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Ok heres something ive been thinking about often, as they keep discussing this on the radio here everyday. Heres a video link to the story:

In a nutshell, 5 students from a local high school here in Michigan posted a bunch of pictures on a MySpace account that had them sitting at a table with guns, drugs and money surrounding them. There were various other pictures including one of these kids in a rented limosine at a school dance also holding what looks like a gun and drugs. They claim the drugs and guns were not real.

The school system, claiming that such objects, real or simulated, are not allowed on school premises immediately expelled and suspended the students.

The parents of these kids are now suing the school and admitnistrative school system because their children "did no wrong" as the kids were taking the pictures for a "rap" album and have commited no crime to be expelled for.

So my question is....who is in the wrong or right in this situation? Did the school have the right to expell these kids? Is there a fine line on what should be allowed and not allowed? What do you think???

Wow...kids these days.

I think they absolutely did the right thing by expelling those kids. They have a responsibility to keep the students safe and you know the saying, " a picture is worth a thousand words."

Those kids might think that they have done nothing wrong, but they are minors and everything that they portrayed in the pictures wether "real"or not is illegal. With all the school violence now days, they should have known better and definately should be held accountable. Just like when you get a bomb threat or anythreat of violence you treat it as real and act accordingly and intervene...not wait until the actual crime has been committed.

While it makes my blood boil when a school system expells a student for having a safety pin or tiny GI Joe toy, they did just the right thing here.

it doesn't matter to me one bit if the guns and drugs were fake or not. these kids were promoting drugs and guns on school grounds and that is against the rules.

i am getting sick to death of parents sueing everyone when they have to know the kids are wrong. Maybe if they would put half that effort into raising their children right this might not have happend.

did not watch the video - but I think the school did what was right. violence in the school systems has gotten terrible & most of the kids that shoot these schools up never say much to anyone abt it b4hand...so, by all means, if they see kids show violent images (real or not) they should be punished

Does it make a difference that the parents are claiming that the pictures didn't come from school grounds?? That they "fake" drugs, guns and money were not on school property?

The school board is claiming that the picture of the kids in the limosine which was taken from a school dance to their homes proves these objects, fake or not, were on the school premesis.

Does anyone think it matters where the pictures were taken and for what reason.

By the way the pictures on the myspace page are still up!!!

hmmmmmm - I dunno...I really do not think it would matter much to the school. & I don't think it should...I'm not saying that schools should controll the kids 24/7 - but with everything that happens in schools, it has to start somewhere

what is the link for the pics??

& I think a million dollars is a little much to ask for in the lawsuit

while i was hopeing for a hug saturday beth, i'm gonna take a chance on a smack upside the head and answer this........

first how do we know the guns and drugs were fake? i'm not sure i would take the word of a parent who would let their kids do this kind of thing, record promoting or not. And under the laws of most states it doesn't matter if its fake or not. the law sees the items as real.

If they had the items in the limo then yes they had them on school grounds when the limo droped off and picked up the students. Might seem like a nit picky law but its there for a reason. Yikes another PC thing. And yes thats what zero tolerance laws are, a PC reaction.

now at the risk of really getting slammed here, what would the reaction have been if this had been a group of white kids in the limo holding nooses? some conduct just can't be aloud, on or off school grounds. i think promoting a drug and gun lifestyle is one of those things.

I think expulsion was a little extreme. A suspension would have sufficed. It doesn't sound like these are awful kids, just misguided. A little guidance would go a lot further than complete ostracism (sp?).

On a related (somewhat) note. My 15 year old cousin recently added me on facebook. In her photos are multiple alcohol shots with her and her friends obviously drinking and one photo of a boy holding what appears to be a hand gun (I'm stupid and it could be a pellet gun or anything, I dunno). Should I be telling my aunt and uncle about this or should I mind my own dang business???

i will say kicking them out of school was a big over reaction. But the telling point here is these young people can still go to a school in the area but can't find one that will take them now.

we had a case here a couple of years ago. some boy had gone hunting with his friends over the weekened and left his gun in the gunrack in the truck. Someone saw it and the same thing happend here that happened up there.

but the reaction was far different. not only did the young man admit he was wrong, so did his parents. all went before the school board and said they were sorry and the young man ended up going to a alt school for 90 days. and before this becomes a race thing, this child was black also.

what could these parents be thinking? in this day and age a fake gun can get you killed just as fast as a real one. and if the limo had been stopped the drugs fake or not would have gotten these kids arrested and convicted.

i know these kids have rights as do their parents. but what about my right to have my child attend a school where they don't have to fear being shot? where they don't have drugs around them? what about my right to speak out against promoteing guns and drugs?

Judge: Expelled Teens Can Return To School

POSTED: 5:38 pm EST November 9, 2007

UPDATED: 7:06 pm EST November 27, 2007

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VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- A Wayne County circuit court judge ruled on Tuesday four Belleville High teens expelled over their MySpace pages must be reinstated to school.

The judge ruled that the Van Buren school district did not follow due process in the expulsion.

The judge told the school board they have until Friday to hold another hearing. The new hearing must be on record, either with an official stenographer or videotaped.

The students will return to an alternative school setting immediately. If the school does not decide to hold another hearing, the students will be enrolled as regular students by Monday.

Van Buren Public Schools Superintendent Pete Lazaroff said he will recommend the school board hold another hearing.

The school district banned the students for the rest of the school year earlier this month because of photos on MySpace that show what appear to be guns, narcotics and piles of cash.

Van Buren police said the firearms were replica weapons.

Four of the students have filed a lawsuit, alleging the district violated their constitutional rights.

The students' attorney, Cliff Woodwards, said he filed a lawsuit against the school for reinstatement of the students and damages of $1 million to each student.

The superintendent said the photos shown on MySpace.com were taken after a limo picked the students up from a school dance. He said he thinks the students had weapons at the homecoming dance.

The students said the pictures were taken “off school grounds�?and that the guns were fake. The pictures were intended to be for a rap CD they made for MySpace.com.

Lazaroff said the students bragged they were members of a gang. He said there are grounds for discipline whether the guns were real or fake.

Woodwards told Local 4 that the school district said the students were able to enroll in any other school in the district. However, he said no other schools will accept the students.

Parents testified in the judge’s chamber on how impossible it was to get these students into another school.

Parents of the students said they are good kids and all of them have at least a C + average.

The parents of the black students added that they believe the expulsion was racially motivated because only 12 percent of the Belleville students are black.

The three 16-year-olds and one 17-year old student have been out of school since Oct. 24.

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good for them...hopefully this was a lesson learned for all.

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