MSNBC.com

'I Love Alex' earns girl 4-month suspension

Texas school deems 12-year-old's graffiti as serious as drugs or gun threat

The Associated Press
Updated: 2:08 p.m. PT July 7, 2007

KATY, Texas - Writing “I love Alex” on a school gymnasium wall brought a 12-year-old the same punishment as if she had made terrorist threats.

The Katy Independent School District rated the message, written with a baby blue marker by sixth-grader Shelby Sendelbach, as a Level 4 infraction — the same as for threats, drug possession and assault.

Only murder, gun possession, sexual assault and arson are considered more severe by the suburban Houston district.

For her punishment, Shelby was assigned to an alternative school from Aug. 27 through Dec. 21.

Just following the rules
School district spokesman Steve Stanford said the district was just following a state law, saying it requires assignment to an alternative school for graffiti.

Her parents have appealed and a hearing is set for this month. Lisa and Stu Sendelbach said they don’t condone what Shelby did but think the punishment is overly harsh.

“We are shocked that the school district rules as they are written make no distinction between what Shelby is accused of and what a gang member does with a can of black spray paint,” Stu Sendelbach said.


© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

I think the embarrassment alone of writing "I Love Alex" and having this broadcast in the news for the entire school to hear (Alex included) is enough for this girl. :lol:

The punishment given is harsh. I think scrubbing graffitti off the school walls for a week is a start. Any suspension from school is merely a holiday to most students.

The punishment given is harsh. I think scrubbing graffitti off the school walls for a week is a start. .
agreed, make the punishment fit the crime...a little love note is hardly worth destroying this girls scholar career over.
New Slogan: TEXAS, THE STATE WHERE YOU CAN CARRY A LOADED RIFLE ON YOUR TRUCK, BUT, DONT LET US CATCH YOU WITH A MARKER! :rolleyes:

Could you get anymore dramatic?:rolleyes: She's a 6th grader. I doubt her "scholar career" is over.:crazy:

Actually, I wasnt trying to be dramatic, it says in the article that partof the punishment is to have her sent to an "alternate school", thus, she'll not only be pulled away from her friends, but, everyone at the new scholl will likely know her story and probably shun her.....that could potentially have the effect of hurting her grades and future.

Leave to the canadian to come up with a great slogan!! Knew you guys up north were good for something.:lol:

Thx.........I think :crazy:

Geez...she didn't even use spray paint! Lighten up.

Just because you would have a long lasting doubt over yourself if this happened to you doesn't mean others are not strong enough to over come it. And this is being very dramatic:

"destroying this girls scholar career over."
Maybe her scholar career isn't actually over but, it can be greatly changed due to the fact that she is now in an alternative school. Just like kids/teens can do BETTER by changing schools for one reason or another, there are kids/teens who can SUFFER GREATLY from being pulled out of one school and located to another.

Let's hope this isn't the case for her.

Just because you would have a long lasting doubt over yourself if this happened to you doesn't mean others are not strong enough to over come it. And this is being very dramatic:

"destroying this girls scholar career over."
ummm who made you the arbiter of whats dramatic, or a well-thought out arguement? If you dont agree , then make your point, but, do not make fun of my opinion , pls
ps. your "Canadians are good for something" crack was VERY insulting, do it again, and ill report you

Just because you would have a long lasting doubt over yourself if this happened to you doesn't mean others are not strong enough to over come it. And this is being very dramatic:

"destroying this girls scholar career over."

Actually my friend, it can greatly hurt her chances of getting into certain colleges. The majority of them will disregard the incident since this happened to her in 6th grade, but certainly her scholar career would be over if she dreamed of going to Yale.

I'm guessing she'll get over it if Yale turns her down.

People don't get over getting rejected from their dream college very easily, you know. It's not exactly a bed of roses receiving a rejection letter.

I think a two-week suspension would have sufficed. Defacing school property, indoors at that, not cool.

And Mikado and Senior, there's no need to criticize Texas or Canada.

I'm surprised she's not on death row. This is Texas, y'know?

Yeah, that was kinda hypocritical. Especially after you tell me to chill out. ;)

Maybe I spend too much time on Facebook and have become immune to it or something, but I didn't find that insulting.

I'm in another awkward mood this morning, so I'm gonna draw your attention to this:



http://www.canadiancontent.net/commtr/article_821.html
there's no need to bump up a thread after three days of inactivity just to continue an already unintelligent debate over which piece of land is superior to the other.

Wow.

Here, you can beat somebody's ass, pull out all their hair, expose your private parts in the process, and get off with a three-day suspension. But this girl wrote three words on a gym wall (which, I would bet, was probably already covered with writings...almost all of them are), so she'll be sent to an alternative school for four months?! That's complete bull****. It's not going to look nice on her permanant record, that's for sure.

But I'm sure Alex is loving this. Some chick got thrown in "the pen" for him. He's a regular P-I-M-P.

Wow.

Here, you can beat somebody's ass, pull out all their hair, expose your private parts in the process, and get off with a three-day suspension. But this girl wrote three words on a gym wall (which, I would bet, was probably already covered with writings...almost all of them are), so she'll be sent to an alternative school for four months?! That's complete bull****. It's not going to look nice on her permanant record, that's for sure.

But I'm sure Alex is loving this. Some chick got thrown in "the pen" for him. He's a regular P-I-M-P.

The whole political correctness thing seems to reward bad or deviant behavior and punishes those who shouldn't be punished. Or punishes them too harshly.

How we let political correctness get so far is beyond me.