What's On Your Ballot? Find out...... http://www.e-democracy.org/myballot/ -----------------------------------------
In response to Charlie's questions: ----------------------------------
I was in an interesting meeting this evening in which the subject of the St. Paul School Districts policy regarding the rights and responsibilities of students came up. This is the basic policy of the school district for dealing with behavioral issues.
I raised the question of the "poetry" incident. Two interesting points were made - NOT SPECIFIC to this case.
1) It was explained to me the juvenile justice system is often the only way to get a young person the social services that they need. Once in the system, a child or student qualifies for professional help that might otherwise be inaccessible. It MIGHT be the case, that in this particular situation, we are overemphasizing the use of the juvenile justice system as a punitive tool, when in fact it might be also viewed a means of allocating social services and professional "help."
I am not defending this response or position, only entering it into the discussion for thoughtful consideration and response.
2) This evening, I also learned something about the school district "Threat Assessment" policy. Let me quote from the handbook on student rights and responsibilities.
"As part of the District School Safety Plan, the Local Pupil Problems Committee (site specific committees set up to deal with behavioral problems) or a subset ... will evaluate threats of violence to self or others and threatening behaviors, and determine the probability that the person will carry out the threat. The district shall provide training in threat assessment to designated staff at each site."
I'm not sure if this "Threat Assessment" system was used in the "poetry" case. But, it is interesting to know that the school district has very comprehensive policies in place that, in theory, should be helpful in cases like the one in question.
Best wishes,
Tim Erickson Hamline Midway [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Can you explain why the Deutsch student was put into the juvenile or criminal justice system for his writings? I can understand that he might be a troubled youth who needs help. I have a much harder time understanding why our school system would abandon him to the juvenile or criminal courts simply on the basis of the subject matter of writings which, if the reported facts are true, contained no explicit threats.
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Tim Erickson http://www.politalk.com St. Paul, MN - USA 651-643-0722
[EMAIL PROTECTED] iChat/AIM: stpaultim
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