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Supporters seek relief for expelled BC student
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| By: ADAM NORTHAM, DAILY LEADER Staff Writer |
November 03, 2009 |
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The one-year expulsion of a Bogue Chitto Attendance Center student for bringing a knife to school should be overturned and the zero tolerance policy on weapons relaxed, says the student's mother and a group of local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People officials.
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Brookhaven-Lincoln County and area NAACP members pleaded with the Lincoln County School Board Monday night to overturn the expulsion of 16-year-old Tesheon Rogers, who was expelled for the remainder of the school year for bringing a knife to school on Oct 6. Rogers' mother, Jeanet Brown, said her daughter forgot to remove the knife from her backpack, which was used to carry a sack lunch and fishing supplies during a recent fishing trip.
The board took no action Monday night following a closed meeting with the student and parent and after hearing from others in open session. District superintendent Terry Brister declined to comment on the student matter.
The Rev. Frank Lee, first vice president of the Pike County NAACP, said Rogers should still be punished, but in a less severe manner, given her academic success and clean record.
"No society can exist without being temperate and with mercy," Lee told the board. "The penalty delivered to her was most severe. There should have been something else than throwing her out of school. With her record, this is tremendously harsh."
Lee went on to say that Rogers has encountered bullying at Bogue Chitto. He requested and received a copy of the district's student handbook, which lays out punishments for harassment. Rogers' supporters claim the girl never produced the knife at school, but that it fell onto the floor after she bumped her desk while scuffling with a class bully.
Lee called bullying a "deep, entrenched, rooted" problem the NAACP has found in local schools. He also questioned the practice of school administrators taking statements from students following incidents such as Rogers', statements he said were later used against the student in discipline hearings.
"We want some kind of representation for these kids when they're striking these statements," he said. "They're just minors, and sometimes they don't think right."
NAACP member Roy Smith called the expulsion a "death sentence," saying expelling a child from school is the beginning of a path that leads to criminality and prison.
"Children of color are more apt to be penalized and scrutinized for the least little things," he said. "For 80 percent of children of color, the pipeline to prison starts at school. Punishment is due, but expulsion from school is not the answer."
Bernetta Character, president of the Brookhaven-Lincoln County chapter of the NAACP, suggested Rogers be placed in alternative school until the beginning of the 2010-11 school year.
Rogers' aunt, Melissa Singleton, said her niece has never been in any trouble, makes good grades and participates in athletics. She said Rogers simply made one mistake and should not be expelled.
"As far as these laws, this zero tolerance crap, that's out the window," Singleton said. "There should be an exception. She deserves a second chance. If she had a gun last year or a switchblade the year before that, if she's been suspended three or four times, I'd understand. You gotta put your child in this situation."
Rogers' strongest outside defense came from Smithdale's Melvin Tobias, who had been in a similar situation before the Lincoln County School Board.
Tobias addressed the board members by their first names and recalled when his son, Ricky Tobias, was disciplined for not only bringing a knife to school but possessing an open beer. The situation was resolved, he said, and his son now serves as a captain in the U.S. Air Force.
But Superintendent Brister, speaking for the first time, pointed out that things have changed since Tobias' day.
"Back then we could do more," Brister said. "There were things you could have room with. Now, with the zero tolerance policy, whammo! The thing has changed since then. We're only abiding by the rules."
District One board member Kay Coon echoed Brister's defense.
"We want the child to be in school, but it's kind of out of our hands," she said.
Rogers' case is being handled in youth court, officials said. WAPT reported she is undergoing court-ordered anger management classes and must pay a $250 fine to the school district.
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©The Daily Leader 2009
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