A boy was suspend for speaking Spanish in his public high school. What grounds does the school have to suspend the student for that? Most highschools have foriegn language courses and students use the languages in and out of class. This makes no sense. This will probably end up being a really big "Woopsie"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10372148/

this is so unbelievably outrageous.

dumbasses... though we don't know all the facts. maybe the kids were selling sexual favors for a dollar? XP

lol no... i have to say that was wrong for suspending him.. the father is right for stepping up and saying something.. he wasn't doing it in class just to a friend

hey whatever the dolla was for,, well that .. yikes don't want to know lol

I'm the first person to stand up and say, "If you want to live here, speak English." But for a school to suspend someone for speaking Spanish outside of class? That's ridiculous. Like woxi said... don't schools teach foreign languages? When I was in high school, we were required to complete at least 2 semesters of a foreign language class in order to graduate.

But they did say it was an alternative school. That's where the baaaaaaad kids go.

it is the zero tolerance crap

What "zero tolerance crap" are you referring to?

http://www.ztnightmares.com/

http://endzerotolerance.com/

What is "zero tolerance"?

From its inception in federal drug policy of the 1980's, zero tolerance school discipline has been intended primarily as a method of sending a message that certain behaviors will not be tolerated, by punishing both major and minor offenses severely. The broadness of zero tolerance drug programs led to a host of civil rights controversies1. But the term caught on among educators concerned about a near-epidemic of youth violence, and school boards across the country adopted zero tolerance policies for a range of disruptive behaviors. In 1994, President Clinton signed the Gun-Free Schools Act, mandating a one-year expulsion for weapons in school.


Why has zero tolerance created such controversy?

Almost from the outset, zero tolerance disciplinary policies have created controversy. Across the nation, students have been and continue to be suspended or expelled for a host of relatively minor incidents including nailfiles, paper clips, organic cough drops, a model rocket, a 5" plastic axe as part of a Halloween costume, an inhaler, and a kitchen knife in a lunch box to cut chicken (Skiba & Peterson, 1999). These harsh reactions to relatively trivial incidents may also be connected to the two-year and even permanent expulsions being considered by some districts. If a student is expelled for a year for a toy cap gun, districts may feel a need to distinguish truly dangerous incidents by extending punishment even further for actual weapons.

Oftentimes, policymakers in these contentious incidents claim that they are allowed little or no room for flexibility in the administration of district disciplinary policy. Yet this inflexibility is in no way a requirement of federal zero tolerance policy. Indeed, by requiring local districts to have in place a procedure allowing for case-by-case review, the Gun-Free Schools Act appears to mandate some degree of flexibility in the implementation of zero tolerance.

All you ever do is post links and parrot someone else's words. I'd really like to see you formulate a response in your own words. That's not an insult. Just a polite request.

Edit: I need to learn to read.

I do think the school went a wee bit overboard. But if they have a zero-tolerance toward the non-english policy, then it would apply.
Hell, my kid can be suspended for bringing his backpack into the classroom. Or sent home for not wearing the school approved clothing. suspended for 2 or more infractions of it as well.. And it's a Public School!!

They are zero-tolerance about all the rules they have in place.

The point is.. how can a school have zero tolerance for a foreign language... when they TEACH foreign languages?

They don't arrest people for it, but here there are laws/rules to speak DUTCH on public grounds like schools (especially schools) and not arabic, turkish or whatever, this to improve the poor integrationprocess.
(except in language classes ofcourse, but outside those, Dutch!)

Fine, lets remove any teaching of other languages from all schools, then impose a jail sentence for anyone not speaking English..

So you can understand.

they are allowed to speak the language they are being taught in the classroom they are being taught in, or in a study period where they are working on class material. But if your native/homeused/gangspeak/ect. is not english, then you aren't allowed to speak it anywhere else on the school grounds..

I believe the purpose for it is to ensure that the adults understand what they overhear. Safer for all the students that way..

Thats bullshit, considering how many people in this country speak spanish.

If you go that route, why not go full force and ban any English derivatives? Slang, Ebonics, etc.

The kid asked for a dollar. You're an adult entrusted with educating students on a secondary level, and you can't figure out what that kid was saying? My Spanish is pure crap, and I could tell there wasn't anything violent implied in his statement.

When it comes to school safety and school rules, you can't make them all black and white. There HAS to be a gray area. ESPECIALLY these days, when the whole country is up in arms over immigration and the like. Schools are a LEARNING environment.

I can get out of school suspension for wearing my jacket during school hours. Can hide guns in 'em, or somethin like that. But they don't care about the abnormally large hoodies that I can hide a machete in.... Size small jacket with no pockets?.. or size XXXL black hoodie?

Like i said.. i agree that they went a little overboard with a suspension..
Funny tho.. the article didn't mention what happened to the kid asking for the dollar..

Those hoodies aren't allowed there either..

Hello.
In castilian, or as everybody knows, in spanish, "give me a dollar please" is translated:
"deme un dolar por favor" or without please "deme un dolar".
If it is a question:
"¿tiene un dolar?"

it's absurd.
In my country if you speak english it's ok. A teacher can come and say: "well, very well, you speak english" or if the teacher doesn't want a kid speaking english he will say "don't speak english please". Thing that never happens.
It's totally absurd and a very exagerated patriotism.