Cameron Park

[RGV]

Now, if my son/daughter ever had a problem like your son's, and I was told by the principal that my son would be expelled for defending himself, I wouldn't hold him back.

Amen, and I would sue the district.

[Future Trooper]

thank you for all your information where i live people who knowingly employee illegals will be forced by law to terminate them by law starting next year and as for all the stuff about the schools here if you do something simple like be tardy to class they blow it way out of poportion and make you seem like you killed someone

hopefully Texas will follow suit and terminate illegals

[Future Trooper]

Originally Posted by yosoyway

If this is the case, I am happy to read that you allowed your son the opportunity to stand up and defend himself. Sometimes these jerks pick on kids they know can't really defend themselves.

I know that Vela was bad but it was not as bad as other schools. I have friends and family that are teachers there. I have friends/family that have/had children there. And yes they said it had problems but nothing compared to other schools or the schools we attended.

Cameron Park has problems but you shouldn't generalize and say that they are the root of all problems. Just as there is a bad element in CP, there are also very good people trying to make their community better. Did you know that kids from well to do neighborhoods cause as many problems as the kids from CP?

Now, if my son/daughter ever had a problem like your son's, and I was told by the principal that my son would be expelled for defending himself, I wouldn't hold him back.

i dont think that is right to expell a child for defending himself!

[teatime]

Thankfully, the really incompetent principal who was there has moved on. I think he left Brownsville altogether. But, geez, he did some damage. My son, at age 12, was having suicidal thoughts and tendencies because he was so afraid of going to school and everything I did to try to help him hit a brick wall. He expressed feelings of hopelessness and I had to put him in counseling.

Glad those days are long over! I just wish he had better memories of his school days, sigh.

[lonestar2007]

I think it is sickening the way we are suppose to feel quilty if we speak out against the unruly actions of the underprivileged kids, as if the fact they are poor justifies their aggressive behavior. As far as this stupid, stupid rule of expelling kids for defending themselves against the bullys, who in their right mind came up with such a thing? They say, it creates more violence. I say, when a bully knows you will not protect yourself against him, for fear of consequences, he will repeatedly come after you. These schools will take your children from you literally if you don't set your foot down. They will dictate to you what your child will wear, what he is allowed to bring to school to eat, how long they will keep him at school, to the fact that if a bully jumps on him, is beating him, he is not allowed to fight back, but must endure the beating until one of the teachers just 'happen' to see it taking place. These people are just plain nuts.

My daughter had another girl who was twice her size, knock her down in gym class one day, jumped on top of her, straddled her and hit her so hard it knocked a spacer out of her teeth. The other girls were trying to pull her off and the lazy gym teacher finally got over there and got her off of my daughter. They didn't call me right away, they called the other girl's mother who just so happened to be a teacher and discussed the situation with her. Then they called me. I went up to the school and found out what had happened. They had just given the other girl a warning to never do this again. That was it. I told the principal I was going to tell my daughter to fight back as hard as she could if any kid ever hit her again. I was brought up to defend myself and I want my daughter to do the same. He had the audacity to tell me that she would be expelled if she did. I told him, fine, then I was filing charges against the other girl for assault and he again had the audacity to tell me I couldn't do that. What a jerk! I told him I would do what i damned pleased. He then told me he would call in the policeman who was assigned to the school (believe it or not, the police force has cops who are assigned to schools, that is their duty, just like being a patrol cop, etc., they are 'school' cops). He told me that the policeman would tell me the same thing. I told him that I wanted to talk to the policeman. I explained what had happened and if I could press charges, and he said, yes, you certainly can. The principal was just protecting the other girl and her mother (the teacher). I guess one of those protecting your own situations and he thought he could buffalo me into believing every thing he said. Again, what a jerk, but you have to watch these people and be prepared to stand up for yourself and your kids.

It ended up with me telling the principal I didn't care if they expelled my daughter forever. If another kid hit her, I was instructing her to hit back and as hard as she could, I hoped she knocked their lights out. I don't have a tinker's damn bit of use for public schools. Now I suppose this sounds harsh and while it doesn't encompass all teachers, and all schools (we all know there are some good teachers out there who are struggling to make a difference, and we salute you because we know it is not easy), the overall mentallity of public schools is extremely distressing. I have said repeatedly a teacher's job can go two ways. It can be the easiest job ever invented, or it can be the hardest job on the planet. But these people are in charge of our children while they are in their care and seeing as how so many factors involved, rules and regulations, school officials, teachers, parents, and most importantly the kids, plain common sense must prevail. Self defense is prevalent throughout life and if you don't learn to stand up for yourself when you're young, you're going to have a hard row to hoe as you progress through life.

