Suspended from school because of a Navy SEAL book

[socket]

Recently I was suspended for 10 days from my school because I had brought a 'silent reading' book to class on the subject of the Navy SEALs and their history and capabilities.
The principal pulled me out of my studies the next class and issued a locker search. They found a 3.5" floppy drive for a computer (I do computer repair/programming/network administration and I had acquired it from a friend) which they tried to pass off as a homemade bomb.
I was then brought to the principal's office where two police officers were there along with the assistant principal, and a psychiatrist. They called my parents and "detained" me for questioning by the police.
All the while I had no idea why they were doing this, but I soon found out later when my dad contacted a lawyer who received the police reports and handed them to me so I could read them. It didn't make sense. All of this because of a book on the Navy SEALs?!

I assume they are doing this because they think the book is a step by step plan on breaking and entering, methodically killing people, and blowing stuff up, for instance, my fellow students. I guess they thought I was going to kill everyone. This deeply upsets me and has caused great trouble within my family.

I'm just curious as to what you guys (and especially the SEALs and other SOF personnel that visit this board) think about this.

[This message has been edited by socket (edited 05-15-2000).]

[Daredevil]

That's bullshit. You were reading a book with historical value and it may very well have been career research on your part. What a bunch of candyasses your school administrators must be.

I took a class in college called "The History of the Vietnam War" I guess they should cancel it.

You'd also better tell them not to teach about any wars or stuff in history class. They probably don't want students to find out that bad things can happen in the world.

[Mike]

Last year, IIRC, a college student was almost expelled for reading a Tom Clancy book - charge for having a pro-war attitude or something like that. Tell the principal if he has any military relatives. And DOD through Congress passed a bill to force high schools to let military recruiters in or lose federal financial assistance.

[Michael Robertson Moore]

Okay, I know this is going to produce howls of laughter, or worse, but Socket should consider talking to the ACLU. The worst they could do is not take the case.

[Nissan]

Damn man thats rough...Hell I even have teachers that borrow my books..among them are numerous SEAL titles Bravo Two Zero Black Hawk Down and a couple others...I would not have made it outa the 10th grade if I was suspended for reading war books...Pass off a 3.5 for a bomb?! LMAO damn they must have been desperate..sounds like BS to me man..

[socket]

Yeah, it really sucks...Where can you get ahold of the ACLU? Sounds like a good idea to me. As for the college student getting almost expelled for having a "pro war attitude", that's sickening. http://www.specialoperations.com/ubboard/mad.gif

[knight77]

You would be suprised at what school administrators are doing to our future citizens. The media has everyone so scared w/ the actions of a few, that the few civil liberties that kids have are being disregarded. I understand the need for safety, but there must be some common sense appilied to the "Zero tolerence" policies that schools are now implementing. It is getting out of control.

[Swat1]

I'd like to know: What school, does it have a web site, what police department, does it have a web site, and what was the title and author of the book. Maybe you could also post the police report. As a police detective I might be able to help with what they were thinking, however, on the outset it sounds like a bunch of BS to me over a book.

[Michael Robertson Moore]

I'm sure there's an ACLU office in Providence. Try the yellow pages. I think the organization has been going downhill, but there still should be some Nat Hentoff type First Amendment purists who are sick over the sort of abuses going on in schools.

[socket]

Michael - thanks. I'll tell my lawyer about it when I see him next.
Swat1 - I'd rather not post the name of the school, and to my knowledge it does not have a website. The name of the book was "U.S. Special Operations Forces" and it was by numerous people, as there were different sections in the book concerning different units. I'll talk to my lawyer before I answer any of your other questions (no offense intended, it's just that I'm not sure of what he he suggests I should say).

[Michael Robertson Moore]

Good idea, Socket.

For your info:
www.aclu.org/students/sybil.html (http://www.aclu.org/students/sybil.html) www.aclu.org/community/rhode/ri.html (http://www.aclu.org/community/rhode/ri.html)

ACLU Rhode Island
Executive Director: Steve Brown
10 Abbot Park Place, 3rd Floor
Providence, Rhode Island 02903
401-831-7171

[PTFreak]

Originally posted by socket:
Recently I was suspended for 10 days from my school because I had brought a 'silent reading' book to class on the subject of the Navy SEALs and their history and capabilities.
The principal pulled me out of my studies the next class and issued a locker search. They found a 3.5" floppy drive for a computer (I do computer repair/programming/network administration and I had acquired it from a friend) which they tried to pass off as a homemade bomb.
I was then brought to the principal's office where two police officers were there along with the assistant principal, and a psychiatrist. They called my parents and "detained" me for questioning by the police.
All the while I had no idea why they were doing this, but I soon found out later when my dad contacted a lawyer who received the police reports and handed them to me so I could read them. It didn't make sense. All of this because of a book on the Navy SEALs?!

