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ZeroIntelligence.net
Zero Tolerance = Zero Intelligence
Katy ISD beats Houston by better than 5 to 1 - in arresting students.
Jim | Texas | Monday, April 19th, 2004
Zero tolerance raises alarms
Previously on ZeroIntelligence.Net: It’s step up or step out at Katy Independent School District
Katy Independent School District has exploded across the news thanks to an AP article in general circulation. There are good reasons that Katy is being exposed.
Bubbly and bright, Jewel Caillet considered herself “Miss Teen Spirit” until she was accused of drinking at a high school football game and subjected to 3 1/2 months in the Katy Independent School District’s discipline school.
The 16-year-old says she was not drinking and was refused the opportunity to take a Breathalyzer test. A municipal court judge threw out the charge. But KISD still sent Jewel to the discipline school, where students cannot have a locker or pens because they could be used to hide drugs. Each day, Jewel was required to bare her midriff, ankles and feet for inspections to ensure she was not carrying contraband.
As previously noted on ZeroIntelligence.Net, Katy ISD has an epidemic of cases like Jewel’s. Students are censured, punished and convicted by the opinion of staff or the anonymous tips of a fellow student. Katy seems to specialize in criminalizing students as well. Violations such as throwing food, carrying a pager or having a skateboard are all subject to police involvement.
… So far this school year, KISD police have ticketed or arrested students in 4,298 cases. Twenty-one percent of the infractions were classified as disorderly conduct, disruption or assault, the last of which includes anything from a shove to physically injuring someone.
The Houston Independent School District, with five times as many students, has issued 1,200 fewer citations this school year than Katy. KISD has ticketed or arrested one student for every nine in the school district, while HISD has cited one of every 68 students.
Better than 11% of the students attending Katy ISD have been ticketed or arrested. How can Katy maintain that they are doing a decent job? Perhaps it’s because their administrators are on crack. I don’t see any other way to explain the following.
School administrators acknowledge that they do not hold a standard of innocent until proven guilty for school-administered discipline, but they say they “make every effort” to find out whether students did what they are accused of doing.
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Parents in Katy cannot appeal decisions to send their children to the discipline school for periods of 60 days or fewer.
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“They leave here better for it,” said Patty Bing, principal of the discipline school. “I’ve never seen a situation where a child did not benefit.”
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“At A-School, you knew you were in prison,” [Jewel] said, adding that the experience made her hate school even at Taylor.
The entrance to the discipline school is monitored by a security guard and blocked by a metal detector, where the students line up every morning to be searched before they can enter. Bing and other faculty members greet the students as they lift up their shirts and pants, empty their pockets and take off their shoes.
“We make it a very positive experience to start the day,” the principal said.
Emphasis mine. The next best thing to a strip search is “a very positive experience”? Alternative school is such a wonderful place that no student failed to benefit from it. Why not pattern all of the schools after it then?
The school offers basics, such as math, science and English, and a few electives but no advanced classes or foreign languages. It is considering offering a Spanish class next year.
“We are not required by law to provide any of the advanced-placement classes” in the discipline school, said Bonnie Holland, executive assistant to the KISD superintendent. “Our off-campus DAEP (discipline alternative education program) is as good as anybody’s.”
Jewel’s mother, Sandra Caillet, said her daughter learned nothing at the discipline school but how to get into trouble.
“They learn where the drugs are and who’s selling them,” Caillet said.
There are efforts at the state level to repeal laws mandating zero tolerance policies but these are being fought by teachers’ unions and other partisan groups. Even if they were all repealed tomorrow it wouldn’t matter in KISD though. That would only remove the mandate for the policies. Katy has gone well beyond those mandates. They have a serious problem that has to be dealt with internally. The people in charge of that school system need a massive wakeup call from the parents and electorate in the district. Nothing else will help the thousands of students who are getting arrested and forced out of Katy schools.
(Tip credit to Daryl C and Cedar Pundit)
Update: Comments on this post have been closed as it is being attacked by spammers. Please email me with comments and I will add them manually.
17 Comments
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I’m certainly not one to call for running to the courts at the drop of a hat, but it seems to me that it’s past time for a parent to take a stand and take these idiots to court.
Let’s see here…she was ‘accused’….no specifics given. She was refused the right to take a Breathalyzer test that would have provided a clear means to refute the accusation. She was cleared of the charge by a court…but these clowns decided to administer punishment anyhow.
I think we make an error when we extend full rights to minors, but arrogant educators like this can only serve to drive us in that direction.
I do wonder about the local police…seems past time for them to cease aiding in this kind of stuff.
Comment by Bill Beeman — April 19, 2004 @ 4:22 pm
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It’s close to the end of the year. It’s time for these parents of these students to find educational venues other than Katy schools for their children. It’s very easy to homeschool in Texas if one can’t afford a decent private school. Almost as easy as it is to get arrested or ticketed in Katy schools.
