School mistakes student's shirt slogan for drug reference, yank him from c

[Sequoia]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/08/26/national1256EDT0562.DTL

The town of Hempstead, N.Y., has a message for Gwinnett County school administrators: Before you target a student wearing a Hempstead shirt, look at a map.

Terrell Jones, a student in Gwinnett County's Grayson High School, was weeded out of a classroom by a school administrator because he wore a shirt that read: "Hempstead, NY 516," a reference to the Long Island town and its telephone area code.

According to Jones' family, which moved from Hempstead to the Atlanta suburb, the school thought the shirt referred to marijuana. Jones wasn't allowed to return to class until he persuaded school officials to search the Internet for the town name.

<snip>

[AspenRose]

1. Why do I have the feeling this was a black student?

eom

[MissMarple]

2. Or one with a different hair style or piercings in various places..

[Norquist Nemesis]

3. You may very well be correct!

Terrell is not a very common name for white students.

[demoman123]

38. I don't know. Why do you get that feeling?

White kids get treated this way, too, under "zero-tolerance" policies.

[QC]

42. Because you're assuming that if it happened in Georgia

then it must somehow involve race.

[goju]

4. Kids used to get pulled

for wearing Sexwas shirts. Our neighbor of long ago was a pro surfer, he had boxes of sexwax shirts that his son wore. He got pulled out of school or made to turn it inside out every time he wore them, and got "caught".

Sillyness

[krkaufman]

5. See, the Taliban remain on the loose. n/t

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

6. Hee-hee "weeded out"

[Window]

8. LOL! That gave me a chuckle too.

"weeded out"

[Renew Deal]

13. Your name reminds me of Code_Name_D

Something like that. He was banned a while ago.

[Shadder]

7. My kids have the misfortune of attending Gwinnett County schools

This sounds right on par for the neo-christian nazi's that run the school system here. And of course they would not know the first thing about a town in New York...it's not on the fucking gateway test.

[Elbowroom]

14. haha

I recieved a wonderful education from the Gwinnett County School system. Wait...no I didn't. haha

[Dogmudgeon]

9. A new drug reference

"96" -- for idiotic anti-drug bluenoses.

Why "96"?

420 + 96 = 516

--bkl

[Trillo]

10. How much extra "class credit" does the student receive

for successfully wrestling with the "wrong and incorrect" administration?

[Gothmog]

11. There is a Hempstead Texas also

It is just outside of Houston.

[lastliberalintexas]

20. And Hemphill

Which is in East Texas.

Hemp used to be a very valuable commercial commodity, after all. A legal one, that is.

[freedom_to_read]

12. reminds me of when i was in jr high

and my french teacher pulled me out of class for wearing a Doors t-shirt.

she later claimed she thought it said "Coors."

[Sweet Freedom]

15. My whole sixth grade class was practically sent home

for wearing Cheap Trick T-shirts.

"No, really, it's a band!":eyes:

[freedom_to_read]

19. i would find that offensive,

all those double guitars!!

[Sequoia]

24. You have got to be kidding me!

Insane adults...no wonder kids rebel.

[0007]

16. How about those "Mike Hunt" tee shirts?

[Ron Green]

22. Mike, and his brother Herc. n/t

[Hobarticus]

17. Because HEMP appeared on the shirt??? Moronic!!!

There's a Hempstead High School in my town, and I NEVER would have made the connection.

What kind of dipsticks are in charge of that school?

[Shadder]

25. Well, from looking at his experience.....

Yeah, I want my kid to go to a school where the principal has no teaching experience but is well versed in marketing and making loans.

Education:
Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing
Kennesaw State University 1993
Master of Educational Leadership
University of Georgia 1998
Specialist in Educational Leadership
University of Georgia 1999

Experience:
Minor league baseball for the Atlanta Braves Baseball Organization 1991-1992
Loan Officer/Corporate Mortgage Sales 1993-1994
Paraprofessional Brookwood High School 1994-1995
Marketing Education/Apprenticeship Coordinator Dacula High School 1995-1999
Assistant Principal Dacula High School 1999-2003
First year as Principal of Grayson High School 2003-2004

[Hobarticus]

27. Damn, you're good!

Glad you're on our side!

[Shadder]

29. Naah

I just pulled the info from the link that devilgrrl posted. All credit where it's due :)

http://www.teacherweb.com/Ga/GraysonHighSchool/KeithChaney/

[Hobarticus]

30. Hell, it's ALL GOOD here on DU!!!!

[DarbyUSMC]

44. All of that and he'd never heard of Hempstead, Long Island ----

Amazing.


