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I don't agree that she deserves any punishment at all, or that she did anything wrong in the first place.
It was her own private list. It's not like she made the list and posted it in the hallway. Now I certainly understand why, once it was found, the school would take it seriously and investigate. But once it was determined that it was harmless and the girl wasn't trying to scare anyone, it should have been dropped with at most a reprimand. I understand the school officials hands were tied but I do think zero tolerance policies like this are stupid and wrong and should be abolished.
I would not punish her at home and I would certainly try to get all that crap beyond the suspension dropped. If you can't get it changed then fine, but it's at least worth a try. Make sure she keeps her grades up anyway though. It won't matter for her ability to get into college later anyway.
Is the field trip educational or recreational? That is, does it include an educational component, such as a visit to a historic site or museum, or offer participation in natural history, archeology, etc. - or is it a trip to a theme park or amusement park or to the beach (without any inclusion of marine biology or beach ecology), etc.?
If it's in the first category, I'd encourage your daughter to write a letter acknowledging the error of her ways and asking for forgiveness and an opportunity to be included, as being excluded from an educational opportunity would not be in her best interests. But if it's in the latter category - too bad. I'd have her write the letter of apology anyway, and have her stress that she's learned her lesson and is sorry to have done such a thoughtless thing, but skipping the trip to Funland seems like a suitable outcome for her misdemeanor.
If she's forgiven and allowed to go on the field trip, I'd volunteer myself as a parent chaperone and stick right beside her the entire time.
I don't agree that she deserves any punishment at all, or that she did anything wrong in the first place.
It was her own private list. It's not like she made the list and posted it in the hallway. Now I certainly understand why, once it was found, the school would take it seriously and investigate. But once it was determined that it was harmless and the girl wasn't trying to scare anyone, it should have been dropped with at most a reprimand. I understand the school officials hands were tied but I do think zero tolerance policies like this are stupid and wrong and should be abolished.
I would not punish her at home and I would certainly try to get all that crap beyond the suspension dropped. If you can't get it changed then fine, but it's at least worth a try. Make sure she keeps her grades up anyway though. It won't matter for her ability to get into college later anyway.
I agree, once again, common sense left the room. I hate zero tolerance it has turned our administrators into idiots incapable of critical thinking, rationalization and just plain old fashioned reasoning.
I would do nothing to DD and I would pursue getting all the punishments abolished, stupid, just stupid. I think it is important that DD understand what all the hoopla is about but I also think that sometimes it is important to stand up to stupidity and not just turn into a sheep.
Errors are committed in moments of inner fragility, maybe the girl is trying to communicate something, children grow up fast they are thinking beings with their own path in life, sometimes so close.. sometimes very far away from us ( parents ) .... dry and harsh punishments do not produce nothing
with a few days suspension she should be able to just about finish that list. Since all the other kids will be in school she can be working on her minecraft skills
Ask her if she learned her lesson and she is done doing stupid things. Ask her if she understands why she got suspended. If the answer is yes, end of story. Yes it may seem extreme but how did the school know she was just kidding around with friends? Tell her to stop it and have her help you around the house over the next couple days and send her back to school on her merry way. It's 7th grade, it's not going to hurt her in any way, shape or form down the road...unless she does it again.
Wow, things really change.... Years ago, my sister (a teacher) also found a list titled "kill list" with a half dozen students, and herself on it. The school refused to do anything other than give the kid a talking to.... shortly, thereafter my sister looked for and found employment at a school district .
I agree, once again, common sense left the room. I hate zero tolerance it has turned our administrators into idiots incapable of critical thinking, rationalization and just plain old fashioned reasoning.
I would do nothing to DD and I would pursue getting all the punishments abolished, stupid, just stupid. I think it is important that DD understand what all the hoopla is about but I also think that sometimes it is important to stand up to stupidity and not just turn into a sheep.
Wait a second.
The teen had a list that was titled "Kill List" with names of her classmates. Do you really think that school administrators should just ignore something like that?
Playing the devil's advocate, let's say that the school did totally ignore it because the teenage said "it was just a list of friends that I wanted to kill on Minecraft" but it really WAS a Kill List and she then went on a rampage. Hmmm, I wonder what people would be writing then. Probably how the school totally messed up.
Homeschool her. I think public schools have officially jumped the shark.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TravelingUp
My daughter is a 7th grader at a junior high in our area. We got a call this afternoon that we needed to come to the school, and it turns out that she was being suspended.
Apparently she created a list of her friend's Minecraft characters names, and unfortunately titled it "Kill List." She put their real names next to their Minecraft names, and given the current climate, this was seen as a threatening act. She was suspended for two days.
My daughter is a mostly A's honor roll student in mostly Honors classes. She has never ONCE been in trouble for anything more atrocious than talking in class. She and her friends have been playing this game together, and the list did consist of FRIENDS of hers, not people that she was fighting with. I admit that I find the two day suspension to be utterly insane, given the obvious intent of the list. The Principal, Vice Principal and the police officer involved (County policy states that the police must be contacted in situations like this) all agreed that my daughter wasn't targeting the actual people, but the county has very strict rules on these things.
That said, I understand the importance of schools needing to protect their students, and I recognize that they need to be extremely cautious (especially since we live quite near to one of the worst school violence examples in the country). We have no intention of arguing or appealing the suspension, but along with that suspension comes some other pretty insane punishments. She will not be allowed to go on the seventh grade field trip (which isn't until May of next year). She will NOT be able to make the Honor Roll the entire year, regardless of her grades, and she is ineligible for any school awards at the end of the year. (School policy for those, NOT county),
This not only seems excessive, but counterproductive. How is telling a child that since they got in trouble once, they can no longer get credit for good performance the rest of the year? What reason would a less motivated child have to even try? What good does it do to keep her from a field trip that is months away, if there are no other problems between then and now?
I am looking for advice on how to go about appealing the lasting punishments from the suspension. Should I write a letter to the Principal or schedule an appointment now, or give it a month or so and then do it? Should I let my daughter write the letter, then request a meeting and give it to them?
Also, advice for what we should do while our daughter is suspended two days next week. Besides any homework or classwork that she is missing, there will be no computer time, no TV, no friends over, and no phone calls. Any other creative ideas to help her learn not to make boneheaded mistakes?
And instead of punishing her for these insane rules of others, please don't have her play those dark games. It's satanic.
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Homeschool her. I think public schools have officially jumped the shark.