Going to a public school where you’re afraid to look crosseyed at someone for fear of arrest is NOT WORTH THE AGGRAVATION, NO MATTER HOW STELLAR THE ACADEMIC EDUCATION IS. Having your academic future ruined by idiots who can’t be bothered to thoroughly check out stories and barefaced lies is criminal. No matter what the law says under NCLB, students should be treated as individuals.
WAKE UP PARENTS AND STUDENTS. NOTHING WILL HAPPEN UNTIL YOU LET THE POWERS THAT BE KNOW THAT THEY’LL BE DOING SOMETHING DIFFERENT FOR A LIVING NEXT FALL.
Comment by bettina — April 19, 2004 @ 4:23 pm
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This thing annoys me so much, I can’t begin to say what I think about the whole thing.
How could a parent possibly let this type of thing happen to her daughter? Why did she permit her daughter to get railroaded to a thug school? How can she possibly look her daughter in the face every day? How did she let these bastards do this to her child?
Comment by bettina — April 19, 2004 @ 5:54 pm
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ANOTHER STRANGE COINCIDENCE?
I just saw a Katie Couric interview with Rev. Michael Shoels, father of Isaiah who was killed at Columbine five years ago today. The families are still grieving their losses. In fact, Mr. Shoels moved out of Littleton, CO because…
Trackback by Homeschool & Other Education Stuff — April 20, 2004 @ 7:45 am
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Whoa, whoa, hold up a minute here, Bettina. “How could a parent LET this type of thing happen”? How could it be avoided? This is the whole idea behind fighting ZT policies; parents have no say in the process. Once you do away with an appeals you remove any control of the situation from outside parties, such as the parents of the student. The fault lies with the administrators and the school board, not with the parents.
Every person at that alternative school, including the teachers, guards, and administrators (ESPECIALLY the administrators) should be required to go through exactly the same daily entry procedures (search, metal detector, etc.) as the students. Then a poll should be taken to see how many of these people thought the experience was “positive”.
Comment by Ray — April 20, 2004 @ 11:19 am
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I think Bettina was referring to the fact that the parents are always the final arbiter. There are options besides public school and the parent can use them no matter what the school decides. Private schooling is always there and so is homeschooling. Private school isn’t always affordable. It can be a large sacrifice to homeschool but if the other side of the scale is a traumatized kid who now hates learning, doesn’t that make it a no brainer?
In a larger sense, parents are the ones who elect and condone the school administration. That’s simplistic as it’s really all voters who do it but the basic fact is that it does not take a huge grassroots movement to get new administration in place. In fact, this very thing has started in Katy.
Comment by Jim — April 20, 2004 @ 11:26 am
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Katy ISD - Zero Intelligence
As reported by ZeroIntelligence.net - Katy Independent School District Arrests 1 in ever 9 students regularly. This is absolutely…astonishing. Are the students the problem? Absolutely not. The school district’s Zero Tolerance Plan is fully to blame, …
Trackback by Gnomified - The Tales of a Wannabe — April 20, 2004 @ 4:34 pm
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Ray, this mother should have had the sense to remove her child immediately from that school and let the school and the world know why. She should have called the media — radio talkshows, print media, and TV. She never should have permitted her child to be in such a horrible situation. If she can’t homeschool or send the child to private school, move the child out of the area to relatives for the rest of the year. Anything other than having her in that situation.
I know of a mother who removed her high school son from an overly controlling school over a minor dresscode violation. The kid was given in school suspension for the day. The mother pulled him out within a week and signed him up with a homeschooling co-op. She let the school know why she was pulling him out also. There are a lot of students in this particular school that have left, some within weeks of the end of the school year, and the administration wonders why they have such a large dropout rate and homeschooling population.
You’re right Jim. The parents are always the final arbiter and as soon as Katy administrators find out, the better off the students will be. The school superintendent should be fired.
Comment by bettina — April 20, 2004 @ 5:00 pm
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The state of Texas, has been pulling, this off for a few years now.
The harassment caused my nephew to quit school!
On the same day, he withdrew in Hopkins county, so did 6 other junior and seniors. These kids had, 2 months of school left. Of course he had to pay his ticket. It seems to go, to the city court clerk fund.
This could be the reason, the tickets are so popular. A hell of a way to finance, the city budget.
Any district, that does not have a appeal process, should not be allowed, to discipline kids. That 60 day rule is a sham.
Some democracy system.
In Sulpher Springs, the students do not have lockers. All children are given a second set of books to take home. Maybe the ticket money helps finance this.
I too would like to see those Adults, in charge have to raise their shirts everyday. There is nothing right about that Alternative school.
Comment by Brenda — April 20, 2004 @ 9:18 pm
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If parents let the schools know that they won’t send their children to a school that doesn’t treat them as individuals in disciplinary matters and does not have an appeal process, you would see them change that rule very, very quickly. That “our hands are tied” baloney would end immediately, because no students, no jobs.
