I just heard about the School Board meeting last night involving the students who are being kept out of all extra curricurlar activities since some pictures were taken from their My Space accounts showing them ‘drinking’ and given to the school.
Can anyone tell me what the outcome of the meeting was? It was on Fox 43 at 10:00 last night but the meeting was still going on when they were on the air.
I just heard about the School Board meeting last night involving the students who are being kept out of all extra curricurlar activities since some pictures were taken from their My Space accounts showing them ‘drinking’ and given to the school.
Can anyone tell me what the outcome of the meeting was? It was on Fox 43 at 10:00 last night but the meeting was still going on when they were on the air.
Just curious.
So thats why Fox 43 newsvan was at rutter’s yesterday.
I had heard rumor of similar pics/posting on myspace back in the fall. Nothing ever came of it that I had heard. I wonder if this is related to the same incident.
I am not sure if all of you have heard what has been going on at KD High School, but it has been all over the news and community. The issue revolves around someone pulling pictures off students My Space pages, printing them and sending them into the school because the pictures show the presence of alcohol or assumed to be alcohol. To make a long story short, the students that were in the pictures where punished, as the School Board “Rules” state, they are not allowed to participate in any extra after school activities such as sports, prom, Varsity Club things, etc. As I am sure everyone agrees this policy stinks because you are deemed guilty by perception.
It seems the School Board now has a double standard. I hear that due to the media attention and the number of students that were affected and the number of parents voicing their anger over what happened, the Board is reinstating these students, so then can participate in the after school activities, with some new minor punishment. I think this is a good thing for these students and their parents.
But that did not help my family and my daughter Valerie when the same thing happened to us last year. We were pretty much thrown to the wolves. Those of you who know Valerie know that she is one of the sweetest young ladies you would ever want to meet. She was a good student who played 3 sports, Field Hockey, Basketball and her favorite sport Soccer. You may or may not also know that Val was involved in a very serious car accident when she was in Middle School, riding to school with an older student that hit some ice and slammed into a telephone pole. She was almost killed and during her long recovery at Kennedy-Krieger, she was told by the doctors there that she would never be able to play any sports again for the rest of her School years and possible never again at all the rest of her life. Well if you know Val and her love and passion for sports that was all she needed to hear and she worked very hard and was able to prove those doctors wrong. Her Sr year she played Varsity Field Hockey, Varsity Basketball and would have gotten her 3rd Varsity Letter for 3 different sports with her letter in Soccer. Well because someone had it in for me, for some reason which is beyond me, pictures were sent to the school where Val was sitting at a table and beer was on the table pretty much what the current pictures show. This happened in Feb of 2007 right before soccer season of Val’s last year at KD. She was totally humiliated by the School Board as was I and my entire family. I cannot even begin to tell you they hurt and anguish my family went through. While there was support for us from some areas, it was very quiet and we pretty much hung out to dry. It did not matter to them that most if not all of my spare time is spent working with the kids of this Community, teaching, coaching, giving rides, support, advice, and helping them whenever and whatever I could.
What I am asking is that Val not be forgotten in all this. That this School Board needs to be reminded of the standard they set last year and if they are going to make amendments, then they need to come out publicly and admit they were wrong and the policy is wrong, and that they should concentrate on teaching our kids, providing us with good qualified teachers, equipment for the classrooms and nice fields and facility for our kids to be able to truly enjoy their High School years. I need these same parents to go to bat for Val and my family. My family and I will BE at the next Board meeting and I am hoping we can get support from this community, that we all love so much and have invested so much time into. Sorry for the long winded e-mail, but as a father and an active member of this Community, I have had enough of this self righteous School Board and the Hypocrites and their double standards.
I am not sure if all of you have heard what has been going on at KD High School, but it has been all over the news and community. The issue revolves around someone pulling pictures off students My Space pages, printing them and sending them into the school because the pictures show the presence of alcohol or assumed to be alcohol. To make a long story short, the students that were in the pictures where punished, as the School Board “Rules” state, they are not allowed to participate in any extra after school activities such as sports, prom, Varsity Club things, etc. As I am sure everyone agrees this policy stinks because you are deemed guilty by perception.
It seems the School Board now has a double standard. I hear that due to the media attention and the number of students that were affected and the number of parents voicing their anger over what happened, the Board is reinstating these students, so then can participate in the after school activities, with some new minor punishment. I think this is a good thing for these students and their parents.
