High School Girl Arrested For Refusing To Stop Texting In Class
from the whatever-happened-to-school-discipline dept
Thanks to everyone who sent in this story, about a 14-year-old girl in Wisconsin, who apparently refused to stop text messaging in class... and was arrested because of it. Yes, the teacher apparently called the cops, and they arrested her for "disorderly conduct." Obviously, the girl was being insubordinate in class, but isn't that what detention/suspension/etc. rules are for? Calling in the cops (and then having the girl arrested) seems a bit extreme.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: arrest, class, discipline, texting
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Because teachers and administrators are not allowed to touch students in any way unless they are actually being threatened and the teacher is acting solely in self defense.
So what should the class do when a student won't behave? Wait for the student to grow up? Nope, the only real option now is to call the police, who have legal authority to touch the students, and have the student physically removed.
Blame our lawsuit happy culture for this, but don't blame the teachers or the cops. It's not their fault.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
There's good reason for that. I can remember going to public school back when teachers were allowed to use corporal punishment and how it was abused. I had teachers who would administer such punishment to students for academic reasons, such as turning homework in late, and coaches who would administer it to whoever came in last in a group run ("incentive", you know). It was also sometimes used to beat confessions out of students (and I'm talking about even elementary students). Back then the courts would not interfere in such "internal school matters" so you could forget a lawsuit. It's good that things have changed.
Blame our lawsuit happy culture for this, but don't blame the teachers or the cops. It's not their fault.
No, blame abusive, violent, "paddle happy" teachers. It IS their fault.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
If I was this child's parent, I would be raising some hell over a 'body search' of my child for something as minor as denying she had a cell phone.
This is pure lunacy, and I feel strongly that the officers involved need to be reprimanded. There was no call at all for a search of the child's body, especially when the parents weren't notified, present, or otherwise have given consent.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
What should be done when a student refuses to stop misbehaving. As others have pointed out, with our lawsuit culture the teacher cannot physically remove the student. The principal cannot touch the student. My wife works in the public schools. Unless the teacher is being physically threatened and has to defend him or herself, they cannot touch a student. Calling the police is the one sure way the school can deflect any blame how the student is treated.
Do you honestly believe that the entire class should just sit and wait for the girl to grow up?
So don't put the blame on the cops or the teacher. The real blame are the parents who would sue a school because a teacher attempted to get their precious little rug-rat to act appropriately.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
do some of the things they did when I used to be 13:
send them to the office, give them in-school-suspension, make them do chores (cleaning up the campus was a common one), give them detention, saturday school, talk to the parents, suspend them, lower their participation grade and if they still won't behave call the parents or guardian to come pick them up and take them home
there are a ton of ways schools can discipline kids without resorting to physical means and the shame of the punishment (or rather the ridicule they'll receive from peers) will only help more.
don't pretend schools are helpless, there is no reason we need to call cops unless the student is being violent.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
the big difference is when you and i were children, we obeyed. you get sent to the principal's office? you went.
these days, the kids just say "no" because they know the teachers can't physically make them.
m3mnoch.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
OMG! You'll ruin their self-esteem!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Calling the cops because a girl was texting in class is insane if you really want her out of there that bad and u can here her little fingers clicking each button while shes texting u could call her parents
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
This was no child. It was a 14-year-old being a beyotch. Use of the term child in the legal sense is just sensationalization. She knew exactly what she was doing. Now my question is where is the YouTube video of the arrest. There always seems to be one for these types of occasions.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: body earch ? ?
Thi young lady i a self indulgent brat , a sneak and exudes direpect for her peer and her teacher .
You youngster jut don't get it , do you .
Behave or drop out . Other kid don't need the ditraction and diruptions of the egomaniacs like the texting lass .
Enough of my time wasted . Good luck .
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: body earch ? ?
In rebuttal, I didn't once shift the blame of the deed off of the child, nor her parents. I think that the parents are just as responsible as the daughter here, and her behaviour and subsquent lying to the police *should* have landed her in the local juvenile detention center.
What I find reprehensible is that a female officer was called, and the 14 year old child was striped, at least as far down as her underwear, and searched in 'her buttocks area' because she denied having a cell phone. Searched without the parents/gaurdians even being present or contacted!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: body earch ? ?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
i think the kid's parents should be arrested too -- for sucking at parenting. if that were my child, i would be mortified at her behavior and she would have absolute hell to pay when she returned home -- if i didn't just leave her ass in jail for a week or two.
it's people like you that perpetuate this stupid penchant of today's youth and their rampant disrespect of authority. we're not talking about a few "rebels" anymore. it's systemic and goddamn irritating as a fellow parent.
if i can get my 4 year-old to behave well enough to where my wife and i get compliments all the time as to how polite, friendly and well-behaved he is, you can teach your damn kid not to text in class.
goddamn embarrassing.
m3mnoch.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
In my opinion the kid should have gone to jail, and the parents fined, but the conduct of the cops I seriously call into question. A 'body search' and retrival of items from the 'buttocks area' is overkill for this situation.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
next time
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: next time
BAM! Where's your pho......crap.......
