So how’s this for a turn of events?
It turns out the School Board was having a problem releasing the statements/transcripts of the case against the boys accused of sexual harassment. Their parents finally get them, only to find out the accuser claims the boys placed their genitals on his face. No one but the accuser, his parents and the school board knew this. The two accused nor their parents were aware of these claims. As I said before in my long tirade, they were only called in to be told their children were being expelled for sexual harassment because a boy complained about the photo of the butt in his face.
The two accused, now hearing what they are really accused of, come out with their tale of the weekend in it’s entirety. It turns out, the night before the photo was taken, the “victim” was placing one of the other boys’ headphones on his scrotum and then rubbing them all over his face. These 2 boys decided, as retaliation, to take the infamous “butt in face” photo the next night. They had only told their parents they were “being stupid” when they got in trouble for the photo, possibly not wanting to revel the previous nights “activities” or not wanting to let on that they were taking revenge.
Whether any of this is true or not, the fact remains this: the school board never sat down with them all to hear the entire story, only relying on one side.
Yes, obviously one of the accused is someone I know, so you can take it all with a grain of salt because I have sympathy for one particular side here. But the hard facts are, that will all come out as different media & lawyers have been contacted, is that only one side of this story was listened to and from that, harsh punishment was doled out to two young boys who are shaking in their shoes right now at the idea of starting this “Correctional school” on Monday.
Can I ask a minute of your time for an honest opinion about something?
Say there is this 13 year old boy. He’s a good student. He might be a little mouthy to his parents at times, nothing more than most kids his age. He’s not perfect, but deep down he is a very good kid, with a big heart who has excellent grades.
Now say he’s on a school trip that takes a group of students his age away from home for a couple days. The purpose of this trip is not what is important. Later that evening, this boy is sharing a hotel room with a few others. One of them falls asleep, and the others are still awake. And bored. They start taking stupid pictures with one kid’s camera phone. They are still bored and are feeling cheeky (gasp! a pun!). They decide to play a stupid prank by having this boy‘s hindquarters photographed near the sleeping kid’s face. A very close moon caught on another teens camera phone.
Fast forward to after the trip when the sleeping kid tells his parents and the parents decide to press charges, causing a world of trouble for this boy and his parents. His parents look into a lawyer. Next thing we know, this boy is expelled from his school for sexual harassment. Yes, you read that right, sexual harassment for a stupid prank that there is evidence of because they idiotically took a picture. Oh, I did mention that they are 13, right?
My beef is this: I understand handing out punishment. If the sleeping kid who got pranked wanted to tell his parents because he didn’t want the photo to get out, didn’t want the embarrassment, I sympathize. And so I can visualize all the parents getting together and talking about some form of punishment for the two pranksters. But pressing charges? Has it really come to that? Involving wasted time and money over something that was just two teens being complete idiots? And what about the school board, who apparently didn’t listen to presented evidence, or hear from both sides of this story, just went ahead and expelled this boy, putting sexual harassment on his otherwise clean and academically sound school records. They also assigned him to some juvie-type detention school for kids that actually DID harmfully harass other kids along with sell drugs, etc. Does the punishment really fit the crime?
I guess it’s pretty obvious that for me, no it does not. I am deeply saddened to hear that the “pranked” boy has been getting harrassed and made fun of at school over all of this. But when our “prankster’s” mother asked the Principal if any action was taken against those kids, he had no response. Ah, well. I fear for the future of the “pranked” boy. I do hope if he goes to college he doesn’t plan to go out drinking much, or get too chummy with the guys in the dorms or, dearie me, join a fraternity!
To think of all the times in my own childhood I, or my friends, could have gotten others expelled! Feel bad for me, people, when I had to live with a rumor spread around about me involving “rubber gloves” and the nickname “jack handy” for an entire school year, and was subjected to finding actual rubber gloves left on my desk or near my locker. And pity the poor guy in college who, after a night of hard partying, awoke unknowingly to his face covered in lipsticks and eyeshadows, and walked past the party stragglers on his way to the bathroom. Oh the taunts! Or think of my girlfriend, who blossomed into a D cup at age, well, 13, and was branded with the name “Dolly” for many years of her high school life. Or the poor girl who was in a group photo documenting a band outing, perched on the back of a bus seat, legs askew, wearing white shorts and very obviously on her period! And that was published by the school! Oh the horror!
And what about you? Was your childhood perfect? Did you deal with a bit of teasing or being pranked yourself? My point is not that any of this is right, it’s not. These kids could use a bit of strict punishment and some poignant lessons about life. But is this punishment what this boy needs, a boy that I can’t stress enough has never been in trouble and is a very good student, someone you wouldn’t view as having “no potential”, but is only 13 and does not always use common sense? Because what 13 year old does?
D life 