What is it about Texas and its punishment fetish? It’s true. Texas is a laughingstock for its extremism in punishment. Texas was the first state to carry out an execution after the Supreme Court lifted the ban in Gregg v. Georgia. Texas leads the country in capital punishment.
So why the surprise that, Shelby Sendelbach, a 12-year old 7th grader attending middle school in Katy ISD, was given a sentence of 4 months in an Alternative School for writing “I Love Alex” on the school’s gymnasium wall? “Alternative School” is where they put the real discipline cases. It can’t be called a “School” per se because there is no learning taking place there. Believe me, I know.
In deciding the punishment the district went along with the idea that putting graffiti on school property was a felonious offense, even though the Harris County DA was not going to press felony charges. Any felony, according to the district discipline plan was a Level 4 offense, akin to terrorism, sexual assault and arson.
Now, after getting some pretty bad press the district is backpedaling and we can expect a lighter sentence to be handed down. Shelby’s parents were “pushing to get the punishment reduced because they don't believe the district took into account her clean disciplinary record, lack of criminal intent and the fact that she has a learning disability.”
Whoa.
Shelby’s parents are pulling out all the stops. They left it last in the list, but now we know that Shelby is LD. Anyone who has worked in the field of education knows that having that tag on your school records makes the matter another affair altogether. The fact that they mention it in the press lets you know that this will be a no-holds-barred get down and dirty Texas-sized brawl. Being LD is by no means a get out of jail free card, although I’ve heard of it played that way. But it puts more of a burden on the district to prove that it has done everything it can to be as fair as possible.
And clearly, they haven’t.
Clearly they threw the book at the little girl.
It at first seems ironic that this matter comes to Katy. In researching this story I came across an old website that was put up by the Katy Zero Tolerance group that lobbied for passage of HB 603, passed unanimously in both houses of the 79th legislature.
I guess they had issues with this kind of thing before.
So why the surprise that, Shelby Sendelbach, a 12-year old 7th grader attending middle school in Katy ISD, was given a sentence of 4 months in an Alternative School for writing “I Love Alex” on the school’s gymnasium wall? “Alternative School” is where they put the real discipline cases. It can’t be called a “School” per se because there is no learning taking place there. Believe me, I know.
In deciding the punishment the district went along with the idea that putting graffiti on school property was a felonious offense, even though the Harris County DA was not going to press felony charges. Any felony, according to the district discipline plan was a Level 4 offense, akin to terrorism, sexual assault and arson.
Now, after getting some pretty bad press the district is backpedaling and we can expect a lighter sentence to be handed down. Shelby’s parents were “pushing to get the punishment reduced because they don't believe the district took into account her clean disciplinary record, lack of criminal intent and the fact that she has a learning disability.”
Whoa.
Shelby’s parents are pulling out all the stops. They left it last in the list, but now we know that Shelby is LD. Anyone who has worked in the field of education knows that having that tag on your school records makes the matter another affair altogether. The fact that they mention it in the press lets you know that this will be a no-holds-barred get down and dirty Texas-sized brawl. Being LD is by no means a get out of jail free card, although I’ve heard of it played that way. But it puts more of a burden on the district to prove that it has done everything it can to be as fair as possible.
And clearly, they haven’t.
Clearly they threw the book at the little girl.
It at first seems ironic that this matter comes to Katy. In researching this story I came across an old website that was put up by the Katy Zero Tolerance group that lobbied for passage of HB 603, passed unanimously in both houses of the 79th legislature.
I guess they had issues with this kind of thing before.