I assume they are doing this because they think the book is a step by step plan on breaking and entering, methodically killing people, and blowing stuff up, for instance, my fellow students. I guess they thought I was going to kill everyone. This deeply upsets me and has caused great trouble within my family.

I'm just curious as to what you guys (and especially the SEALs and other SOF personnel that visit this board) think about this.

[This message has been edited by socket (edited 05-15-2000).]

Socket, you need to ask your dad to hire a good attorney and launch a major lawsuit against the principal and whomever else was responsible for the illegal actions against you. It is a good idea to contact the ACLU also. You should also consider suing the psychiatrist for medical malpractice. At the very least you should have your father file a formal written complaint against that psychiatrist with the Rhode Island State Medical Board...the organisation which issues Medical Doctors their license to practice medicine.


Socket, deny everything and SUE SUE SUE. Have them hung out to dry in court. Maybe even try to make it look like the principal is paranoid and has mental problems...in all honesty it sounds that way to me. Perhaps get your dad to hire a psychiatrist to work with your attorney to say that in a court room...accuse the principal of being excessively paranoid and overreacting and thus question his decision making abilities due to psychological problems. And get a reputable psychiatrist to back you up on it.
Then sue the school system for hiring an incompetent principal who in turn abused you.

I think your principal may have serious psychological problems and has abused you due to his inability to make a correct decision and this should be brought out in public.

[Jims]

Hey, PTFreak, unless you are a lawyer and/or a psychiatrist who knows the specifics of this case I think you should hold off on making any recommendations and especially spouting remarks like: "I think your principal may have serious psychological problems and has abused you due to his inability to make a correct decision".

[PIMguy]

Yeah, Jims, I gotta agree with you. You're over the top, PTFreak. Everyone's jumping all over this but we don't truly know all the facts. And, personally, I have my doubts about this story. Think about it. Every school in America (or most anyway) has computers, no school authority in their right mind would call a 3.5" disk a bomb or else their own teachers and secretaries would be guilty of possession of bombs. The question is, what was on the disk? And about the book, I can see a teacher getting jumpy that a student is reading a gung-ho war related book (I'm not justifying it but I can see it), but my question is what was your (socket's) reaction to them confiscating the book? Did you give them cause for further investigation? Is there something in your past that you haven't revealed? Hey, there's a million questions that need to be answered before we have the right to condemn the principal and the American school system in general. Not that we can't bitch, but the story is lacking in too many details. If you are as innocent as you say and these jack-booted thugs have taken away your civil liberties then there are remedies, and you will prevail in the end. Good luck.

[Mike]

socket, another way is to settled privately. HAving a bad press can reflect on you from people in school (retaliation, etc, etc). Have your parents call the local member of the school board and talk to him/her to mediate. Principals and superintendents are at the mercy of the school board, unlike the board of supervisors in the city/county. Will work wonder if the budget is coming up for review and if the principle wants some more money for his technology project, well, then,....

[swentesky]

That is the biggist bunch of BS i have ever heard if there gonna claim that a disk is a bomb and your getting suspened for ten days is bullshit. I had a problem almost the same at school on day i was forced to talk off my 1st RECON BN shit becuase it said "Marine we never die we just goto hell to regroup" what do you guy think about thati refused because i claimed the shirt had sentamentel value becuase my cusin had given it to me and he had died in the resent RECON HELO accident at sea when the marines were getting ready to fast rope..... but anyways OOO~Rah (when in school check six for those damn teachers)

------------------
Swentesky
CDT USMC

[socket]

jeez. BS? no. sorry for the confusion, i don't think I stated that it was a 3.5" DISK, and it is not a DISK, it is a DISK DRIVE.
Again, sorry for the confusion. And also, this isn't BS, I wouldn't lie about something as serious as this. And it has happened before - kids report you to the principal for having a 'book with guns in it', and are "afraid that you will hurt people" with the issues it deals with in the book (such as counter-terrorist operations, etc) and i bet 6 times out of ten, the kids that report you are just trying to get you in trouble because they don't like you. Thanks for the phone number, Michael, I suggested it to my dad and he told the lawyer.

