Graffiti chronicles: No alternative school for Shelby
LATEST UPDATE (7/19): Shelby won’t have to go to an alternative school after all, The Houston Chronicle reports. Katy Superintendent Alton Frailey says Shelby’s parents and the school’s principal will discuss reasonable discipline options for the graffiti incident that will not include out of school suspension or placement in an alternative school. Frailey says:
“It is our intention and commitment to comply with the law and board policy. However, we remain extremely uncomfortable with rendering an assignment of any length to the district alternative school for what occurred. We do not feel that it is appropriate or in the best interest of the students. The board agrees with the parents in not condoning the student’s behavior. After reviewing the issue and having conversations with the parents, principal and state officials regarding their intent, the board is making this decision.”
Shelby’s school, Mayde Creek Junior, has had eight incidents involving graffiti, and all of the students will have their alternative school placements set aside.
UPDATE: The Katy district is rethinking whether the punishment meted out to Shelby for her Sharpie escapade is appropriate, according to Wednesday’s Houston Chronicle.
The article also provides other information inquiring minds wanted to know: Who is Alex and what does he think of his moment in the spotlight:
[T]he object of the girl’s affection said Tuesday that he was flattered when he learned about the message, but his advice to Shelby is that she should not do it again. Alex Mendoza, an eighth-grader at the school, also said he was “really shocked” by all of the attention the incident has received. The 15-year-old, who called Shelby his girlfriend, met her in the cafeteria during the school year.
The original post:
Sixth-grader Shelby Sendelbach has been removed from her regular school in the Katy (Texas) district for writing “I love Alex” with a Sharpie on the gymnasium wall. Under the district’s discipline plan, Shelby, who admitted to writing the graffiti, committed a Level 4 infraction and will be sent to an alternative school for four months. That is the same punishment meted out for offenses such as making terroristic threats, possessing dangerous drugs, and assaulting with bodily injury. Shelby’s parents think the punishment may be a tad severe and are appealing. District officials say they are following a state law that requires them to send Shelby to an alternative school, but at least one Texas lawmaker says the district has the discretion to treat the incident less severely. No word on how Alex is taking all of this.
July 10th, 2007 @ 10:09 am
An engineer from a Wisconsin design firm writes:
“Yes, schools have gone too far, and in the process have lost common sense. (This) points out more and more why parents should not send kids to public schools.”
July 10th, 2007 @ 4:45 pm
Another reader responds:
“It is easy to second guess, but without all the facts, it’s hard to say whether the student received the punishment for just this one act or if there were other behavior problems preceding this. If this was her only discipline issue, it seems both inappropriate and draconian…but I have often found that aggravating circumstances may not always be clear to outsiders. No-tolerance policies need to be reserved for a very few instances, and each case needs to be reviewed before a severe punishment is meted out.”
July 13th, 2007 @ 2:15 pm
An administrator from Virginia writes:
“I think a more effective remedy to the 12-year-old’s issue would be to teach her how to remove the graffiti, and then supervise her removing it and other ‘community service’ type activities (repainting the wall, sanding it off, or other removal). Should it recur, then would be the time to take a more drastic measure. Putting a first offender into an alternative program takes up more money and resources than this event warrants. Save those remedies for the ones that are really more at odds with a regular program; this person is hardly a lost cause at this point.”
October 18th, 2007 @ 11:32 am
Hey, I’m a friend of Shelby’s at Mayde Creek. I wanted to put up a teenager’s point of view of all this! It was funny because now, whenever someone brings this whole thing up, Shelby just groans. Oh, and Alex and Shelby broke up, now they HATE each other!! No one ever liked Shelby and Alex going out anyways. But what ticks everyone off is that she wrote “I love Alex” very small!! and there is a lot of way worse graffiti all over the bleachers…yet they chose “I love Alex” and put it all over the news! How embarrassing! She did look pretty up there on ABC News, though!! Ha ha. She said she is never writing on anything other then paper again!