The Principal, Helping Students Excel

A Michigan high school assistant principal plants some pot in the locker of a kid. But it's not what you think. He only did it because he just knew the kid was a drug dealer. He also kept more extra packets of pot in his desk--I guess you never know when you'll run into more potential drug dealers who just need some help from a wise elder to fulfill their destiny.

[Link tipoff from commenter Brian]

Comments

[Brendan Perez]

The Herald-Palladium ran articles about on the 19th, 20th, and 21st.
http://www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2004/02/19/news/news2.txt
http://www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2004/02/20/news/news2.txt
http://www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2004/02/21/news/news3.txt

He admitted to confiscating drugs from students and keeping it in his desk. I wonder what sort of drugs he was on to admit to the police that he not only kept drugs he was supposed to turn, kept them in his desk, and was planting them in an effort to fram students.

Any drugs found in a locker at school should be tested for fingerprints and those prints tested against the entire staff. This sort of thinking has been applied to all sorts of things teenage, perhaps it's time school officials taste a little of their own medicine.

The school board said they hadn't seen the drugs at expulsion hearings.
If having the drugs at the hearing is normal, why did they suspend students if there weren't any drugs as evidence?

This guy should face hard time. He has more authority over young people then nearly all other adults and he has authority over them that he doesn't have over adults. This extra amount of power should carry with it an extra sentence.

[Douglas Fletcher]

This guy is something out of 'Ferris Bueller,' I swear. He says he 'lost perspective,' yeah, well, write it on the chalkboard 3 thousand times, bud, just so we're sure you got the message right.

[eli]

You have to wonder if those dogs are really as effective at sniffing out drugs as they're made out to be... Has anyone ever done a double-blind study?

[SteveInClearwater]

All police dogs are considered 'police officers' for the purpose of tracking job performance.

Any dog's record can be reviewed.

It's the first line of defense for anyone that is searched (or their vehicle or home) based on the 'probable cause' of a dog alerting.

We have a couple of key cases from the past two years where convictions were overturned on appeal when the dog's substandard performance record was deemed to mean that their Alert was not worthy of being 'probable' cause.

Anyone busted with this as a basis for the search should immediately advise their defense attorney to demand the performance record of all officers involved, including canines.

[Brendan Perez]

Grind up a little bit of MJ, mix it with water, put it in a little spray bottle, and spray the floors, lockers, whatever. It makes the dogs go nuts, from what I overheard some people I didn't know saying :).

[Jennifer]

Steve--

Right now I am doing substitute-teaching gigs for a temp agency and trying to land a full-time position for next year; there is no way I'd dare do anything to suggest I can think for myself, or see things too clearly.

Actually, my old goals were to get a teaching position and keep my mouth shut until I got tenure; now my goal is to get a teaching position and keep my mouth shut while I save enough money to move to Canada. I think I could qualify for a Canadian teachers' license with only a small amount of additional study of the country's literature.

I know this means I'll have to read a lot more Margaret Atwood and Alice Munro, but sometimes one must be willing to make sacrifices for the greater good.

[smart-ass]

This principal might want to consider a job at the CIA. If he can't find the WMD that he knows are there, he can always plant them! Since nobody else at the CIA has thought of this yet, there could be a niche opening for him!

Paging Karl Rove...

[Rick Barton]

The Van Buren County prosecutor's office is reviewing the case to see whether the assistant principal could be charged with possession of marijuana.

What about being charged with planting evidence? This principal is a real criminal. The Principal with out principles...

Jennifer,
Is it really true that you are: "often not allowed to penalize kids for using improper spelling or grammar (because that would be imposing my values upon them)"?

[Steven Crane]

I think we've seen this before, Rick... the dreaded ILP (individualized learning plan), if I remember correctly.

[Steven Crane]

Doesn't say much for the effectiveness of drug searches when the dogs don't even manage to find planted evidence.

[thoreau]

I'm a scientist, with about a year of grad school left. When I've graded lab reports as a TA, I've always marked off points for spelling and grammar. Somebody could produce the successor to the general theory of relativity or do an experiment demonstrating room temperature superconductivity, but if the reports are poorly written I'll still take off points.

I guess that makes me insensitive or something.

[Jennifer]

Rick Barton--

It is true what I said about grammar and spelling. (Ironically enough, I myself made a grammatical error in that posting.)