[socket]

Oh yeah, and Mike - the situation with the superintendant is a little different. He has total control (or at least, he thinks he does...i hope he does) over the district committee (but not the Dept of Education, obviously), he makes threats and says that if they don't vote for him they will be fired, etc. Recently, about 2 years ago, the district committee held an 'emergency' meeting and gave him full superintendant powers, just when his term was running out. they did the same thing just recently. and to top it off, the guy is an arrogant prick. =(

PIMguy - as i said, it wasn't a disk, it was a disk drive, an internal one that I received from a friend and was going to install it on my laptop computer. And about my conduct in the past, I'd say there isn't anything that would give them a justifiable reason to do this, I'm sane (at least I hope so http://www.specialoperations.com/ubboard/wink.gif) and I like to think of myself as a good student. I don't get in fights, etc, and I am not antisocial, I don't listen to satanic music, etc.

[PIMguy]

Very good, Grasshopper Socket,

I was testing to see if you would come back at me like a crazy man, but you handled the test very well. Okay, so I mis-read your original post, I suppose a disk drive could be, on first glance, thought of as a destructive device. Sorry for missing the point. Like I said, since you're sane (or at least you think you are ;~> ) then this should all work out. But that doesn't mean that you won't go through a lot of heart ache before then. It's too bad that this is happening to you. I hope it all works out and, really, good luck.

swentesky: I think it was right that you were made to take off your shirt, it sounds inappropriate for school. I'm sorry about your cousin and I understand your feelings, but I don't think profane shirts should be allowed in schools (hey, hell is just barely profanity, but we're talking school not boot camp). Then again, I'm a proponent of uniforms in schools, so take it for what it's worth. Oh, and swentesky, maybe you shouldn't worry so much about what you're wearing and pay more attention in spelling class. ;~> (put the gun down, lighten up!)

[Michael Robertson Moore]

PIMguy-

You may consider this hairsplitting, but I don't consider "hell" to be profanity in the context of Swetensky's t-shirt. It's a literal place reference, as it would be in a discussion of Dante or the Bible. If the shirt read simply "Go to Hell" you could consider that a curse, but I think this is another example of rules that may be sensible in theory but become ridiculous when enforced by hopelessly literal-minded and, frankly, not terribly bright teachers and administrators.

[Michael Robertson Moore]

PIMguy-

You may consider this hairsplitting, but I don't consider "hell" to be profanity in the context of Swetensky's t-shirt. It's a literal place reference, as it would be in a discussion of Dante or the Bible. If the shirt read simply "Go to Hell" you could consider that a curse, but I think this is another example of rules that may be sensible in theory but become ridiculous when enforced by hopelessly literal-minded and, frankly, not terribly bright teachers and administrators.

[PathfinderJr3325]

All;

I got yanged in HS too. I was XO
of my JROTC det., had a high and
tight, and took German. Now, before
anybody gets off on a rant here, I
am a white, Catholic male of Irish/
German descent who was in
a largely Jewish/Afro-Am.HS.

One day, I was reading a gun magazine
in science class. Next thing I knew,
I was escorted to the school psych's
office, tested there, added to a
"special counselling" group, given a
psych eval at a private psychiatrist
(the results of which I was never given).
I was also accused of being an anti-
semite and white supremecist.

School staff used to harass me too. I
occasionally wore Guinness T-shirts
(cultural, no?)and was told to remove
them, while other students with shirts
bearing profanity, or advertising for
alcohol or tobacco were ignored.

Hang tough-

[This message has been edited by PathfinderJr3325 (edited 05-17-2000).]

[PIMguy]

Mr. Moore,

I can understand your point (although I think you'll find trouble if you bring up the Bible in school nowadays). But if you have rules they should be enforced, and unfortunately someone is usually charged with deciding when to enforce them. Sure, Hell can be taken as a place rather than profanity, just as penis or vagina is a body part just like a leg or arm. But I don't really want elementary school age kids running around with penis or vagina on their shirts. It boils down to a local call, in my opinion, made by local authorities (the school). My advice, just deal with it. Besides, it's good training for the military. You will be made to follow rules in the military that you don't like. How ya gonna handle that? Sorry, this is my last say on this, I know we've gotten way off track here.

[Sethoman]

That is about the most retarted reason for being suspended I have ever heard. My friend got expelled for wearing a Marine Shirt that says "Making men and Winning Battles" and the Marine was carrying a gun. His dad came in and tore my principal a new one.