Student suspended for having a pocket knife locked up in his car

[Texsox]

http://www.wten.com/global/story.asp?s=112...tType=Printable

 

Eagle Scout

Saved a woman's life

Completed Army Basic Training

17 years old

 

Grandfather decorated Vietnam Vet

Father decorated Vet

Knife was a gift from grandpa 2" blade

 

Wants to attend West Point

He has been suspended for weeks

His West Point application is in jeopardy.

[Steve9347]

That sucks, but rules are rules and I'd rather have kids being busted for bringing knives to school than kids not being busted and things happening. This is a word of warning to anyone at that school.

[Soxy]

I'd say it was justified if he had it on him, but a knife in a car getting him a suspension? Come on. That's a bit much.

 

I mean, a tire iron could also be, justifiably, construed as a weapon. And most of us have that in our car. Ooops, that was also talked about in the article.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Yeah, this is bunk. Kid is getting screwed.

[NorthSideSox72]

Key part:

 

Even though a pocket knife is not considered a weapon under New York State penal code, the district also prohibits students from possessing anything "that reasonably can be considered a weapon."

 

Kid has a very good legal case here against the school, and I think he should take them on. I understand the rule is there for a reason, but this is a case of two problems at the school. One, the rule is too vague, and if you consider the New York State Penal Code "reasonable", then the school didn't follow their own rules. Two, common sense should have stepped in here. The school f***ed up here.

 

[Kyyle23]

How the hell did they know he stored a knife in a compartment in his car? They went after him deliberately

[Texsox]

 

 

LANSINGBURGH -- High school senior Matthew Whalen is the kind of student any parent would want.

 

He's an Eagle Scout, on the honor roll, taking Advanced Placement classes, and never been in trouble with the law. He's received commendations from the City of Troy and the Boy Scouts of America for saving a woman's life, and this past summer, he completed Army basic training. All of it was accomplished before the age of 17.

 

"I'm just trying to do what I can while I can," Matthew says.

 

His goal is to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, a dream since he was in grade school.

 

"I have a first-grade yearbook that says I want to be driving tanks in the Army," Matthew says. "I mean, this is something that I know I've always wanted to do."

 

But the dream could be in jeopardy, thanks to a two-inch pocket knife that officials at Lansingburgh Senior High School found in Matthew's locked car last month. The pocket knife was a gift from his grandfather, Robert Whalen, who's the Hoosick Falls Police Chief. Matthew says he kept the knife in a side compartment and never tried showing it off or threatening anyone with it. Instead it was a part of the survival kit that was his car.

 

"My car is designed in a way that if I ever broke down, I'd be OK," Whalen explains. "I have a sleeping bag. I have bottled water. I have an MRE. I believe it's better to be prepared and not need it than need it and not have it."

 

Matthew says school officials approached him on Sept. 21, asking if he had a weapon on him. When Matthew answered he did not, he says the officials asked if he had a knife in his car. Matthew said it was a pocket knife, and took officials to his car when asked. He also turned over the pocket knife when asked.

 

The Lansingburgh Central School District has a zero-tolerance policy on weapons. According to the district's Codes of Conduct, students are not allowed to have "a weapon of any kind" on school grounds. Even though a pocket knife is not considered a weapon under New York State penal code, the district also prohibits students from possessing anything "that reasonably can be considered a weapon."

 

According to Matthew, the school suspended him for five days, during which time a Superintendent's hearing was held to determine the extent of his punishment. Matthew's family contends only the high school's principal and athletic director were present, not the Superintendent or the assistant principal who initially suspended Matthew. And despite a letter from Matthew's Scout Master explaining how a pocket knife is a common tool for scouts to have, the district suspended Matthew for another 15 days. The Whalens say they received no explanation as to why, and they claim there was no opportunity to ask.

 

"I want him to have fair treatment based on his character," says Matthew's father, Bryan Whalen. "It just totally baffles me that they would go after this when they have much bigger fish to fry."

 

The Whalens say during the Superintendent's hearing, officials admitted that Matthew cooperated fully, didn't have the pocket knife on him, had no intention of using it, and never threatened anyone with it. "They'd already made their decision," Whalen's father says.

