Sweetwater Red
04-24-2009, 11:18 AM
Doesn't their seem to be a contradiction here? In the
first story the parent wants to be involved and the school board
is telling her no. In the second story the SPD is pleading for the
parents to get more involved. :confused:
http://www.sweetwaterreporter.com/content/view/144165/60/
Superintendent Pittman, Officer Cunningham say no rights were violated
Written by Brian McCormack
Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Recently, a small group of concerned parents have expressed discontent with the way their students were treated by Sweetwater Intermediate School (SIS) faculty members and the Sweetwater Police Department (SPD) officers who were called to assist.
According to the parent who has been the most vocal, Jennifer Williams, her son and some of his classmates were caught rolling up leaves in notebook paper during recess. She said that after the boys were caught, the police were notified and interrogated the kids for nearly two hours. Williams claims that the reason she is upset isn't necessarily because the police were involved, but that she wasn't called until about two hours later. "It really rubbed me the wrong way," she said. "I felt like I had no rights to my son."
SIS principal, Heather Moore, said she decided to call the police as a way to educate the students involved about the dangers of drugs. No arrests were made, and no official investigation was conducted.
Sweetwater Independent School District (SISD) superintendent, Terry Pittman, defends Moore's actions. "Our policy states strictly that the school doesn't have to call the parents before calling the police," he said. "Of course, we always try to call the parents, especially if the police are involved. In this case we did call the parents, but we were dealing with seven different kids."
Williams is asking that a letter be put in her son's file that she be notified before police, should an incident occur in the future. Pittman feels that that request is too difficult to fulfill. "We can't do that," he said. "If a kid is misbehaving, we have to be able to act accordingly, not go call parents before we do anything about it." Pittman also said that the actions involving the police were not in violation of any school policies or laws. "It is not illegal for police to talk to students at school," he remarked. "The police have every right to speak to kids in these situations. No arrests were made, and it was an educational experience. They were very kind and gentle with the kids, nobody was interrogated."
Sam Cunningham, an officer with the SPD, expressed the same feelings when he was asked how the incident was handled. "We (he and Officer Mike McElyea), warned them of the dangers of smoking and smoking marijuana, just like a DARE officer would," he said. "There was no interrogation, nobody was in any criminal trouble. We told them that if they were older and they tried to pass something off as narcotics, there could be criminal charges."
Cunningham said that the officers only spoke to the boys for about 10 minutes and then they left the scene. As for Pittman, he feels that the way the police handled the kids was appropriate for the situation. He said nothing is going into the students' disciplinary files, and that the visit with the officers was punishment enough.
Williams plans to take her grievance to the state level if her request isn't granted. She feels her son is just too young to be dealt with by police without her being present. "My son just turned 11, he doesn't know anything about the law or his rights." The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), has agreed to represent Williams and the other parents in the case.
Under law, the SISD board of trustees has 30 days to issue a response to the concerned parties.
http://www.sweetwaterreporter.com/content/view/144371/1/
SPD to have added presence at high school
Written by Tatiana Rodriguez
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Sweetwater Chief of Police Jim Kelley states that the SPD received a call around 8 a.m. Tuesday morning of a fight that was about to break out at Sweetwater High School. "I was already at the school when we received the call."
School faculty had already stopped the fight when Kelley arrived at the scene. "The fight was a continuation of problems developing last week between several young men at the school. The juveniles were all issues citations for disorderly conduct," said Kelley.
While Chief Kelley was dealing with the young men, a teacher brought another student to him along with a styrofoam cup that the student was drinking from that had a suspicious smell. Kelley stated that when he smelled the contents of the cup, he recognized the smell to be that of an alcoholic beverage. The student had poured "Joose" into the cup. Joose is an alcoholic flavored malt beverage that comes in a 23.5 ounce can that resembles an energy drink. Chief Kelley urges parents to be aware of the alcoholic beverage and where they are obtaining these drinks. Joose can only be bought by those that are 21 years of age and older, just as all alcoholic beverages. Even though Joose looks like an energy drink, it actually contains more alcohol content than most beers. Depending on the flavor of Joose consumed, it can contain from 9.0 to 9.9 percent alcohol content, whereas most beers range from 3.5 percent (Heineken, Amstel Light) to 5.0 percent (Budweiser, Coors Original) alcohol content.
After Chief Kelley had given the juvenile a minor in consumption of alcohol citation, another teacher walked two young men to the office and handed Kelley pills that she had seen the two juveniles exchanging. The pills were determined to be prescription pills for the treatment of ADHD. "These pills are legal is they are prescribed to you, but were not prescribed to the young men who were exchanging them, so that is illegal," said Kelley.
The juvenile who received the pills was arrested for possession of a controlled substance in a drug free zone while the juvenile who gave him the pills was arrested for delivery of a controlled substance in a drug free zone. The juvenile who was prescribed the pills was arrested for manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance in a drug free zone. Since the controlled substance was handled on school grounds (drug free zone) the charges will be enhanced for the juveniles.