A girl in a district in my county where students are leaving in droves for parochial high schools (blue collar town, but parents are willing to sacrifice) told the newspapers that she refuses to attend a school that doesn’t have an athletic program (the school was going to cut the budget for athletics). Within two days, that money was put back into the budget.
Another school district decided to limit bathroom passes and institute a “silent” lunch for its students. Students and parents told the press they would not be returning next year. That got the administration’s attention pronto. The policies were recinded.
All it takes is a minority of parents (6-8%) to let school administrators know that they’ll go elsewhere if they’re not happy. There are more options out there than ever and smart school districts know they have to compete. Children don’t need to be educated in public schools today, and if they are of no use or detrimental to children, they can be closed down.
Comment by bettina — April 21, 2004 @ 8:04 am
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I agree with the points that you made, but there are a lot of people out there who don’t have either opportunity. How about the single mother with two kids? Homeschooling isn’t an option if they want to eat, ditto private school. Moving may also not be an option if the parent(s) aren’t earning enough to do so, and relatives might not be available, or willing to take in another child.
However, the abuses chronicled on this site make it clear that there needs to be a set of “baseline” rights for students and their parents. School administrators need to realize that ZT policies simply don’t work.
And what the heck is with this ridiculous “silent lunch” concept? Do we really want to turn our schools into prisons with books?
Comment by Ray — April 22, 2004 @ 7:36 am
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Public schools today are like minimum security prisons already with inane zero tolerance policies, security guards with taser guns (popular in FL schools), cameras in the hallways and in some cases classrooms (that might be a good thing, heh heh), searches, pee tests, and metal detectors at the doors.
Silent lunch is used to shut the kids up to give the staff a break or as a disciplinary tactic. Some kids in this particular school were causing problems, so of course, everyone gets punished. I’ve even heard of students in some schools not being permitted to talk on the school bus.
Well, that sort of takes care of the “socialization” aspect of public education that the educrats are always trying to hold over the heads of homeschoolers.
I truly feel sorry for people who can’t afford to choose their children’s education and who are forced to send their children to these God-awful places.
Comment by bettina — April 22, 2004 @ 8:33 am
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Idiot! She wasn’t refused a breathalyzer test, SHE refused to take one.
And most of the statistics had to be retracted by the Chronicle (where they were first published) because they were erroneous.
Ask the parents of Katy (the responsible parents, that is) how we feel about Katy ISD. There is a reason why it is one of the fastet growing school districts in the state. Look at their graduation rated, SAT scores, etc.
Get a clue.
Comment by parent — June 7, 2004 @ 7:58 am
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Parent, thanks so much for the scathing anonymous commentary. I’m unable to find anything in the Chronicle about retractions for this story and the only surviving stories I see about Jewel corroborate that she requested and was denied a breathalyzer.
Perhaps you could do a little better in putting your opinion forward if you cited some sources.
Comment by Jim — June 7, 2004 @ 8:05 am
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they are reversing the law guilty and we have to prove them innocent, and we have to do it with our hands tied behind our back.
Katy isd will not help you, find out the truth they just want to hang the student and appologize later if they are wrong. this will not do. so i ask what can we do to stop that communistic state form steamrolling over our children. it time to take away their power.
Comment by Teresa AKing — October 5, 2004 @ 6:18 pm
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This sounds far better than the situation I observe up close in HISD every day where the misbehaving students ( many of whom should be incarcerated) have all the rights, and the adults are relegated to babysitting rather than teaching these wanna-be and future thugs.
I find myself wondering often, just what can be done to fix a system that is so far gone as the current HISD situation. Many of the students are coming from homes that are not able to provide the most basic needs, be that financial, or even worse, moral, ethical and work values and structure. What can be done for these children? Even more worrisome, as they are the future of our culture, what can be done for our culture?
A little bit of a disciplinary school for a child who allowed herself to appear guilty of illegal activity. A small price, for the lesson that she is responsible for her actions, and the way they appear. This lesson is an important one, that few parents seem to instill in thier children today. Now, if only the parents could learn the same lesson.
Comment by hisd worker — October 28, 2004 @ 1:05 am
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I find this interesting…I am a Katy parent. I have 5th, 7th and 9th. Those of you who are interested, google and yahoo “the delphi technique” This is the method in which KISD is working. It has it’s roots in Marxism and communism. This technique is why KISD is virtually unreachable. They are master spin doctors. I have a child who is miserable at school because of the meaness and foul mouthed kids…the teacher is great, that is the only reason my child goes…I am considering taking her out.I wish that KISD would focus less on teenage boys getting into a “boy” scuffle and put more effort into life and people skills.
Comment by tracy — November 27, 2004 @ 9:47 pm
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