 

In a statement to NEWS10, Superintendent George J. Goodwin says, "We do not comment on discipline related to an individual student. Our policies are clear that weapons are not permitted on school premises and subject to disciplinary consequences."

 

Legal expert Thomas Carr, of Tully Rinckey PLLC, says school districts are within their rights to impose and enforce safety policies, even if a pocket knife is not considered a weapon under New York State penal law. But he also says such school rules can quickly become so-called "gray areas" that leave the meaning of what's considered a weapon open ended.

 

"If this 17-year-old is driving his car to school," Carr says, "let's face it, the tire iron in the trunk to change the wheel is much more of a deadly weapon than a one-and-a-half inch blade knife."

 

Carr also says the Whalens might have grounds to pursue legal action against the district if Matthew felt he had no choice but to allow school officials to search his car.

 

At this point, the Whalens are not sure when or if they will sue the district. Instead, they want the district to reinstate Matthew immediately and remove this from his official student record.

 

"He needs to be doing the application for his admission to West Point right now," Bryan Whalen says. "They're delaying that, and that could be very costly for him."

 

Matthew says he wants to follow in the military footsteps of his father and grandfather. His grandfather, Robert Whalen, received two Purple Hearts for his service in the Vietnam War. Bryan Whalen served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and at Ground Zero, as his unit was on the scene by the evening of Sept. 11, 2001. He's also received the Soldier's Medal from the U.S. Army, and he pulled survivors from a burning helicopter that had crashed at the Stratton Air National Guard Base during an air show crash in 1991.

 

Matthew guesses a student must have told school officials, but he doesn't know who did it or why. His father thinks it might have been a prank to see Matthew get a little heat from administrators and that the intent was for it to never get this far.

 

"It's just plain wrong of what they've done," he says. "It isn't a weapon!"

 

But the family feels the district overreacted, if not for suspending Matthew in the first place, then for adding an additional 15 days to the original suspension.

 

"If they had told me, 'Take this out of your car,' I would have said alright, and it never would have been an issue," Matthew says. "I was upset with it, but I can understand that. They have the zero-tolerance rule."

 

The district provides a tutor for Matthew for 90 minutes every day; he's banned from stepping on school grounds for any reason whatsoever, including assignments and sporting events. Matthew says it's hard to cram more than six hours of work into his tutor time, and he says his work is not being graded until he returns to school. All he wants is to return to class.

 

"The rest of my life could be affected by this," he says.

 

 

[southsider2k5]

Kids get suspended from school and school activities all of the time now for things that don't happen on campus and not during the school day/year. This kind of stuff is really common actually.

[southsider2k5]

Kids get suspended from school and school activities all of the time now for things that don't happen on campus and not during the school day/year. This kind of stuff is really common actually.

 

And just to further the point, for most school systems having a weapon anywhere on campus is breaking the rules.

[bmags]

Kids get suspended from school and school activities all of the time now for things that don't happen on campus and not during the school day/year. This kind of stuff is really common actually.

 

Truth. There's no rhyme or reason to school punishments. Kids on my lacrosse team all got suspended when someone lost their phone at lunch and there were pictures of them with beers.

[SoxFanForever]

A guy at my high school was suspended and not allowed go to to state (even though he qualified and was the best diver at the school) for diving because he was seen smoking a cigarette in an Denny's with some friends on a weekend wearing his school warm up's. And this was probably 10-11 years ago.

[qwerty]

A guy at my high school was suspended and not allowed go to to state (even though he qualified and was the best diver at the school) for diving because he was seen smoking a cigarette in an Denny's with some friends on a weekend wearing his school warm up's. And this was probably 10-11 years ago.

 

I would have sued the living s*** out of them for this very scenario... then... and now. I have had several cases in which my schools have tried to persue something i had done outside of school, and they personally never got very far.

 

I'm surprised pencils are allowed in schools anymore, not to mention a compass, scissors, rulers, etc. Compasses are so damn mean it's not even funny.

[G&T]

What's crazy is that I live just outside Troy, NY, very close to Hoosick Falls, and Matthew Tully (of that law firm cited) taught one of my law school classes. Interestingly, nobody at that firm is a "legal expert" at anything. They actually call the papers and get themselves put into the news to drum up business. Pretty smart actually.