"All of this happened between 8 and 9:30 in the morning," said Kelley. "The schools are giving out punishment with suspension and sending kids to HOBBS and doing the best they can before they have to call us, but parents really need to get more involved and talk to their kids," said Kelley. "The police department will have a larger presence at the school."
first story the parent wants to be involved and the school board
is telling her no. In the second story the SPD is pleading for the
parents to get more involved. :confused:
http://www.sweetwaterreporter.com/content/view/144165/60/
Superintendent Pittman, Officer Cunningham say no rights were violated
Written by Brian McCormack
Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Recently, a small group of concerned parents have expressed discontent with the way their students were treated by Sweetwater Intermediate School (SIS) faculty members and the Sweetwater Police Department (SPD) officers who were called to assist.
According to the parent who has been the most vocal, Jennifer Williams, her son and some of his classmates were caught rolling up leaves in notebook paper during recess. She said that after the boys were caught, the police were notified and interrogated the kids for nearly two hours. Williams claims that the reason she is upset isn't necessarily because the police were involved, but that she wasn't called until about two hours later. "It really rubbed me the wrong way," she said. "I felt like I had no rights to my son."
SIS principal, Heather Moore, said she decided to call the police as a way to educate the students involved about the dangers of drugs. No arrests were made, and no official investigation was conducted.
Sweetwater Independent School District (SISD) superintendent, Terry Pittman, defends Moore's actions. "Our policy states strictly that the school doesn't have to call the parents before calling the police," he said. "Of course, we always try to call the parents, especially if the police are involved. In this case we did call the parents, but we were dealing with seven different kids."
Williams is asking that a letter be put in her son's file that she be notified before police, should an incident occur in the future. Pittman feels that that request is too difficult to fulfill. "We can't do that," he said. "If a kid is misbehaving, we have to be able to act accordingly, not go call parents before we do anything about it." Pittman also said that the actions involving the police were not in violation of any school policies or laws. "It is not illegal for police to talk to students at school," he remarked. "The police have every right to speak to kids in these situations. No arrests were made, and it was an educational experience. They were very kind and gentle with the kids, nobody was interrogated."
Sam Cunningham, an officer with the SPD, expressed the same feelings when he was asked how the incident was handled. "We (he and Officer Mike McElyea), warned them of the dangers of smoking and smoking marijuana, just like a DARE officer would," he said. "There was no interrogation, nobody was in any criminal trouble. We told them that if they were older and they tried to pass something off as narcotics, there could be criminal charges."
Cunningham said that the officers only spoke to the boys for about 10 minutes and then they left the scene. As for Pittman, he feels that the way the police handled the kids was appropriate for the situation. He said nothing is going into the students' disciplinary files, and that the visit with the officers was punishment enough.
Williams plans to take her grievance to the state level if her request isn't granted. She feels her son is just too young to be dealt with by police without her being present. "My son just turned 11, he doesn't know anything about the law or his rights." The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), has agreed to represent Williams and the other parents in the case.
Under law, the SISD board of trustees has 30 days to issue a response to the concerned parties.
http://www.sweetwaterreporter.com/content/view/144371/1/
SPD to have added presence at high school
Written by Tatiana Rodriguez
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Sweetwater Chief of Police Jim Kelley states that the SPD received a call around 8 a.m. Tuesday morning of a fight that was about to break out at Sweetwater High School. "I was already at the school when we received the call."
School faculty had already stopped the fight when Kelley arrived at the scene. "The fight was a continuation of problems developing last week between several young men at the school. The juveniles were all issues citations for disorderly conduct," said Kelley.
While Chief Kelley was dealing with the young men, a teacher brought another student to him along with a styrofoam cup that the student was drinking from that had a suspicious smell. Kelley stated that when he smelled the contents of the cup, he recognized the smell to be that of an alcoholic beverage. The student had poured "Joose" into the cup. Joose is an alcoholic flavored malt beverage that comes in a 23.5 ounce can that resembles an energy drink. Chief Kelley urges parents to be aware of the alcoholic beverage and where they are obtaining these drinks. Joose can only be bought by those that are 21 years of age and older, just as all alcoholic beverages. Even though Joose looks like an energy drink, it actually contains more alcohol content than most beers. Depending on the flavor of Joose consumed, it can contain from 9.0 to 9.9 percent alcohol content, whereas most beers range from 3.5 percent (Heineken, Amstel Light) to 5.0 percent (Budweiser, Coors Original) alcohol content.
After Chief Kelley had given the juvenile a minor in consumption of alcohol citation, another teacher walked two young men to the office and handed Kelley pills that she had seen the two juveniles exchanging. The pills were determined to be prescription pills for the treatment of ADHD. "These pills are legal is they are prescribed to you, but were not prescribed to the young men who were exchanging them, so that is illegal," said Kelley.
The juvenile who received the pills was arrested for possession of a controlled substance in a drug free zone while the juvenile who gave him the pills was arrested for delivery of a controlled substance in a drug free zone. The juvenile who was prescribed the pills was arrested for manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance in a drug free zone. Since the controlled substance was handled on school grounds (drug free zone) the charges will be enhanced for the juveniles.
"All of this happened between 8 and 9:30 in the morning," said Kelley. "The schools are giving out punishment with suspension and sending kids to HOBBS and doing the best they can before they have to call us, but parents really need to get more involved and talk to their kids," said Kelley. "The police department will have a larger presence at the school."