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Student Suspended Over "One Word"
A North Posey student scribbled the mother of all swear words on a survey at school.
He says it's free speech.
Now he's going to have a couple of days to sit at home and think about it.
Administrators say Richard Karns was treated just like any other who violated the school's rules.
But Karns says the school violated his trust.
The suspension was handed down Friday-- when he wrote the "F" word on a tobacco survey.
The student insists he was simply using his freedom of speech and was told the survey was 100 percent anonymous-- but administrators tell a different story.
"They said it's totally anonymous she reiterated it 2 or 3 times at least- she said answer honestly because it's anonymous and you won't get in trouble," Karns said.
North Posey's principal said Karns raised red flags when the counselor administering the survey noticed he was writing on it instead of marking the answers like the other students. Administrators say Karns was suspended for what administrators called extreme vulgarity.
"The punishment was too severe shouldn't have been any punishment because they shouldn't have read it," Karns said.
The survey was from the Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Board-- and the school participated to receive $500 grant.
School officials say the survey's results were confidential - but the student in this case went beyond what he was required to do for the survey.
"Obviously that one word was you know I could of used a better word but still freedom of speech and it didn't harm anybody it wasn't threatening so I didn't see a problem with it."
Karns says he isn't a perfect student and he was suspended last year for fighting.
He admits if he said what he wrote aloud-- in front of other students he could understand the suspension-- but he insists two days is too harsh.
http://tristatehomepage.com/fulltext/?nxd_id=226187
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Posted in: News on December 28, 2010 @ 8:03 PM
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People who get offended over one word... It's like the boy who cried wolf: people say "fuck" so much that it no longer has meaning.
Kids shouldn't swear because the words are meaningless. Parents/teachers tell them not to swear because it's somehow offensive/unholy. Wrong way of doing it.
Fuck. There. I said it. And look, the world hasn't ended. i know the word is nasty, but please, grow up and take it like an adult.
Everyone has a right to free speech except when it's offensive. This student definitely crossed the line and deserved his punishment.
Riiiigggghhhhttt.... because obviously, he didn't have his privacy revoked.
sad
that word is offensive....BUT HE DIDNT SAY/WRITE IT DIRECTLY TWARDS ANYONE!! THERES NO REASON TO SUSPEND HIM! ALSO...THEY LOOKED!! ITS THEIR FAULT FOR LOOKING!!!
That's total bullsh**. This kid had every right. It wasn't offensive. If you're offended by a single meaningless word, you may be the offensive one.
Who cares if he wrote a word... Its a word its not directed towards anybody so why suspend him its called FREEDOM OF SPEECH!!! plus it was an anomonyous (srry for the bad grammar) so it wasnt even suposed to be viewed
its called PRIVACY!!!!!!!!!