School bureaucrat gets shredded on witness stand

[KBCraig]

As little as I think of most lawyers (sorry, Spencer!), I do enjoy it when one puts a petty tyrant in his place.

This local trial is over the Detroit, Texas, school system trying to punish a girl for "unauthorized computer access", when both the use and website were specifically authorized by the teacher.

It's a shame the parents actually want to put her back in the school, though. They should stick with homeschooling.

http://texarkanagazette.com/articles/2007/03/02/local_news/news/news03.txt

Decision pending in paper doll case
Friday, March 2, 2007 8:21 AM CST

By Lynn LaRowe
Texarkana Gazette

No decision was rendered Thursday in a hearing to determine whether a Detroit Middle School student can return to school without being punished while her case moves through the judicial process.

The child has been accused of looking at graphic nude photos on a school computer as part of a class assignment.

?There are some cases I want to read, so I am not going to rule today,? Judge David Folsom of the Eastern District of Texas told the court.

The student, her parents, Trent and Tonya Smith, and her attorney, David Carter, requested the hearing after attempts to get the Detroit Independent School District to allow her to return to school failed. Carter sent a letter to DISD?s attorney, Sara Leon of Austin, asking the district to allow the girl to attend school while the case is pending. Leon denied Carter?s request, prompting the hearing.

Carter has alleged the DISD is violating the student?s constitutional rights to free speech and due process under the U.S. and Texas constitutions. The girl?s parents have been home schooling her via a Texas Tech University program because the district says it will punish her if she returns.

?We were told by the substitute, Ms. Tucker, to play games on ABC arcade (www.abcarcade.com) or any other site. I said, ?any site? and pointed to my computer screen where I had pulled up heavy games (www.heavygames.com) and she looked and said yes,? the student testified regarding the events of Aug. 28. While on the site heavygames.com, the student accessed a game called ?Sexy Dress Up,? which contained a cartoon drawing of a woman whose clothes could be mixed and matched with others on the page with the click of a computer mouse.

?What did ?sexy? mean to you?? Carter asked the student.

?Cute or adorable,? the student, who was 11 at the time of the incident, replied.

When the student discovered she could remove the doll?s bra, revealing breasts covered by what appeared to be a couple of Band-Aids, she immediately left the site, the student testified Thursday morning.

?I thought it was kind of crude and I didn?t want to play it anymore.?

The student said she then warned another student playing a different game on the same site to be wary and showed him the game to avoid.

The following day, the student?s regular teacher, Mary Hart, checked Internet histories after being told by the substitute, who had no computer skills, there had been some non-disruptive giggling at one of the tables. When she saw the game the student and two others at her table had viewed, she notified the principal, Pat Travis.

The student says Travis fired questions at her rapidly, intimidating and confusing her.

?He told me God was watching me and I had better not lie,? the student said.

Travis, a Baptist preacher with religious posters hanging on his office door, denied becoming agitated with the student or making statements about God.

Hart said she could not recall what Travis had said.

?He?s human,? Hart said. ?He may have made comments like that but I don?t recall.?

Hart says the student should have known she would not have permitted her to visit the site based on Internet usage rules discussed during the first week of school.

Travis punished the two other students, both male, with three swats with a wooden paddle after contacting their parents.

The girl?s mother, Tonya Smith, came to the school after being told by Travis her daughter had looked at pornography.

?He initially told me it was a pornographic nurse by the ocean,? Tonya Smith testified. After viewing the virtual paper doll herself, Smith refused to allow Travis to punish her daughter and has been fighting the district ever since.

?Did you consider this to be pornographic?? Carter asked Travis under direct questioning Thursday.

?No,? Travis said.

Travis told the court he had issue with the student visiting a site other than one Hart had granted permission to view. A discipline slip dated Aug. 29 indicated the student was to be punished for ?unauthorized use of a computer, a Level II consequence,? according to court documents.

Carter deftly showed the court Travis? decision to punish the girl under unauthorized use of a computer in the school?s own handbook did not match with the girl?s actions.

?So you agree this was not unauthorized use but unacceptable?? Carter asked Travis.

?Yes, I?d agree,? Travis testified.

No specific provision for unacceptable use of a computer exists in the DISD?s student code of conduct or in the student handbook, documents show.

Travis told Carter he was punishing the student for being insubordinate to a teacher because Hart, who was absent the day of the incident, had not granted permission for her to view the site.

Carter further queried Travis about the game the student accessed.

?Is it your position that (the student) should have known better when she saw the name ?Sexy Dress Up??? Carter asked Travis. ?Would you agree the term ?sexy? has no place in the educational process??

?Yes,? Travis answered.

?Let me ask you about the homecoming pep rally,? Carter said. ?Did it include some dancing to a song and were pictures of it posted on the school?s Website??

?Yes,? Travis replied.

?The name of the song was ?She Thinks my Tractor?s Sexy.? So she can?t go to a site with ?sexy? in the title, but you can have ?sexy? before the whole student body?? Carter asked.

?But it was the high school,? Travis said.

?But students from elementary on up were there,? Carter said.

Carter also displayed a photo taken from the school?s Website that showed a smiling Daniel Hart, school board member and husband of cheerleading sponsor Mary Hart, watching as the song was played while a student danced. Mary Hart, also the student?s computer teacher, had organized and approved the pep rally.

?Aren?t you expecting an 11-year-old girl to recognize standards the district itself doesn?t maintain?? Carter asked.

Folsom told the court he would be presiding over cases in Marshall, Texas, for the next few weeks and would make a decision as soon as possible.

?I?m waiting to read some post-hearing briefs from the attorneys and I will take this under advisement,? he said.

[TheLibertyZombie]

weeeheeeee!!!! 

[Spencer]

No offense taken.  I think very little of most lawyers, too.

[Rosie the Riveter]

You've got to be kidding --- this kid is 11 and she got in trouble -- They are supposed to be teaching the kids at school!! Internet games!! Please!

[Pat McCotter]

You've got to be kidding --- this kid is 11 and she got in trouble -- They are supposed to be teaching the kids at school!! Internet games!! Please!

Hey, it was a substitute! Nothing gets done with a sub in the class!

[KBCraig]

You've got to be kidding --- this kid is 11 and she got in trouble -- They are supposed to be teaching the kids at school!! Internet games!! Please!

Hey, it was a substitute! Nothing gets done with a sub in the class!

That's when the truth really shines: school is 90% government daycare.