 

Anyway, unfortunately, kids have to be smarter than this. I realize that he meant no harm, but this is really not a shocking decision, although the 15 days is excessive. I'd hope that West Point sees past it.

 

[clyons]

Here's a similar story that might be even more crazy:

 

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/33289924/ns/...y-today_people/

[NorthSideSox72]

Here's a similar story that might be even more crazy:

 

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/33289924/ns/...y-today_people/

This is really just a lack of common sense. I mean, come on - a 6 year old with a combo tool? Take it away from him for the day, call the parents, tell them to talk with the kid about it, mail it to the parents or whatever... and then let it go.

 

[mreye]

I would have sued the living s*** out of them for this very scenario... then... and now. I have had several cases in which my schools have tried to persue something i had done outside of school, and they personally never got very far.

 

I'm surprised pencils are allowed in schools anymore, not to mention a compass, scissors, rulers, etc. Compasses are so damn mean it's not even funny.

 

Sued? For?

 

Sports are an extra curricular activity. You have no "right" to be on the team. When I was in high school we had to sign something that said we would not drink, smoke, etc. during the season, outside the season, at school, outside school. If we were caught, we were off the team. Sue? Yeah, makes sense. That's how too many parents are these days: "I don't give a crap about my 16 year old drinking and driving and smoking weed, I just want him to play in the big game this Friday!"

 

[SouthsideDon48]

Sued? For?

 

Sports are an extra curricular activity. You have no "right" to be on the team. When I was in high school we had to sign something that said we would not drink, smoke, etc. during the season, outside the season, at school, outside school. If we were caught, we were off the team. Sue? Yeah, makes sense. That's how too many parents are these days: "I don't give a crap about my 16 year old drinking and driving and smoking weed, I just want him to play in the big game this Friday!"

Well I don't think schools have any "right" to punish kids for what they do outside of school. That's just going too far and infringing on their personal lives.

 

Sheesh, there's way too many people who "follow the rules" on this site.

[Texsox]

Well I don't think schools have any "right" to punish kids for what they do outside of school. That's just going too far and infringing on their personal lives.

 

Sheesh, there's way too many people who "follow the rules" on this site.

 

Entitled to everything with no responsibility for their actions?

[southsider2k5]

Well I don't think schools have any "right" to punish kids for what they do outside of school. That's just going too far and infringing on their personal lives.

 

Sheesh, there's way too many people who "follow the rules" on this site.

 

Almost everyone's job does the exact same thing.

[Texsox]

Almost everyone's job does the exact same thing.

 

Great point.

[bmags]

I think if a school finds a kid is doing drugs and is on an extracurricular I think it's a good idea to remove him from the team.

[Brian]

I think if a school finds a kid is doing drugs and is on an extracurricular I think it's a good idea to remove him from the team.

 

Agreed, but you would be surprised as to how many parents would not agree. Nevermind that most student athletes sign something that says no drugs, alcohol, etc., parents will still protect their kids.

 

My dad used to be an Athletic Director at a high school. A kid who was one of the best basketball players on the team got drunk and wrecked his car so my dad kicked him off the team. His parents got a lawyer said they were discriminating against him because he was an alcoholic at the age of 17. Um.......

 

Easy to say, the kid never played and the parents tried sueing the school. It didn't go anywhere.

[Kyyle23]

Well I don't think schools have any "right" to punish kids for what they do outside of school. That's just going too far and infringing on their personal lives.

 

Sheesh, there's way too many people who "follow the rules" on this site.

 

Kids who test positive for drugs(recreational or performance enhancing) are being busted for doing something they do out of school.

 

I dont know if the "be good on campus and everything else goes" rule applies anywhere. If a kid is arrested for shoplifting, then he/she should be punished by being removed from whatever extracirricular program he is involved in, whether it be choir or football.

 

Just out of curiosity, do you think those powderpuff beatdowns that have been busted in the past 10 years or so are within the schools jurisdiction? Many of those girls got suspended and expelled for some of the things they did, but it was all off campus and after school.