But that did not help my family and my daughter Valerie when the same thing happened to us last year. We were pretty much thrown to the wolves. Those of you who know Valerie know that she is one of the sweetest young ladies you would ever want to meet. She was a good student who played 3 sports, Field Hockey, Basketball and her favorite sport Soccer. You may or may not also know that Val was involved in a very serious car accident when she was in Middle School, riding to school with an older student that hit some ice and slammed into a telephone pole. She was almost killed and during her long recovery at Kennedy-Krieger, she was told by the doctors there that she would never be able to play any sports again for the rest of her School years and possible never again at all the rest of her life. Well if you know Val and her love and passion for sports that was all she needed to hear and she worked very hard and was able to prove those doctors wrong. Her Sr year she played Varsity Field Hockey, Varsity Basketball and would have gotten her 3rd Varsity Letter for 3 different sports with her letter in Soccer. Well because someone had it in for me, for some reason which is beyond me, pictures were sent to the school where Val was sitting at a table and beer was on the table pretty much what the current pictures show. This happened in Feb of 2007 right before soccer season of Val’s last year at KD. She was totally humiliated by the School Board as was I and my entire family. I cannot even begin to tell you they hurt and anguish my family went through. While there was support for us from some areas, it was very quiet and we pretty much hung out to dry. It did not matter to them that most if not all of my spare time is spent working with the kids of this Community, teaching, coaching, giving rides, support, advice, and helping them whenever and whatever I could.
What I am asking is that Val not be forgotten in all this. That this School Board needs to be reminded of the standard they set last year and if they are going to make amendments, then they need to come out publicly and admit they were wrong and the policy is wrong, and that they should concentrate on teaching our kids, providing us with good qualified teachers, equipment for the classrooms and nice fields and facility for our kids to be able to truly enjoy their High School years. I need these same parents to go to bat for Val and my family. My family and I will BE at the next Board meeting and I am hoping we can get support from this community, that we all love so much and have invested so much time into. Sorry for the long winded e-mail, but as a father and an active member of this Community, I have had enough of this self righteous School Board and the Hypocrites and their double standards.
I personally know Al and all of his kids (I was relieved to hear Val was gonna make it last year), they are all great kids! I agree with everything he is saying here, HOWEVER...I highly doubt the school will come out and say they were wrong.Wish they would though…
Similar case in Millersville a few years ago. A young lady about to graduate from the University (by the way, she was of age to drink) had some pictures taken of her at a party. They were posted on her MySpace page. Nothing unusual… at least one picture showed her holding a cup in her hand (no label, no markings, no ability to see the content). The caption or comments indicated she was drinking alcohol from the cup.
School officials saw the pictures. This young lady was refused her teaching degree and instead given an English degree. No proof of anything existed and the lower courts upheld the decision of the school. I am not sure of the final outcome.
There is a lesson to be learned from this: Freedom of Speech does not exist with a private employer or in school situations. Employers are searching MySpace and FaceBook for stuff posted by future/current employees. They are using the findings against these young people. Image is everything in business.
I speak on this issue very often to parents groups. I am more than happy to conduct a session locally if there is a desire for it.
The school has a right (at least legally) to monitor and curtail a student from extra-curricular activities if they feel they are violating the law. From what I see so far, they are on very poor legal ground. Then again, nothing surprises me with SESD - this crap has been going on since I went there in the early to late 80’s.
It has been going on way to long at SESD and most people have to roll over because they don’t have the funds to fight it. Maybe with this number of parents, they will have some clout. It is a shame for the children like Al’s that just had to miss out on those “once in a lifetime” moments. Especially since this was not one of those “without a doubt guilty” issues. Most of us can all think of instances where our minor children have been in the presence of alcohol but are not drinking. I think the board has much more important issues to spend their time on than this shaky one. Were these children charged by law?
I am not sure if all of you have heard what has been going on at KD High School, but it has been all over the news and community. The issue revolves around someone pulling pictures off students My Space pages, printing them and sending them into the school because the pictures show the presence of alcohol or assumed to be alcohol. To make a long story short, the students that were in the pictures where punished, as the School Board “Rules” state, they are not allowed to participate in any extra after school activities such as sports, prom, Varsity Club things, etc. As I am sure everyone agrees this policy stinks because you are deemed guilty by perception.
It seems the School Board now has a double standard. I hear that due to the media attention and the number of students that were affected and the number of parents voicing their anger over what happened, the Board is reinstating these students, so then can participate in the after school activities, with some new minor punishment. I think this is a good thing for these students and their parents.
But that did not help my family and my daughter Valerie when the same thing happened to us last year. We were pretty much thrown to the wolves. Those of you who know Valerie know that she is one of the sweetest young ladies you would ever want to meet. She was a good student who played 3 sports, Field Hockey, Basketball and her favorite sport Soccer. You may or may not also know that Val was involved in a very serious car accident when she was in Middle School, riding to school with an older student that hit some ice and slammed into a telephone pole. She was almost killed and during her long recovery at Kennedy-Krieger, she was told by the doctors there that she would never be able to play any sports again for the rest of her School years and possible never again at all the rest of her life. Well if you know Val and her love and passion for sports that was all she needed to hear and she worked very hard and was able to prove those doctors wrong. Her Sr year she played Varsity Field Hockey, Varsity Basketball and would have gotten her 3rd Varsity Letter for 3 different sports with her letter in Soccer. Well because someone had it in for me, for some reason which is beyond me, pictures were sent to the school where Val was sitting at a table and beer was on the table pretty much what the current pictures show. This happened in Feb of 2007 right before soccer season of Val’s last year at KD. She was totally humiliated by the School Board as was I and my entire family. I cannot even begin to tell you they hurt and anguish my family went through. While there was support for us from some areas, it was very quiet and we pretty much hung out to dry. It did not matter to them that most if not all of my spare time is spent working with the kids of this Community, teaching, coaching, giving rides, support, advice, and helping them whenever and whatever I could.
