Friendswood ISD
INCIDENT:
January 2006. Before Christmas, an upper classman brought an alarm clock and put it in the ceiling tiles of the Spanish classroom. The alarm clock went off during class and everyone, including the teacher, got a laugh. She thanked whoever did it for the early Christmas present and went back to teaching. Unfortunately, my son thought it would be funny to do the same thing in his math class. He thought she would think it was the phone ringing or something. When the clock went off, the teacher reacted by clearing the classroom.
FISD RESPONSE:
My son admitted to his assistant principle that he had done it as a prank and only thought it would be a joke because it had been before. The assistant principal proceeded to call my son a terrorist, accused him of trying to blow up the school, and kept walking around him while he sat in a chair scared to death. The principal then grabbed a picture of his children and shoved it in my son's face and said, "Look at these kids - they could have been without a father."
My son NEVER said anything about a bomb or wrote a note or made a threat.
An ISD police officer said he couldn't do anything legally but to write him a ticket for disorderly conduct. Even the assistant principle said he couldn't find anything right away in the student code of conduct but would review it over the weekend. The following Monday, my wife and I were called to come to school. They then told me he was going to be sent to alternative school for 9 weeks. It was considered Class 2 offense to commit harm to himself or another student.
COMMENTS:
Our son has NEVER been in trouble before. He is working on Eagle Scout and an excellent student. Another vice principle said she didn't believe he would do something like that, as she had him in 7th grade. The associate principal said he did not buy that he thought my son would think it was the bell or phone, and proceeded to tell his what our son's INTENT was without ever even talking to our son.
