The Southern Poverty Law Center today sued a Mississippi school district for violating the constitutional rights and derailing the promising academic and athletic career of a high school student over a tossed penny on a school bus.
Seeded on Tue Dec 15, 2009 12:59 PM EST
- Enjoy this article? Help vote it up the 'Vine.
- Public Discussion (9)
The school's actions stemmed from an incident that occurred while A.H. was riding the school bus home from Terry High this past September. During the ride, A.H. and five other students were tossing coins back and forth. A penny landed on the bus driver, who was not injured.
- 1 vote
Seriously? This is wrong on so many levels I don't know where to start. Good grief.
- 1 vote
Ok... here's my problem with this... As a former high school student (many, many years ago) I am aware of how students "toss" pennies and it's not-so-much a "toss" as it is a "high-speed flick". Nobody at that age "throws" pennies, I don't care how many people ask me for a "source" for that information, it's just not reasonable to me that they "tossed" the penny as described in the article. I remember that I too, learned the magical "Penny Flick" at that age and it was not uncommon in those days to get hit with a penny, that was "flicked" by your buddy from across the commons. And let me tell you; to be on the receiving end of one of these "flicked-pennies" is not a gentle love-tap on your skin! Those suckers bruise sometimes!
I really wish that the bus driver had commented in this article so we could get their side of the story... The punishment for this kid in this situation seems horribly blown-out of proportions if his "claim" is the truth, but it totally fits if the "toss" was a "flick". Especially if the bus driver asked them to "STOP"...
- 3 votes
I would have taken issue as well, it did say...
A penny landed on the bus driver, who was not injured.
Under the circumstances the punishment did not fit the crime. Expulsion and transfer to an alternative high school? I have a son in an alt. high school (our decision) but he'd been in trouble for much worse things than this and the word expulsion NEVER came up. It just smells.
- 3 votes
Oh, yeah...and if that bus driver had been startled and the bus had crashed, everyone would be singing a much different tune.
- 1 vote
Mississippi is still full of deeply entrenched and socially acceptable racism. This is an example. If he was a bubba, he would have only gotten a warning. It's a penny for chrissakes, and no one was hurt. Even if it stung the bus driver, it didn't warrant expulsion.
These days, what kids do at school is magnified ten fold. While I can appreciate schools trying to make as safe an environment as possible and keeping our kids focused on getting an education. Sometimes common sense needs to be used when doling out punishments for when students misbehave. It wasn’t in this case.
- 2 votes
The only source for the story is the SPLC so I guess we'll never see the whole picture. Interesting that there were several boys 'throwing pennies' and this one was singled out? Were the others punished? Did the bus driver see him throw the one that landed on him? Things like that. You would think his school record would have mitigated such a harsh punishment. Curious.
- 2 votes
Yeah, it would be interesting to hear the bus driver's side of the story.
- 2 votes
You're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead. |
As a new user, you may notice a few temporary content restrictions. Click here for more info.