Another Laughable School Detention

[Scratchy]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/03/14/state/n051307D84.DTL
A 15-year-old girl who stopped her out-of-control school bus was hit with a Saturday detention because she was supposed to be in class when the accident happened.

Marina High School student Amanda Rouse was on a bus with 40 elementary school students Wednesday morning when the driver fell out of her seat after a turn and hit her head.

Rouse jumped up and applied the brakes, bringing the bus to a halt after striking two parked cars. No one was injured.

But Rouse said she was punished because she wasn't supposed to be on the bus in the first place.

Rouse said she fell ill on the way to school, but instead of calling in sick, she asked the bus driver for a lift back to the bus yard before the accident happened. She must attend Saturday school as punishment for failing to call in sick that day.

"She is in trouble with school because she made the wrong decision," said Rouse's grandmother, Sally Correll. "But I can't help but believe that she was where God wanted her to be."

A spokesperson for the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District could not immediately be reached Saturday.

[okami1]

Absurd.

Save a busload of elementary school kids. Go to detention.

That's the law.

[Scratchy]

I'm just surprised they didn't give her a citation for driving without a license...

[Sigi]

Most people have realy hard times thinking outside the box. Instead of a feel good story, it now has an idiotic twist.

[MADdog58]

The same could be said for many of these head-shakers that we hear about these days, but: What ever happened to the concept of "spirit of the law" ?

[Scratchy]

I'd say somebody took ole' spirit out back and shot him.

[Mrswildweasel]

I'd say somebody took ole' spirit out back and shot him.
I think I would have to agree with you on that one. I am just so glad mine is raised and I no longer have to deal with the idiotic things they are coming up with these days.

[Pickpocket]

Regardless of her actions, she had to pay the bill for the decision to skip in the first place. Yes, she did an awesome job saving that bus...good on her.
However, that doesn't absolve her of her previous poor decisions - because she didn't get on that bus for the sole purpose of saving it.

It's a lesson that I try to teach my kids every day - that the decisions you make come with prices that you will eventually have to pay. This story isn't about a girl getting punished for saving a bus full of kids. She got punished because there are consequences for skipping school. That she happened to be in the right place at the right time later in the morning and saved a bus-load of kids from either a fiery death or extended group therapy sessions has nothing to do with her getting detention.

To keep things in perspective, she needs to be publicly acknowledged for her actions - because she took action in a dangerous situation. However, detention for skipping school should remind her (and others) that you don't get a free pass just because you do something good.

The two issues are completely separate, and we need to stop connecting them together.

[Scratchy]

But if saving a bus load of fellow kids got me out of detention I would have done it a hell of a lot more often.. :D