A local junior high school student is suspended from school after writing “I Love Jesus” on his backpack.
His mother wants to know why.
His principal said it’s not as simple as the boy and his mother say.
The buzz Friday at Actis Junior High School is about Justin Molatore, sent home after he refused to leave his backpack in the school’s office.
Molatore said it’s because of the principal, but the school won’t budge.
Three words written by Molatore’s brother on his backpack days before the brother was sent overseas in the military, they read “I Love Jesus.”
But it’s those words that are causing the eighth grader to miss two days of class.
Actis Principal Bill Galloway said all writing is prohibited so covert messages don’t get through.
“They could be making a reference to drugs or gangs in a slang that we’re not aware of so that’s why we just keep it to the names,” said Galloway.
The Bakersfield City School District said they do allow writing on clothing and supplies that is appropriate for school.
You can find the school’s completely lame website here. Unlike websites for most schools, there are no pictures of the school grounds or of the principal. And this picture is about as lame as possible:
Sorry #16, but it seems like the district policy allows writing on packs – the school’s policy is more strict, according to the principal .
A rule is a rule – to break the rule, even on principle, can result in two things – the rule can be rescinded or the rule breaker can face the consequences.
Is it likely that the student set out to break the rule on principle (which I don’t disagree with) and wrote the most agreeable thing he could think of on his pack just so the story would come out in his favor?
Still, if the principal is on the level, he was obligated to suspend the student. It would be unfair to allow religious speech on packs but not other kinds of speech.
My position, of course, assumes that the principal is not simply making shit up as he goes along.
20. “My position, of course, assumes that the principal is not simply making shit up as he goes along.”
I assume he is. He did something stupid, so he made up a strict rule to back it up. No doubt he’ll back down in a few days and call it a misunderstanding of district policy, or some other lame excuse.
#20, Sorry #16, but it seems like the district policy allows writing on packs – the school’s policy is more strict, according to the principal .
What if the message was aimed at another Mexican American he was (ahem) very fond of? I Love Jesus Garcia might not have the same impact. What if the message was I love Mary? Or Susan? Or whatever. The point is the Board Policy does allow some writing on his “supplies”.
A rule is a rule – to break the rule, even on principle, can result in two things – the rule can be rescinded or the rule breaker can face the consequences.
The Supreme Court has ruled that as long as the message in not disruptive then the message may not be hindered. There were no reported complaints from any students. Looks to me like the Principal broke a rule here.
The stupid thing will be if this drags out then the school will have to pay. There goes another teaching position or ten to pay for the settlement.
Is anyone surprised this came from California? The same state that bans firearm magazines that hold more than 10 rounds (so just carry more clips, dummy)?
Should 1861 repeat itself and California secedes from the US, I don’t think you’ll hear anyone crying.
Times sure have changed. Ten years ago when I was in high school we would have ripped off his backpack and said “I FOUND JESUS!”
He should not wear that backpack in public, it may offend muslims. Specially, extremist muslims.
Only if he’s in Malaysia and renounces Islam. Then, he’s screwed.
I know allot of atheists on this board flat out hate any religion, and consider anyone practices said religions stupid, but even you guys should be scared by this. Once you start denying people the right to express their religion, you are only a few steps to have a religion forced on you.
Sure in the grand scheme of things, this is a small thing, but enough small cracks can bring down the strongest building.
#27 – I think you missed my first comment on this topic (see #4). You and I agree completely, but with one exception: I think that most atheists honestly don’t give a rat’s ass if a kid’s wearing a backpack that expresses his faith. Honestly, I commend him for having faith in something that gives his life some sort of meaning, even though I don’t follow with his beliefs.
#22, Free speech rights allow students to express themselves on campus orally and in writing – in leaflets or on buttons, armbands or T-shirts. Dress codes, which in this case apply to writing on the student’s self, clothing or backpacks. According to the ACLU, dress codes will likely be upheld by courts unless they are found to be discriminatory or unreasonable. So, it doesn’t seem as if the principal has broken any rules – with one possible exception which I’ll detail later.