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
If I was this child's parent, I would be raising some hell over a 'body search' of my child for something as minor as denying she had a cell phone.
And yet we wonder why education isn't doing what we want it to do. Maybe the teacher should have just smacked the little brat, but of course, that would have caused lawsuits against the teacher and the school district.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
And you're exactly the cause of this problem. Instead of blaming your daughter for not behaving in class and wasting the entire class' time, you blame the very people who were trying to get her to act appropriately.
It's not the students' fault that schools are so screwed up. It's certainly not the teachers, their hands are tied. It's the fault of parents like you for bitching every time someone tries to teach one of your precious little rug-rats how to behave.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
Thank you, Mike, for pointing out how a disruptive student was handled in probably the only manner they could have been.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
You and the people who replied you also missed the fact, that the first officer on the scene was a male officer who could, by law, physically remove the teen. No more action on the part of the teacher/administrator was required.
Instead of removing the child, calling her parents and dealing with all 3 of them (assuming a 2 parent household) properly, he called a female officer to strip search the kid. Waayyyyy out of bonds man, at least in a school with a 14 year old.
I mean I could see it if it was a weapons violation, or some kind of death threat, but for a cell phone? No way.
Oh and BTW, I never stated anything about suing the cops, teachers, or school. I just feel that the officers went far beyond what was reasonable for the (very) minor situation and should be reprimanded.... as I said above.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
If it was a simple pat-down, then the male officer could do it legally if a witness was present to verify he didn't sexually molest the student.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Most male officers still prefer to have a female officer do it if at all possible.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
So save the righteous indignation.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Everyone is pissed that the girl got arrested....what happened to the rules.. you're in school to learn...put the damn phone away.!!!!!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
And that's exactly why schools have to call the police. Teachers are not allowed to do it. Parents refuse to do it. That leaves only the police.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:And that's exactly why schools have to call the police. Teachers are not allowed to do it. Parents refuse to do it. That leaves only the police.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
If the parents do it then the parents go to jail for assaulting a minor.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Texting
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Texting
Heck, I write technically all day long, then go home and write fiction. Anyone who has tried both understands that they are two completely different worlds. However, neither "destroys" the other. It is all a matter of context.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Texting
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
texting in classroom
I had this problem with my child. I told her to stop texting during school or I would take the phone away. I check the usage online and she knows that I do, she has stopped the texting and her GPA has increased a lot. It all begins at home!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
texting in classroom
I had this problem with my child. I told her to stop texting during school or I would take the phone away. I check the usage online and she knows that I do, she has stopped the texting and her GPA has increased a lot. It all begins at home!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I see nothing wrong with this.
Really. What if the girl was asked to leave the class, but refused? Do you think any teacher would grab the student to remove them?
Think, Mike. Every day, school administrators lose the power to deal with abusive students because these students know what they can get away with.
I'm sure every generation thinks teenagers are disruptive and disrespectful, but I'm one to believe this generation of teens are well above this when compared to teens just a decade ago.
This girl knew exactly what she was doing to an administration fearful of a lawsuit.
Throw the book at this stupid girl. She deserves it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I see nothing wrong with this.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I see nothing wrong with this.
Call the parents and let them man-handle the girl if she absolutely refuses. hell texting isn't that much of a disruption to class so just call security and have them waiting till she has to get up and goto class, lunch, or the bathroom anyway, or she'll sit stubbornly until parents arrive and other students will make fun of her. when she goes home for a day, inform her (and call her parents too) that she needs to come to school on saturday (or after-school detention) to make up for the class time she wasted.
Only narrow minded people think you have to use physical force to keep someone in line.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: I see nothing wrong with this.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: I see nothing wrong with this.
You can't be this daft.
So, I guess police should toss their handcuffs in the trash and hope for the best?
You don't get it, do you? Some people have no regard to others and force is the only thing remaining.
Want to see proof? Just walk into any Walmart and look for a mother with an uncontrollable kid. You can watch as she loses all ability to communicate and must resort to physical force for control.
Sorry, but I must disagree with your statement.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: I see nothing wrong with this.
Only narrow minded people think physical force is completely unnecessary. Humans understand why they shouldn't do something when it is explained to them. Animals do not understand until they are shown what will happen when they don't obey. Employers can fire an animal when they stop performing. Teachers still have to try to educate them. The only legal recourse for a teacher whose animal student refuses to learn is to escalate it to one who is empowered to enforce punishment.
As for parents not being able to discipline their children, they have a religious freedom defense.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
arrested and strip searched
so she was being disruptive. solution is simple. start with number one and if it doesn't work proceed to the next one.
1) ask her to stop
2) send her to the principal's office
3) call her parents
4) suspend her
5) expell her
6) arrested for trespasing
I read some people say that she is being disruptive and therefore interfereing with your right to learn so she should have been arrested. well should you be arrested when you talk on your cell phone at the grocery store. how about when a fat guy goes sunbathing in the park, or when you cut someone off while driving. those are all really annoying to me and might be interrupting my right to do just about anything. and if you do that you should be arrested.
the real problem here is that everyone way over reacted. there is no excuse for a 14 year old girl being strip searched, arrested, and punished in more ways most likely just for texting. Cops should have much better things to do, and school administrators should know what to do.
