Specialized2k10

https://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local...ABW_w.facebook

kids sent home for riding their bikes to school

NachoLibre

Wow, that principal sounds like an idiot. She is concerned for their safety, but then sends them back home the way they came likely without the police escort. She also complained about the traffic and disruption to staff members and students arriving late. There is a comment from a person that was in the traffic and said it delayed her an extra 3 minutes. You deserve to be late if you're cutting it so close that 3 minutes is the difference between being on time and late.

I think it was a good idea, and it was smart on their part to involve the police to ensure the safety of such a large group of riders.

adam_mac84

mayor was with them too hahaha... hope he stops signing the principals checks (this school is about 20 min from my home). Glad to see it's gotten some national legs

echotraveler

The students should bring bike bells to graduation... Would be funny "ding ding, ding dong, honk honk"

Specialized2k10

she wasnt complaining about being late. she was just stating that the "traffic jam" it created only cause a 3 min delay on her normal commute. she is actually supporting the actions of the kids.

jfmckenna

Why is it of any concern how a kid gets to school as long as he gets there on time? And if I was a parent I'd be livid at this beauty of a statement:

"If you and your parents don't have sense enough to know your brains could end up splattered on Three Mile and Kinney, Fruit Ridge, then maybe that's my responsibility," Pennington said. "...Get your butts home. You're not participating in senior walk today."

Nanny State principal doing what she thinks is right for every one else kids... lovely.

mprelaw

Most of the parents were along the route, cheering the kids on and taking pictures.

You have to believe that the mayor is going to intervene here and get this suspension off their records. And then maybe have a private chat with the Superintendent, who'll then have the same type of chat with this tight-assed principal. The mayor is running for higher office, too, it seems. He can be a hero here in the eyes of a lot of voters.

wphamilton

What a buffoon. The contempt of an ignorant lout is really hard to swallow.

mprelaw

There's a semi-happy ending to this story. Apparently, the school board happened to be meeting last evening, and what was supposed to be a routine meeting to end the school year turned into something else---irate parents flooded the place and tore into the school administration. The principal wasn't there, so the superintendent took the brunt of the parents' anger. He finally claimed that the only problem that the administration had was "not being informed in advance". This wasn't well received, apparently.

Today, the principal issued a written statement apologizing for her "overreaction", and of course stating that her main concern was their "safety".

Nothing is going on the kids' records about suspensions and they can attend all of the commencement activities.

linus

And kids are learning from this idiot.

jfmckenna

I swear I am so sick of safety this safety that. Safety is a buzz word for trampling on your rights as a citizen. Sorry to get political and don't mean to derail but it's kind of hard to given the topic. Do kids even climb trees anymore or is that outlawed because of safety? Yay life is good it's so much safer now we travel from school to the couch in the safety coach down Safety Lane under safe sky's and a team of safety providers

Colour between the lines or else!

cellery

Principal sounds fat.

Safe, but fat.

banerjek

They are learning that their lives are often in the hands of idiots -- a valuable life lesson.

On an aside note, they just don't make kids the way they used to. Let's just say that when I was in school, no prank would have any chance of getting support from the police or mayor...

pallen

fat is not safe even if it feels safe

rubic

Okay, let's just settle down here. The organizers of this bike to school ride did not notify the school's administration in advanace, big mistake. The principal, being responsible and accountable for her staff and students, was correctly upset at not only the staff's delay to work, but the liability issues. It was her head on the line (CYA). The principal's emotionally immature response could have been avoided if she would have been notified ahead of time, maybe.

KoolAidnPizza

This is in the school district near my summer job- talked to a friend that attends and there "senior prank" was to get a police escort to school. Why this upsets a principal I don't understand. It's a lot less malicious than the pranks that have happened around here in the past. Deffinately rediculous

banerjek

Expecting high school seniors to notify the principal of a prank is ludicrous (this is possibly the lamest and most benevolent prank I've ever heard of). They even had a police escort. The delay was literally just a few minutes -- much less than you'd get from a train, an accident, or a number of other normal traffic conditions.

There is no way the principal can be held accountable for what students do when they are not on school grounds. In any case, if there's any safety argument, how does sending them home make things safer without a cop car and flashing lights? Oh yeah, and while we're at it, let's screw up their futures by hosing their grades. The principal is supposedly a top level administrator who can handle responsibility, and her inappropriate behavior is what caused this mess.

If someone is in the wrong, it's *not* a bunch of teenagers who actually worked with the cops and the mayor just to ride bicycles to school. The kids acted a hell of a lot more like adults than an individual masquerading as one who happens to run the school.

HokuLoa

Sorry, but no. It was a Prank Day "prank" event. It is commonly accepted and assumed that the admin will not be notified. In this case the admin told the students that pranks would not be tolerated which probably factored into their desire to do a positive non-prank event for the day. The notified and had participation from both the Mayor and the Chief of police (ie safety and authorities both completely considered) which the Principle could not have missed. Her safety concerns are complete rubbish given this participation and protection from town officials. What it does seem is that she was miffed about not being in on the "need to know" and as a result she took it out on the kids. They did everything right and she alone acted inappropriately and without justification.

doctor j

This principal appears to be the perfect academic bureaucrat who could be neither charged nor convicted of ever having had an original thought.

patrickgm60

Organized use of energy-saving alternative transportation - yet another example of the decline of our teenagers.

caloso

I'm still having trouble understanding how riding a bike to school could be considered a prank.

RecceDG

https://www.bicycling.com/news/advoca...hnny-cant-ride

DG

banerjek

Be sure to use the ventilated bubble wrap on the kids -- the regular stuff is an asphyxiation hazard.

rpeterson

Yeah, I did this like 5 times a week in high school, didn't realize I was being such an ass.

Rimmer

Lol at the mayor bringing doughnuts to the police.