Hempstead Long Island, NY
The Town of Hempstead is proud to be America's largest Township. With a population of more than 756,000 people, Hempstead Town is bigger than six states. The Town encompasses more than 142 square miles, containing 51 unincorporated areas and 22 incorporated villages, more than 65 parks and marinas, and 2,599 miles of town, county, state, and federal roads. We are also one of the nation's oldest towns, dating back to 1644. Our history traces our development from the earliest day of European settlement on the North American Continent. Hempstead Town residents treasure this rich and unique heritage.

[devilgrrl]

18. Contact the principal and let him know how much safer you feel.

email: [email protected]
Webpage: http://www.teacherweb.com/Ga/GraysonHighSchool/KeithChaney/

[gauguin57]

21. Then they'd LOVE Hempfield High School

in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. East and West Hempfield townships in Lanccaster County were named for the hemp fields that once grew there.

http://www.hempfield.k12.pa.us/hhs/hhshp.html

I can just imagine what the Gwinnett people would think of a shirt saying "Hempfield HIGH."


;-) ;-) ;-)

[ParanoidPat]

23. Damn good thing he didn't move there from Weed, California!

Weed California :evilgrin:

Weed is located north of Redding between Yreka and Dunsmuir along Interstate 5 near Lake Shastina and Grass Lake. The City of Weed is nestled on the western slopes of Mount Shasta in Northern California at an elevation of 3,467 feet.

[RebelOne]

26. Or even Intercourse, Pennsylvania

[zbird]

28. Which, of course, is just down the road from Blue Ball, PA.

[gauguin57]

31. ... and Bird-in-Hand ... and Peach Bottom ...

... and one county over from Virginville.

All of which are near HEMPFIELD!

[GliderGuider]

34. Dildo

Dildo, NL, Canada

*snicker*

[ilovenicepeople]

36. Spuzzum,BC. Canada

Cum have fun in Spuzzum.:hi:

[T Bone]

32. Don't forget my alma mater - French Lick High School

in French Lick, IN.
Please don't try to expalin it to the children.

[gauguin57]

33. Wheeeee!

French Lick must be some great place to live! I'll bet the populace there has very low stress.

[playahata1]

45. It is also the hometown of one LARRY JOE BIRD.

:)

[Cocoa]

35. and they say weed makes you stupid

what's these school administrators' excuse?

[annabanana]

37. gotta keep 'em dumb.......

How the hell else can we keep 'em voting Republican?

[kath]

39. What a bunch of morans!!

[kath]

40. Here in OK, a t-shirt controversy last week -- these school administrators

are also a bunch of morans:

(and the morans at the TV station's website misquoted Marilyn Monroe and used atrocious grammar in doing so. The actual quote (and the girls got it right on the t-shirts -- I saw it on the teevee) is "If I'd observed all the rules, I'd never have got anywhere")

http://www.kfor.com/Global/story.asp?S=2189914

One more reason I'm glad my kids don't go to school...



(ps - I DO know how to spell "moron")

[vetwife]

41. No surprise..Georgia again...Home of Hillbilly Zell and me !

That county is pretty elite. Full of republicans and it appears the teachers there have been educated beyond their intelligence.
They would have expelled him if the shirt said Hell, Texas and yes there is such a place.

[Shadder]

43. Not all of it by a long shot

is, as you say, elite. Calling the area of Gwinnett county that I live in elite is really pushing it a lot. Many parts of the county have a high pouplation of forgien workers.

[Sophree]

46. Besides,

Hemp is not marijuana. Only dopes smoke rope.

;-)

[Swamp Rat]

47. When I was 14 I had a white and green t-shirt that said:

"Man made booze, God made weed. Who do you trust?"

It had big, green marijuana leaves too. My dad bought it for me after my dental exam (we were in a small, rural town in Louisiana). I wore this shirt to a public school and had NO problems. Only my friends made a deal out of it, but after they saw that the teachers ignored it, the ruckus died down. I retired the shirt as I wanted to save it for another occasion where I COULD cause a stir... I don't remember wearing it again after that.

There ARE smart teachers out there. They're just underpaid, overworked, and not in positions of power. I was raised by two.

[Norton]

48. I feel for teachers/administrators...

Drugs in school are on the rise and the teachers/administrators are on the front line. This Hempstead shirt didn't mean anything, but I get why that guy wanted to check it out, which is apparently all he did... now it's some big story? Drugs are now prevelent in elementary schools for Christ's sake! I say let these guys do their job... drugs should not be in these kids lives, if a few mistakes are made in the obtaining of that goal, so be it. They didn't toss the kid or penalize him in any way... just checked it out. There are so many code words for sex, drugs, and even firearms these days the teachers can't keep up with it all.
Having said all that, I attended high school stoned out of mind on acid a few times and smoked pot in the bathrooms numerous times in the early seventies... real cute ya know, real cool! Yea, they shoulda' thrown us out on our asses a hundred times over but they looked the other way because it was so rampant and such an invitation for trouble. I feel sorry for teachers/administrators... the only way to win is to let the kids go nuts... and they will.