Schoolgirl arrested for drawing on her desk
Categories: Kids+, Primary school, Weird stories, Behaviour and Development, Latest news
Think back to when you were a kid at school: did you ever doodle on the desk? I know I did, it's just one of those things that school desks seem to attract, along with chewing gum stuck underneath. But perhaps students today are learning to be more respectful of school property.
So what do you think of this case from New York?
A twelve-year-old schoolgirl has been suspended for doodling her name on her desk with an erasable marker. Not only that, but Alexa Gonzalez was also taken in handcuffs to the police station to answer for her 'crime' of writing "I love my friends Abby and Faith" and "Lex was here. 2/1/10" with a smiley face on her desk.
The New York Daily News reports that police didn't know quite how to respond to the request to take the little girl into custody. Alexa spent several hours at the police station, before her suspension was lifted and the school has since admitted that it may have over-reacted.
But she isn't the only New York student to have been 'cuffed for minor infractions
Three years ago, a thirteen-year-old was arrested for writing 'OK' on her desk at a school in Brooklyn. Two years ago, the Daily News reports that a five-year-old was handcuffed and sent to a psychiatric ward after throwing a fit in nursery school. Then, last year, another twelve-year-old was arrested for doodling on her desk in the Bronx.
A class action lawsuit was filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union just weeks ago against New York City for using "excessive force" in middle and high schools.
Even though she is no longer suspended, Gonzalez still went to family court last Tuesday. She was sentenced to eight hours of community service and a book report. She also has to write an essay about what this experience has taught her.
Has she learned her lesson? She tells the Daily News: "I definitely learned not to ever draw on a desk".
What do you think? Do we need to get tougher with misbehaving schoolchildren? Or is this punishment way over the top? Leave your comment below and have your say on school discipline
Source [ParentDish US]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
oldfart 2-09-2010 @ 9:15AM
When i were a lad, we had to leave our desks clean, whoever had written on it, and that meant glasspaper and varnish from the woodwork dept. usually it meant that the whole class had to do it at the end of term, including the girls.
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John 2-09-2010 @ 10:41AM
Me too. However, we were also thrashed for the crime too. The double combination ensured remarkable clean desks!
lea 2-09-2010 @ 9:16AM
What happened to the head of the school sorting kids out? police need to get out there and arrest real criminals, not children being children! If we'd got caught doing something like that, the worst that would have happened would have been a detention. not an arrest. I know kids should respect things, but thats where the school staff should step in, not the police!!!
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Jacobite 2-09-2010 @ 1:38PM
May sound way over the top (and like everyone else I wrote on my school desk), but now the teachers are hamstrung and not able to keep control due to the PC brigade. If they were to shout at them in the wrong way then the teachers and not the pupils would be the ones in trouble.
Gone are the days of the school belt, clip round the ear, or the seemingly 'magical' way in which the blackboard duster seemed to leave the teachers hand and catch someone on the head or legs....
According to the PC brigade this is all for the better, but have any of them been on our streets lately and seen the effect their systems have had.....even the police are having difficulty in control of minors and have lost all respect in the publics eyes.
Think the NYPD were maybe over the top but again if it is going to do some good and put some fear back into the younger generation them maybe the UK should take a leaf out of their book and try the same thing over here, or would that give the civil rights groups even more to complain about?
Roger Taber 2-09-2010 @ 11:18AM
I agree. Although writing on desks should not be encouraged, it is definitely NOT a police matter! If school Heads are incapable of sorting this themselves (detention perhaps?) he or she does not deserve to be in the post. Calling in the police for such a trivial matter is not only ludicrous but could easily distort a child's outlook on life, society and the police forever.
biker 2-09-2010 @ 9:24AM
I always thought the Yanks were a bit mad.
I also wrote on my desk at school so perhaps I should hand myself in to the police. I hope they don't send me to the chair. That would be SHOCKING!!!!!!!!!!!!
Biker.