[teatime]

lonestar, I'm sorry this happened to your daughter, as well. Geez, it must be what they teach these loser principals in "school administration" courses because I've heard it over and over again from other parents, too. Why is it that our laws say you CAN defend yourself but the schools try to make our kids sitting ducks? I'm sure it's at the root of the increase in major school violence! The kids who have been repeatedly bullied and told they can't defend themselves finally snap.

You'll love this part -- the principal told us that instead of defending himself, my son needed to get away and find a teacher or coach to protect him and report the names. My son said, "Great, that would be making me into a weakling and a snitch and everything would get WORSE!" He was right, of course, and the principal remained in denial.

Whether it's CP, government housing, inner-city ghettoes, etc., excuses are made. Hasn't it occurred to ANYONE that if the troublemakers are held to everyone else's standards of behavior, they might actually LEARN a better way? Angry, violent kids turn into angry, violent adults unless SOMEONE stops them. In high school, someone went after my son and my kid cleaned his clock off school property. No one EVER touched him again and, would you believe, the kids became FRIENDS months later?!

[lonestar2007]

Originally Posted by teatime

You'll love this part -- the principal told us that instead of defending himself, my son needed to get away and find a teacher or coach to protect him and report the names. My son said, "Great, that would be making me into a weakling and a snitch and everything would get WORSE!" He was right, of course, and the principal remained in denial.

Good Lord, this is EXACTLY what we were told. This was in a small, well to do for the most part, town, which tells you this kind of behavior can happen anywhere. People need to be made aware of what's going on in the schools and just because it hasn't happened to your kids or grandkids, don't be too overconfident, you never know what might happen just around the corner. We had it happen to us and I still found it hard to believe. To this day, it seems incredible that this is allowed to go on in our schools. I guess we all fall into that category of it won't happen to me. I always thought that when the schools shootings first began, but now I know very well could happen right here in our town, right here in the school my daughter attends and it could just as well be her that get randomly shot as the next kid. Scary as hell.

[JamesAbilene]

I won't go into all of the laws, but what you all have described is largely in Texas law. When I was a principal, I encouraged any kid (and his parents) who was bullied or hit to file assault charges against the other kid. I also took the legal steps to get the other kid off of my campus and into an alternative behavior management school. If those steps are taken, the kid only bullies a kid once. Texas law, when I was a principal, defined an assault as one person on another. When the second person hits back, it becomes a fight, and both persons are considered liable and subject to tickets or punishment. That was, and I suppose still is, Texas law. The law could be worked with if the principals had been sure that the bullies had charges filed against them and made sure that he/she removed them from the campus for the rest of the semester or year. Some folks, even in my town, thought that because of who the kids parents were that some kids were exempt from the rules. I tried to treat all the kids the same, and I was unpopular with some prominent parents when I sent their kids to alternative placement and had assault charges filed on them. The laws can work if the principal is not too lazy or too afraid to use them.

[Future Trooper]

Originally Posted by JamesAbilene

I won't go into all of the laws, but what you all have described is largely in Texas law. When I was a principal, I encouraged any kid (and his parents) who was bullied or hit to file assault charges against the other kid. I also took the legal steps to get the other kid off of my campus and into an alternative behavior management school. If those steps are taken, the kid only bullies a kid once. Texas law, when I was a principal, defined an assault as one person on another. When the second person hits back, it becomes a fight, and both persons are considered liable and subject to tickets or punishment. That was, and I suppose still is, Texas law. The law could be worked with if the principals had been sure that the bullies had charges filed against them and made sure that he/she removed them from the campus for the rest of the semester or year. Some folks, even in my town, thought that because of who the kids parents were that some kids were exempt from the rules. I tried to treat all the kids the same, and I was unpopular with some prominent parents when I sent their kids to alternative placement and had assault charges filed on them. The laws can work if the principal is not too lazy or too afraid to use them.

they do the exact same thing where i live!