On other posts I have railed against the brave new world of "Individualized Education Plans" (the notorious IEPs). The IEP started out simply enough--say you're a student with hearing problems, so you'd get an IEP mandating that you get to sit near the front of the classroom, or use a hearing aid. Perfectly reasonable.

But by now, between the cult of self-esteem, our overly litigious society, and the idea that ability should not be a hindrance in life, I've actually had students with the following IEPs:

--Kids with "spelling anxiety." They are not capable of spelling, and therefore cannot be penalized for incorrectly spelled words.

--Kids with "test anxiety." Tests make them nervous, so they don't have to obey traditional time constraints.

--Kids with "reading issues." Their reading skills stink, so rather than force them to read and improve themselves, they actually get people hired by the school to read questions out loud to them!

I myself have not had to deal with kids speaking "Black English" but there are some school districts where teachers cannot penalize a statement like "She be walking" because that's not BAD grammar, just DIFFERENT grammar.

I repeat: I have seen this country's future and I am bailing out. No wonder American businesses are outsourcing to overseas places--American high-school graduates have learned absolutely nothing.

[garym]

Curious that the prosecutor's office is considering prosecuting Pat Conroy for marijuana possession, but apparently not for planting false criminal evidence, which is what he *should* be thrown in jail for forty years for. Even when the villains are the ones who get prosecuted, the War On Drugs twists the law's sense of what's important.

[Rick Barton]

Jennifer,

How ironic; instead of teaching the students to overcome their educational problems, you're telling us that the government schools are segregating them into groups to accommodate different kinds of failure and this process actually has the word; "Individualized" in the name. Well, the students will certainly experience the affects of a poor education as individuals.

What about as a solution; we change all the government schools to voucher schools to get some market dynamics into the process?

Do you really think Canada will be better?

[Karma Chameleon]

Jennifer, why don't you give up the nightmare-on-main-street Mr. Chips routine and do something that will make you happy?

Then maybe you could go out and teach kids how they, too, can be happy.

[dhex]

this is one of the most fucked up things i've read about in a long time.

not much else to say. at least he admits it was arrogant and stupid. very magnanimous of him.

[Jennifer]

Sounds like the only thing saving that kid was a combination of police-dog incompetence and the principal's stupidity. I wish I had more details: sounds like the dog sniffed the locker, found nothing, and so the A.P. said, "Wait a minute! I know damn well there's drugs there, because I planted them myself!"

Have any other kids been expelled for drugs during this guy's reign?

Someone suggested fingerprinting drugs found in lockers: as a teacher, I must say I doubt that will happen. Kids in school today are trapped in a weird system: when it comes to criminal matters (being tested for drugs, accused of possessing weapons, etc.) they have no rights whatsoever, and Zero Tolerance laws run amuck. The only "rights" kids have in schools these days is the right to be ignorant and the right to high self-esteem. As an English teacher, I am often not allowed to penalize kids for using improper spelling or grammar (because that would be imposing my values upon them), but if I wanted to search the kid's pockets, purses and backpacks that wouldn't be a problem.

I have seen the future of this country, and I invest my money overseas.

[SteveInClearwater]

Here's some educators who don't have warped brains when it come to drug policy:

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n310.a07.html

And yes, Jennifer, I recall your saying a few weeks back that you were reticent to check out such a group 'until you get your tenure'....but they have good privacy provisions. Also you might consider pointing smart minded colleagues who DO have tenure in the direction of EFSDP.

Cheers,

Steve

[JimInNoVA]

"If I tell a roomful of seventeen-year-olds "One puff of a joint is all it takes to turn you into a mindless criminal!" I should not be surprised if the kids refuse to take me seriously, ever again."

Not only that, you should expect the rejoinder: "So, you smoked a lot of pot in college huh?" 🙂

[Kevin Carson]

Wow, now there's dog bites man story, if I ever saw one.

It's usually the POLICE who are planting drugs on someone they "just know" is a dealer.

[kevrob]

Hmmm... Conroy may have had enough of a stash to trigger the "possession of amounts consistent with intent to deal" clauses in some of the anri-drug laws. Since he did deliver some - by placing them in a locker under a student's control - he could arguably be looking at the heavier, rather than the lighter possesion rap. I imagine there are kickers in sentencing for dealing to minors, and on school grounds. Ouch.

As for suing public schools that turn out illiterates, there may be sovereign immunity problems. I do remember Marva Collins taking to the airwaves in the early 1980's on behalf of a former college basketball player who had such a beef with Creighton University. Seems Kevin Ross made it all the way through 16 years of formal education without learning how to read, and wanted to sue.