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alison 2-09-2010 @ 12:06PM
may be if you seen this punishment you would not have scribbled on your desk
B 2-09-2010 @ 9:57AM
WAY OVER THE TOP, TACKLE PORN ON THE INTERNET INSTEAD
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V 2-09-2010 @ 11:14AM
Perhaps setting strict standards for "petty" crime may deter folk from going into more serious stuff - there is too much latitude for very young folk who, if bright will push the boundaries to the max to see where the gaps are. Those who lack the home discipline will fully exploit those gaps unless fairly radical action is taken early. I once brought the police into the school to get to the bottom of an anonymous letter - we were not going to charge anyone, but the kids did not know that. What the learnt was that it was a crime to behave that way and that there were potential consequences - the boy owned up (I had a feeling it was him but could not be sure). There are many ways of managing problems if the parents, schools and authorities are allowed. Brutality in any form is unacceptable but many people are only motivated by fear - even though most would hate to acknowledge it.
oaklea 2-09-2010 @ 2:07PM
We need to do both.
jgeedoc 2-09-2010 @ 10:10AM
The home of the brave and the land of the free.......now populated and run by absolute raving stark staring mad nut cases.
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Super Sparks 2-09-2010 @ 10:29AM
I seem to remember the desk Winston Churchill wrote on was treated as a school souvenier and quite valuable, not considered vandalism.....however that's after 100 years of history. Maybe Ms Gonzalez will be famous in the future, for the right reasons and the school will have a valuable souvenier???? (or maybe not!!!).
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John 2-09-2010 @ 10:41AM
Yes, it was indeed vandalism. It is/was also a tradition at Eton....however the 'vandal' risked a severe canning in following the so-called 'tradition'. The greatest esteem was afforded those who made their 'mark' earliest; thus increasing their chances of detection.
Nancy 2-09-2010 @ 10:35AM
What nonesense...........right over the top. Surely cleaning her desk would have been more effective.
On the otherhand perhaps we need a bit more of that here. We are raising a generation of do you as like, you're never wrong children where parents have the upper hand and anyone in authority is considered fair game.
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terminator 2-09-2010 @ 11:03AM
Some wag (years previously), had written on mine:
' Woodbines taste like Arabs underpants ' !
LOL..... Wonder how he knew ???
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manju1511 2-09-2010 @ 11:11AM
o my god ,common she is just 12 and i dont think she did a crime doing what she did why cant the police stay focussed on drugs and murders ,,give the kids a break
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oaklea 2-09-2010 @ 1:59PM
If we are stronger with children when they vandalise other peoples property,may be there won't be so many unhappy druggies and murderers in the future.
Respect for others leads to respect for yourself. If all adults sang from the same song sheet,Police, parents, teachers, children wouldn't be so confused.and as a result would be happier.
Other children in that school may bebefit from seeing that girls consequences for her actions and as a result make better more respectfull adults.
As others have said teachers have been left with little in the way of punishments some stupid parents get angry with teachers who rightly punish their out of control offspring.So the police must be an option.
J ONES 2-09-2010 @ 11:08AM
may be a bit over the top ,but Iam afraid that strict discipline and respect for property is a valuable lesson to learn for later life
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Joan McDaniel 2-09-2010 @ 11:15AM
What a load of cobblers! Poor kid. She ought to live in the UK - we are too much the opposite - we let evil child killers out in 5 years. We ought to have a balance between the two. I think I once got a detention for carving my boyfriend's name on my desk. Mind you, Sir Isaac Newton carved his name on a windowsill and the school now show it off with pride! But seriously, the case of a five year old being arrested is just disgusting, to say nothing of wasting police time. Now, is this all true or just tabloid trash?
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Teenager of the fifties 2-09-2010 @ 12:25PM
Fear is no cure - it invites hatred and revenge!
This is an internal problem, reasons should be sought, the reasons should be addressed and eliminated such that respect on both sides is honoured and cultured.
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