No, I'm not saying the girl was in the right here, but it doesn't seem like what she was doing came even close to deserving the punishment she recieved.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: arrested and strip searched
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: arrested and strip searched
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: arrested and strip searched
1. Tell her to stop
2. If she refuses, call the SRO, and have them deal with the trouble maker. Because that's what the SRO is there to do.
Oh wait, that's what they did.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
But that would require reading on your part, so I understand why it's hard to understand things.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Because unfortunately in some areas of this country there are 14 year old kids who deal drugs in school and are involved in gang related crime specifically because they are underage.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This incident is the result of a system where you are forced through the laws to do nothing with disruptive students, gang members (just a list of other disruptive people, not a direct comparison!) but be forced to educate them. Since nothing can be done to permanently remove them from the education enviromnment, these are the options.
It seems reasonable that this student has a history, as noted in the report. YES, BTW, people sharing the opinion that this was overboard, in light of the context, and the student's behavioral history, are part of the problem. You take away the tools necessary to teach, and handle disruptions (like permanent home schooling orders as an example) and then complain when the remaining recourse is applied. GET A FREAKING CLUE.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Seriously.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Prior history.....
The student XXXXX (w/f 6-23-94) is known to me and the administration based on prior negative contacts.
Given that this isn't the girl's first contact with the police, I can see things going a lot further than what I would expect for a first offense.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What did they put on some dance music and make her dance as well?!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
response to texting in class
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Is that a phone in your dress or are you just glad to see me?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Seriously though, take all the dumb/terrible people and move them to Australia and rename it "Dumbassville". Then the rest of the population (the whole 5% left) can share the rest of the world in peace, and it shall be declared "Smartassville" (see? I'm creative)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
texting arrest
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
She wouldn't go.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
cell phones
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What phone?
As such, I'd say that when she attempts to get it back the teacher should stare at her blankly and say, "What phone?"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
14 year old arrested for texting
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
FUD
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Two words...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
wild!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
what was the legal bases for giving her a pat down again?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
See School Section
With 3 people verifying that she DID indeed have a cell phone, it is a Probable Cause situation, which is over and above the Reasonable Suspicion that is required before performing a search of a student.
Police have the right to a pat down search anyone they stop on the basis of protecting the officer's safety. (The search is performed for finding weapons, not contraband, but if they feel something on your person that they cannot identify as being a weapon or not, they can ASK you to produce said unidentifiable item for them. You have the right to deny producing the item, at which time the officers MAY deem it grounds for a Probable cause search, which would include a strip search)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
- and they arrested her for "disorderly conduct." -
NOT for texting that you seem to have gleened from both of the articles.
Your comment confirms your belief that there is "Something wrong with people"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
On a further note...
Also her parents believe the school was within it's rights to do what they did and support their decision.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
She did not get arrested for not stopping the texting
She wouldn't stop texting, then told the teacher she did not have a cell phone (which is contraband in the school anyway).
No one called the cops. The school resource officer had to get involved because of the girl's continued disuption of class.
It was the police who made the decision to charge her, because what she was doing met the definition of disorderly conduct.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
oy
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I feel for the teacher
In a time where the parent does nothing about their child's poor behavior.
Where tossing the kid out of school only causes the school to lose funding and most if not all the forms of punishment are laughed off by the student.
Where the teacher is scrutinized for their own actions is it any wonder the cops get called?
After reading the SG article I would have to side with the teacher and the police.
To answer anonymous coward 97 the answer is yes.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
children have it to easy
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Texting addicts!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
stupid
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
In my high school anyone caught texting has their phone taken away by a teacher and they have to get it at the end of the day.
Calling the police is unnecessary.
Strip-searching a 14-year old...
extremely unnecessary.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
seriously?
"she needs to grow up"
uhm...everyone uses cell phones, as a student..it's stupid to even prohibit texting, calling sure...its disrupting a class
but what REALLY disrupts the class are the dumbass teachers wasting time yelling at a kid to put their phone away, even if they're hiding it.
it's the student's decision if they want to fail or not...I have almost straight A's and i text in class, because i don't get as bored so i do my work.
if kids are bored they're less likely to be productive.
bleh.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Maybe if you paid for school,which you would need to someday get a job and or welfare it would be a different story.
I would charge you the most for being the most stupid
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Rights.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
teacher reading text.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
omq!!!
how iz dat possibe!!
tha teacher needs to qet a life(:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
bish dittude
tht stupid teacher i should get my possy nd go cut the bitch!
bc so wt if ppl text in class.. she cant act like she has never text/
she ws probopply fukkin relly PMS'EN bc she s trippin nd cops re dumb obiously becuse tht relly is a stupid reon to arrest omeone he surey just liked her or something..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: bish dittude
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: bish dittude
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Girls Schools Courses
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
texting
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I've got one for you--ARRESTED FOR CUSSING
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
crap
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
fucked up
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
wow
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
what the hell is wrong with him?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
texting in school
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
lol
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
texting
[ link to this | view in chronology ]