May 18, 2005

School Makes Proper Decision

I donÂ’t usually support a school giving a punishment for statements made off school grounds and outside of school hours. But in this case, I think the nexus between a school event, the statement in question, and illegal conduct is such that the punishment is appropriate in this case.

A senior at a Frederick's Governor Thomas Johnson High School has been barred from attending her prom this Saturday because she told a newspaper she planned to drink alcohol on prom night.

Shawnda Lawson, 18, told The Frederick News-Post earlier this month that she had refused to sign a pledge that she wouldn't drink -- and she told the paper she likes drinking.

After the story was published, Lawson said she was told by her principal she was banned from the prom and told she was an embarrassment to the school.

County schools spokeswoman Marita Loose said school dances are a privilege, not a right.

Another student, Nicole Taylor, also told the newspaper she planned to drink on prom night. There is no word if she also faces punishment.

We lost a girl from my school several years ago when a drunk hit her boyfriend’s car on the way to his prom. We had several students injured – including one with a broken neck that could have left her paralyzed – in a wreck on the Galveston Causeway the year before that, but alcohol was not a factor. In reality, we have managed to dodge the tragedy of a car full of kids dying in a fiery wreck after getting liquored up. But when it is our turn to face such a prom tragedy, it will be the school (not the parents) that everyone expects to put a stop to the drinking – despite the fact that kids are searched by constables going in to prom and cannot leave the cordoned-off area of the hotel during the dance.

Therefore, I think this is a good, proportionate response to the statement made by Ms. Lawson to the newspaper. She may go out and get loaded, but no one will be able to complain that the school “should have done something”.

Posted by: Greg at 12:21 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 Conduct should be regulated and, if necessary, punished because it runs afoul of some regulation/law. Speech should not be punished absent a claim that it poses some imminent threat to public safety. Drunken behavior should be punished; speech about what one plans to do at some point in the future should not. No matter who dislikes what is said.

Posted by: JohnG at Wed May 18 15:26:06 2005 (ywZa8)

2 John, I agree. This is punishment against an 18 year for what she said she would do...drink. Not "drink and drive." It'd been better to keep an eye on her and the first sign of alcohol on her breath at the prom, get the breathlyzier out.

Posted by: mcconnell at Wed May 18 17:31:31 2005 (AbJW2)

3 Still, announcing a plan to engage in criminal conduct at the prom sounds like reason enough to ban her -- and I say that as someone who has a pretty expansive view of student rights.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Wed May 18 22:47:32 2005 (wF55+)

4 Stupid as she was, I don't think it was the school's business to punish her on a comment on an action she never committed even though there may have been an intent on her part to drink alcohol on prom night. The thing is, this was not a threat to life (other than possibly hers) or the destruction of property that she was intent on. Just drink on prom night.

It's the school's right to say whether a person can go or not to the prom which is a priviledge, however.

Would it have been any different if she didn't say she was going to drink on prom night? And let the newspaper know that she refused to sign the pledge instead? Not signing the pledge on not to drink on prom night is almost the same as announcing you're planning to drink on prom night.

At least she was honest about this, although mightly stupid about drinking alcohol on any occasions. No need to drink alcohol. None.




Posted by: mcconnell at Thu May 19 03:04:42 2005 (d7On1)

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