Parents Upset Principal Oiled Fence To Stop Ditching

[The Straight Story]

Parents Upset Principal Oiled Fence To Stop Ditching

POSTED: 2:44 pm EDT April 7, 2006

ARTESIA, Calif. -- A California principal is trying a slippery tactic to keep kids from cutting school -- greasing the fence.

Principal Sergio Garcia ordered heavy wheel-bearing grease applied to the fence around Artesia High School in Southern California. He was trying to keep students from skipping out on class to join last week's immigration protests.

About 300 students left anyway.

http://www.local6.com/education/8535533/detail.html

300 left? Maybe they should kick out those that don't want to be there and save the grease for more fun things :)

[skooooo]

1. Parents need to get a life.

[benburch]

6. Why?

Creating a hazard designed to hurt their children ought to be ignored by them???

[skooooo]

16. designed to hurt?

I'm not sure about that. Designed to discourage, perhaps. Probably there are better ways, but I guess I don't see it as something to get all upset about.

[Richard Steele]

2. Principal needs to get a clue.

The genius just BOOBY TRAPPED school property.

The first injury caused by that grease will result
in a major lawsuit, and the school will LOSE.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. That's what I was thinking too

[benburch]

5. Worse than that.

Should somebody die, the principle would be charged with first degree murder. Man traps are frowned upon by the law.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

12. I doubt anyone is going to get hurt from this.

Ever tried to climb a greased metal pole?

You won't get too far off the ground. I thought it was clever.

[951-Riverside]

15. benburch if the principle didn't grease the fence...

and one of these kids died from falling (which is more likely) who would be responsible?

[benburch]

21. Nobody.

At least, not the principle!

Case law is quite clear on this.

[951-Riverside]

23. He made the right call

Greasing the fence not only kept the trouble makers at bay, it saved these kids from possible serious injury and it also saved the school a ton of money in legal fees had one of these kids climbed the fence, busted their heads open and sued.

Next time they want to ditch school they will use the front door

[AX10]

4. A booby trap? Any injury caused by it....

will and SHOULD result in a massive law suit.

[M42]

20. Why?

A fence is made to keep people from crossing it. Any idiot knows this. Hence, if they decide to try to jump it, they are taking the risks inherent in acting dumber than an idiot.

[Trillo]

7. Why do kids want so much to get away from school?

Straight Story wrote: "Maybe they should kick out those that don't want to be there and save the grease for more fun things"

'Kicking out' is the force paradigm, it implies punishment.

The freedom paradigm is to eliminate 'compulsory' education, (but not all education or schools). Then, the only students that will attend are the ones that want to learn (because the students that don't want to be there can leave at any time under thier own freewill).

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. That would absolutely devastate schools financially

State funding is based on attendance. Many administrators are not as concerned about educating kids as they are about keeping that money coming in. Hence, they discourage absences.

[Trillo]

13. Those concerns are a fear-based perspective.

I don't believe it's a given that schools will be financially devastated, unless K-12 compulsory education truly is one core tyrant in our system; if so, the progressive community needs to face that fact and stop advocating for tyranny against a vulnerable and young group.

Your word choice of "discourage" attempts to mitigate the very real horror of some students who no longer wish to be punished by the compulsory educational system that has previously punished them, so the system ends up punishing the same students who don't want to be there over-and-over again-and-again until they become desensitized to further punishment. This likely turns off the empathic part of their being and I believe is quite dangerous: these students will have the personality signs any animal that is abused has, so then police and prisons are needed to control this abused population as adults.

The individual and societal devastation of a punishing system is not factored into any schools' financial considerations. In general, a school is free (a private school more so than a public one, but the public schools seem to be converging toward the private schools' methods judging from news reports) to expel with impunity except for when they are challenged in court. Generally, K-12 students are not instructed in how to do this, so they'll need an attorney, or a room full of attorneys to advocate for them.

A related aspect to consider is the improvement in classrooms when students that don't wish to be there aren't forced to attend and are no longer disrupting class. How this will improve education and in the longer term society itself, is not counted AT ALL by current financial models.

:hi:

[proud2BlibKansan]

24. You know it's funny

The only time I hear all this talk about schools being such bad places for kids is right here on DU. I also see this kind of talk on RW message boards, but I don't spend much time on those and I consider the members rather ignorant on a whole host of topics. So their opinions on public education mean very little to me.

There is so much to dispute in your articulate post. But I sense it would fall on deaf ears. So I will just say that after all the years I have spent in public education, it is news to me to come to this progressive message board and read that we are punishing children.

I will also repeat what I was trying to say. Public school funding is based on attendance. So every empty seat is a loss of revenue for the school. Private schools charge tuition and you pay for every day of the schoolyear whether you are in attendance or not.

I also personally feel that any kids who may be 'disrupting' are the ones who need to be there the most. Kicking them out is certainly not in their best interest so I do not support that idea. For many of them, the adults they spend their day with at school are more stable and better role models than the ones they go home to. So rather than kicking them out, I try to determine why they are disruptive and meet their needs so they WANT to be there.

[BlueEyedSon]

8. An electrified fence would be so much more effective

:evilgrin:

[TallahasseeGrannie]

9. Just suspend them for skipping

and expell them for skipping three times. If they don't want to be there they shouldn't have to be there. Greasy the fence is so messy. Bad for the environment, too.

[Whoa_Nelly]

10. It was a secret test....

for future US border fences... :sarcasm: :rofl:

OK...Next inventor, please...?

[951-Riverside]

14. They DONT have to climb fences

What the hell is wrong with using the normal exits?

Most of those kids didnt even know what they were protesting for they just wanted to cut class.

[Occulus]

17. They should have

ran their hands along it... and then found that bastard's car.

:)

[YouthInAsia]

18. Why are thewy upset? A) you shouldnt ditch school and B) did the

grease ruin their clothes? Tough titties, you shouldnt have been A) ditching school

[tabasco]

19. Utter stupidity on the part of the principal.

A stupid and ineffective idea.

In addition to everything else, it will cause groundwater contamination.

[951-Riverside]

22. It was very effective

We're not talking about a damn gulag, these kids are free to leave out of the proper exits.

it will cause groundwater contamination

Unless he brought in a tanker truck and dumped oil all over the fence the "damage" is non-existant.

[tabasco]

25. Maybe you missed this part of the story...

"300 students left anyway..."

Yep, really effective greasing up that fence.

Do I need to provide you info on how a little petroleum product can contaminate thousands of gallons of groundwater?

Get educated.

[951-Riverside]

26. You guessed wrong

It was effective in preventing them from jumping the fence which they shouldnt have been doing and the fact that they are bitching and moaning about it is absolutely absurd.

Do I need to provide you info on how a little petroleum product can contaminate thousands of gallons of groundwater?

Please do.

Get educated.

I'm waiting.