Also of note according to this follow-up article (http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/98158.html), is that the principal followed his policies own due process that has increasing penalties ranging from a verbal warning to suspension ultimately.
Okay, back to the principal. The California Election Codes states that “School districts operating one or more high schools and private secondary schools shall not make or enforce any rule subjecting any high school pupil to disciplinary sanctions solely on the basis of conduct that is speech or other communication that, when engaged in outside of the campus, is protected from governmental restriction by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or Section 2 of Article 1 of the California Constitution.”
This may or may not apply to middle school dress codes. I’m inclined to say that it does not. It seems like schools have a broad authority to enact and enforce dress codes.
So, I still think that this story is probably a non-story. A student violated a legal dress code and is punished for it.
Oops.. I’m #27. My message was to #28.
What if the backpack said, “I Love Math”? Would the principal have been worried about students who prefer History being offended?
It’s truly amazing what crap schools put our children through these days..all in the name of “protecting” them. Prepare them for LIFE, not some fairytale where no one ever says anything that you disagree with.
The kid is obviously a homosexual necropheliac and needs to see a shrink.
#2
Agreed.
28. “I know allot of atheists on this board flat out hate any religion, and consider anyone practices said religions stupid, but even you guys should be scared by this.”
Yep, I’m one of those atheists and I agree this was totally wrong. That’s why I posted it in the first place. I find it outrageous.
So the kid knows that any and all writing of messages on backpacks is against the rules, yet goes ahead and does it anyway? Writing something obviously that is going to get press when he gets busted? Sounds like this kid is an attention whoring little brat who deserved what he got. I wonder when the lawsuit comes down from the kid’s money grubbing parents?
30 Free speech doesn’t guarantee any of those things…perhaps you should read up some. It does protect you from going to jail for saying what you want. The school has a rule in place, the kid knew the rule, the kid broke the rule. End of story.
Mac-
enough with the California jokes…what does banning assault rifles with ridiculously sized clips have to do with this story? Nobody needs that kind of weaponry, especially nutjobs like YOU. Let me guess, you live in Florida?
36, Free speech actually does protect students from being punished for expressing themselves at public schools. I don’t say so, the US Supreme Court says so – and they said so in 1969. Perhaps, you should read up some. http://laws.findlaw.com/us/393/503.html
Still, we’re in agreement that schools have the authority to enact and enforce dress codes and the principal acted fairly in this matter.
#25 Times sure have changed. Ten years ago when I was in high school we would have ripped off his backpack and said “I FOUND JESUS!”
LOL. Hell ya!
#30 – You lost me, Adam. The state says if speech is protected under the First Amendment outside the school, it must not be restricted inside the school. A noninflammatory religious statement certainly would qualify as protected speech. Leaving aside the “he might pass secret messages” paranoid nonsense, why would this rule not protect the kid who loves Jesus?
Incidentally, I follow the Flying Spaghetti Monster religion, if I must have one at all. If someone proves it’s wrong, then I’m with George Carlin. #28 – If you think atheists are against freedom of personal (as opposed to tax-supported institutional) religious expression, you need pay more attention to reality and less to the propaganda mills.
boys! boys!
The message could have been “I f*cked Jesus and Mary, too” and the problem is the same. If the rule is “no writing, aside from you dork name” on the backpack, then….the rule is clear. DON’T WRITE ON YOUR BACKPACK, IDIOT!
It doesn’t matter if you love jesus, hate jesus, don’t know who jesus is, don’t care, whatever.The problem is the wanton disregard of the rules. The fact that it was an obvious, common, and another fine example of the all too frequent preoccupation of the shoving-down-everyone’s-throat-type of message to proclaim the child’s obvious indoctrination to a fad religious movement that requires the statement of religious fervor at every inane opportunity, is the issue. It was to break the rule, and, THEN make a fuss, be outraged because the message was good, so why can’t they break the law, in the name of good, because, as everyone knows … there are no laws or rules to be upheld if it’s in the name of Christ. Right?
Well, that’s how I see it.
Suspend the kid. He’s being a jerk. He broke the rules. Anyway, if he were a really a good Christian child, wouldn’t he be at home in deep study with BJU homeschool materials?