"In 1988, he sued Creighton University for educational malpractice, negligent admission, and emotional distress. The suit was settled out of court in 1992. Ross received $30,000. Creighton admitted no liability."

http://sports.espn.go.com/page2/tvlistings/show103transcript.html

Ross learned to read by enrolling in Collins' Chicago-based private school.

Kevin

[Jennifer]

I wonder if businesses could sue schools for not educating their students? Say, I hired my employee because he had one of your diplomas, but it turns out he's illiterate. False advertising?

[Jennifer]

Karma Chameleon--

Despite all my gripes, I do enjoy teaching. Some of the kids are smart enough to see through the BS, and I have managed to personally help quite a few, despite all the institutionalized stupidity. Besides, if I left teaching, what job could I get that has no bullshit or pointless rules-for-the-sake-of-rules? Where else can I get paid to talk about books and ideas?

I support the school voucher system, though I try not to advertise this until I get tenure; can't afford to irritate the Union. And I do think Canada will be at least a little better--I've never heard a Canadian teacher complain, "This high-school kid can't read and I'm not allowed to teach him."

Also, consider how litigious America has become--I'm amazed that a bunch of illiterate high-school grads haven't sued the schools for giving them worthless diplomas! When that happens, I do not wish to be a co-defendant.

Finally, if I am going to be middle-class, I think a middle-class Canadian has a better life these days than does a middle-class American.

But back to the original thread of this post: that asshle principal deserves to be imprisoned and sued. Hopefully the kid will soon own the principal's house.

[Jake]

Jennifer,

I suggest you do a little research. Bananada is only better at the moment and only because we are 'behind the curve'. We are, of course, striving to catch up with the ridiculous 'standard of the week' being set by education experts.

Public Education is a cesspit of pet theories and wacky notions. The education of children is secondary to career advancement through forcing one's theories upon the system.

I used to spend half my evenings deprogramming my daughter of the drivel they try to feed her. Now she's savvy enough that she starts dinner conversations with 'Dad, you wouldn't believe what they tried to pass over as fact today...'

I fear for the children who are less capable of independant thought.

[garym]

http://www.detnews.com/2004/schools/0402/22/c06-70811.htm

"Conroy told police he had been collecting the drugs, which he said had been confiscated from students, ever since he came to the high school in August 1999.

"He said he kept the drugs in his office so they could be used at student expulsion hearings in front of the school board to show as evidence.

"But school board President Ed Bocock, who has been on the board since Conroy joined the district staff, said he never saw drugs displayed at any student expulsion hearing he attended."

This makes it sound very much as if Conroy was running an ongoing racket of planting drugs, if his story about keeping them to use in hearings was a fabrication.

[John]

And won't property tax payers in that district be pleased when their property taxes triple to cover the judgement against the district that the kids' parents obtain.

[Fred]

Yeah, dhex. This is truly fucked up. What a creep!

[Jennifer]

Jake--

God, I wish I had your daughter in my class. For every smart kid I see who makes me hope for the future, there are twenty who renew my gratitude for the fact that I have no kids of my own.

Make me absolute dictator of the school system for just one year and I'd fix ninety percent of the problems. A few of my innovations:

--Self-esteem is a by-product of achievement, not an achievement in itself. The school's job is to eradicate your ignorance; once you have learned a few things then you on your own time can develop self-esteem based upon your accomplishments. Sometimes, paradoxically, it is GOOD to feel bad about yourself, because that will encourage you to change for the better. Self-esteem should not be synonymous with self-delusion.

--All kids may be equal in the eyes of the law, but that's all. Kids are NOT academically or intellectually equal. Age segregation should be replaced by ability segregation. For me personally--at seventeen I could easily have done graduate work in English and linguistics, but when it came to Math I really should have been in a class with twelve or thirteen year olds. Instead, I was kept with my age group, leaving me bored beyond hope in my English classes and clueless beyond hope in Math.

--Teachers and administrators certainly have a great deal of responsibility for a student's education, but so does the student. If a student refuses to do homework or come to class, then the student's ignorance should be considered the student's failure, not the teachers'.

--While students should certainly be respectful and polite toward educators, the educators must realize that respect is something to be earned. If I tell a roomful of seventeen-year-olds "One puff of a joint is all it takes to turn you into a mindless criminal!" I should not be surprised if the kids refuse to take me seriously, ever again.