Page 4
Frank Harmeier - Father of 10-year-old Casey Harmeier, a Tomball ISD 5th grader who was an honor roll student and was selected as his school’s citizen of the month. Mr. Harmeier found his son ensnared in zero tolerance laws when someone pulled a fire alarm at Beckendorf Intermediate School. Casey thought he had done it and confessed.
The principal, without calling his parents, had Casey hauled off to the police station, where he was fingerprinted, photographed, questioned about gang affiliations and charged with a felony.
It was later determined that Casey had only removed the cover of the fire alarm and had not pulled the actual fire alarm. Turns out a school official actually set the fire alarm off when they went to investigate what had happened. The criminal charges against Casey were dropped. No matter Casey still had been punished by his school district as if he were a fiendish criminal. Casey was sent to alternative school (DAEP) for 3 weeks.
Casey was so traumatized by his treatment by his school district that he required weekly psychological visits to a counselor to try to undo the damage this incident inflicted upon him.
To his credit in 2007 Frank Harmeier and his wife created a web site called The Voice of Truth. The web site is designed to help parents who find their children facing the wrath of Texas’s zero tolerance laws. Frank and his wife have both personally helped many Texas parents in appealing their child’s disciplinary placement.
Kurt Lane – Kurt Lane's faith in the Alvin Independent School District crumbled when his 15-year-old twin sons, who had no prior history of discipline problems, were treated like criminals and received citations for Class C misdemeanors in unrelated incidents on the same day, one for using profanity and the other for engaging in horseplay with a classmate.
In both of his son’s cases Mr. Lane received letters from the office of the Justice of the Peace for Brazoria County, stating when he and his sons were to appear before him and that also included a statement that if Mr. Lane and his sons failed to appear that he could be arrested. Kurt told the son that had used profanity to plead however he felt comfortable. His son said he did say a bad word so he pled guilty. Mr. Lane’s son received 20 hours community service, a $52 fine and 6 months probation with the threat if he were returned to that courtroom during his probation for any other offense he could possibly be led from the courtroom in handcuffs and taken to Juvenile Detention.
Kurt told the son that was charged for the horseplay incident to plead however he felt comfortable as well. His son pled not guilty. When appearing before the justice of the peace Mr. Lane and his son were told they would have to return to court on a different date for another hearing, and if an agreement was not reached then a full-blown jury trial would take place. Upon returning to the court on their next appointed date Mr. Lane and his son spoke with the Brazoria County DA. The DA listened to Mr. Lane’s son’s explanation of what happened and then threw out the charges.
Theresa Hock – Mother of 15-year-old Brandon Kivi, a Conroe ISD Caney Creek High School freshman who was arrested and had to withdraw from school for saving his girlfriend’s life by allowing her to use his asthma inhaler after his girlfriend had an asthma attack at school. Brandon had asthma just like his girlfriend did and both used the exact same type of Albuterol asthma inhaler. The day of the incident Brandon’s girlfriend forgot and left her inhaler at home. Brandon’s girlfriend suffered an asthma attack. Brandon allowed his girlfriend to use his inhaler then his girlfriend went to the high school nurse’s office. Nothing happened to Brandon the day he allowed his girlfriend to use his asthma inhaler. However the next day at school would be a different story.
The next day when Conroe ISD school officials found out that Brandon had allowed his girlfriend to use his asthma inhaler “they pulled him out of science class and took him to Juvenile," says Kivi's mother, Theresa Hock, who was very angered by the actions taken by the Conroe Independent School District (CISD) in the case, which was to arrest Kivi and detain him at the Montgomery County Juvenile Detention Center, charging him with Delivery of a Dangerous Drug on School Property--a felony offense.
"I didn't even know he had been arrested and taken down to the jail," says Theresa Hock. "I figured it out when he didn't come home and I started calling around looking for him."
CISD policy calls for mandatory expulsion of a student who commits a felony. Since Albuterol is listed by the State of Texas as a dangerous drug, Kivi found himself on the hot seat--and briefly behind bars.
Instead of allowing Conroe ISD to expel her son Brandon’s mom withdrew her son from school and home schooled after the incident. Ms. Hock found it ironic that this kind of trouble found a boy like Brandon Kivi, who wants to someday be a police officer. He's a good boy according to his mother.
In a show of support for Brandon, Andra Ferguson, the girlfriend who was not disciplined in the incident, also decided to withdraw from Caney Creek High School and be home schooled. Of the act that got Kivi in all this hot water, Ferguson told media outlets that what Kivi did "made a big difference. It did save my life. It was a Good Samaritan act.”
Has "zero tolerance" backfired on our children? Is it really necessary to punish a child for a humanitarian act in the same manner you would a student who has introduced an illicit drug in a school setting?
Was zero tolerance really created to keep kids from popping an Advil or a Midol between classes? Was zero tolerance designed to bully students with legitimate medical ailments?
Did the Brandon Kivi case really have to be pushed so far by CISD? While state law mandates that the school nurse did the right thing by reporting the incident, the bottom line is this: did CISD go too far in the pursuit of punishment in this incident?
"The really frustrating thing about this situation," says the principal of Caney Creek High School Greg Poole, "is that our hands are somewhat tied. A violation of our drug policy occurred and it was handled through the system. Albuterol has been deemed a dangerous drug by the state and Brandon Kivi gave that drug to someone.
"This thing really made Brandon a wreck," says Theresa Hock, "and he feels really bad, like he really is a criminal and did something wrong. It's been hard on his self-esteem. He could never go back to that school again.
The charges against Brandon Kivi were dropped.
Theresa Hock wondered “Would Conroe ISD had wanted Andra to have died rather than my son to help her?"
Good question.
