Rocklin (Calif.) High suspends 15yo boy for 'i love boobies' wristband

Source: Sacramento Bee

... (Hunter) Cooper, the Rocklin High student, was sitting on a bench in his physical education class with a female friend when a teacher asked them to take off their bracelets or "fight their cause" at the principal's office. They chose the latter.

"When I was asked to turn in my bracelet, I took it off, told them I would not wear it and put it in my backpack," said Cooper, who got the wristband from his mother, Danielle. "They told me to take it out and give it to them. That's when I started to ask questions and told them no."

The P.E. teacher and principal told Cooper the bracelet was demeaning to women and girls and that other staff members had complained.

"I asked them, 'If girls feel that way, then why are so many of them wearing the bracelets as well?' I didn't get an answer," he said. "I was told I was being defiant and given suspension."

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/09/06/3007914/rocklin-high-suspends-boy-for.html

island? The blue-footed boobies?

"Not a fan of the ladies, Trebek?"

There's hope for that lad.

Asking a question that they can't answer without looking like total morans..

right, or the intended reasons. One girl in the article got it right when she said that many of the kids are wearing them because it is a fad. Some of the boys are wearing the bracelets because they have the word "boobies" on them. They can chortle and behave immaturely and then act all injured and innocent when anyone questions their behavior. After all, they are supporting breast cancer patients.

Some of the breast cancer survivors on the staff of the school felt demeaned by the bracelets.

The school administrators made a difficult decision. Sometimes administrators have to do that. It was a judgment call. No matter which way they decided, someone was going to squawk about it, and maybe write a newspaper article, too.

Maybe they should have a dance or a picnic where everyone pays an admission fee and turns in a bracelet. They can do something humorous or something meaningful with the bracelets, and turn the money over to breast cancer causes. Staff, students and families can come together over the cause. Then everyone can move on.

If the kid had just handed it over it would have been done with.

Our school is ignoring them, realizing it's a fad and that it will probably be over by Thanksgiving. At least I think that's what's going on - no has said anything officially. I hope it stays this way - we have enough to worry about.

What monsters.

And the school had no right to press him after he agreed to take the damn thing off.

His wristband qualifies as speech, and only "disruptive" speech can be banned on school grounds. As the ACLU rep in the article points out, the bar is pretty high on that. "Some people don't like it" doesn't qualify.

And even if it did, he immediately took the wristband off and put it away when an objection was raised. He responded appropriately. Unless the school can show that the wristband was either illegal or presented a risk to the safety and order of the school, they didn't have a right to seize it. A school cannot simply seize random items from students without cause.

I'd sue to have the suspension stricken, and then demand financial damages sufficient to cover supplementary private education to account for the lost learning hours he was blocked from attending, and compensation for lost time spent attending that school. Nothing enormous, but this should be at least a five figure fuckup.