to the school authorities. And it continues to the end of term. When, at the end of the school term, the student finds out that she's been given an "F" for the course, Intermediate Spanish--a language she's 100% fluent in--because she didn't perform the class assignments. Class assignments she wasn't given. Upon appeal, the school rescinds the "F", but 1. she's lost credit for a course that was an easy credit for her and that affects her in terms of both graduation and college applications; 2. Sitting in the principle's office each day during that class because you are barred from a class is clearly not a positive experience; 3. She was punished this way without any due process.
If the school's actions had been limited to the half-page essay on Mexican Independence, and the teacher had graded it fairly and been prepared to defend the grade, then this lawsuit wouldn't have happened. However, the school went far beyond those actions.
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