What I am asking is that Val not be forgotten in all this. That this School Board needs to be reminded of the standard they set last year and if they are going to make amendments, then they need to come out publicly and admit they were wrong and the policy is wrong, and that they should concentrate on teaching our kids, providing us with good qualified teachers, equipment for the classrooms and nice fields and facility for our kids to be able to truly enjoy their High School years. I need these same parents to go to bat for Val and my family. My family and I will BE at the next Board meeting and I am hoping we can get support from this community, that we all love so much and have invested so much time into. Sorry for the long winded e-mail, but as a father and an active member of this Community, I have had enough of this self righteous School Board and the Hypocrites and their double standards.
I personally know Al and all of his kids (I was relieved to hear Val was gonna make it last year), they are all great kids! I agree with everything he is saying here, HOWEVER...I highly doubt the school will come out and say they were wrong.Wish they would though…
Sir, I would agree with you. Again, with local ordanences, policies and laws interfere with living at times. The reality is that most teenagers will get involved with alcohol period. It is so unfortunate what happened to your daughter. My guess is the same people who make these rules have/had have/will have teenage sons or daughters that could be at a party and who may or may not be drinking and the same thing could have happened to them. I’m sure they would probably just brush their child’s situation under the rug and it wouldn’t apply to their children if that be the case. What happens if it was a family picnic and a relative was drinking alcohol? How to they make the call of what is/what is not acceptable? To me this would be something that could have legal recourse on your part. Perhaps it would have been more of a headache to persue instead of letting go and trying to fight. Sometimes it is easier to do that. I feel for you, and having an infant son I recognize the hardships that we as parents have to face in our society today. The good ole’ days have been gone for a long time. Rules and policies are always not reasonable and neither are the people making them. So what do we do as parents? What did you do as a parent? I would like to hear your feedback to help me prepare for the future. V/R, KATY
Don’t know how to start this, but here we go...we are not at all surprised by the school board’s decision last night to overturn a district policy. The students signed the code of conduct (which by the way, is posted for everyone to read on the district’s website), they also saw first hand the treatment of the Val Chesnavage last year, so they knew the risk they were taking.
Everybody knows how we feel about the school district and the double standards that go on routinely here. This is just a blatant disregard of policy and continues to show the lack of accountability and respect for proper procedures. In this good old boy network, again it is who you know and how loud you yell that matters.
Five years ago nobody cared when our son became chronically ill. Last year, nobody cared to listen to the Chesnavage family. This year, because the board is out numbered and because of the names involved...we suddenly care and we suddenly cave to pressure. Unbelievable.
And you wonder why our society is the way it is.
What message are we sending our kids? Doesn’t matter what you do, you will not be held accountable.
Oh yeah, I forgot this one… In my freshman year some members of the soccer team got suspended from school for running down to Rutter’s before an away game to grab some snacks since the team was not allowed to stop for dinner on the way home.
Seems the football team did this all the time. There was a lot of animosity between the two teams because of the fact that the soccer team was viewed as a cash drain and resource drain from football. These students were yanked from the team bus just before we left and were threatened with long suspensions if they did not cooperate and turn in the rest. One of them caved. I forget how many got nailed but eventually there was some reversal due to the stink the parents threw.
There was a double standard - always has been. I knew several football players that should have been on academic suspension but they were not. You can bet the soccer players did not get away with it.
Nothing ever changes at SESD. It has always been guilty even if proven innocent. I was screwed by Charles Reid more than once down there while in school.
This is probably not going to be a popular statment:
The board was wrong to back off.
Here are my reasons for this:
There is a code of conduct involved. Each and every one of the kids signed it in order to participate in the extra curricular activities. The code is pretty clear. Violate it, and you lose out. So what have we just taught these kids? They were taught that if you cry hard enough to the right people, with the right backing, then there are absolutely no consequences to your actions.
Great lesson for kids that are supposed to be role models.
I would be guessing that the reason the board backed off has more to do with “who” they were dealing with than “what” they were dealing with....and that is really wrong.
What I don’t understand is why the school would expect to control or monitor off-premise behavior in the first place. However, once the code of conduct is signed, it’s fair to expect it to be upheld.
I guess my major beef with this is the concept of school authority off-campus and off-hours. Is there *any* limit to our desire to be controlled by government, locally or nationally?
