Inciting a riot

[lisa71 0]

I'm not sure where to post this, so am starting here. My son, who is as new to the whole gang thing as I am, was suspended from his school today because he alerted other kids, his friends, to the fact that a fight had broken out between two gang members. The principal's reasoning was that he, basically, 'incited a riot', because he alerted other kids to the fight and turned a crowd of 15 into a crowd of around 100+.

I don't know the US school system well enough... but think this is really unfair. Any thoughts?

[Welshcookie 17]

It was the usual thing when I was at school....watch the fighting until the teachers cme and broke it up....don't remember the person calling 'fight fight' ever being suspended....did fighting break out between anyone else once the crowd had gathered?

[lisa71 0]

welshcookie, no, his actions didn't incite any fighting in the crowd. In fact, the fighting stopped immediately. The school principal was on duty and told him that he had garbage duty, and if he ever did anything like that again he'd be in big trouble - ie. suspended.

A few hours later I received a call from my son that he was in the principal's office and was being suspended.

[Welshcookie 17]

I would take it up with him personally, seems somewhat heavy handed to me but I don't have any experience with US school system....it isn't a good thing to have a suspension on his record....I wonder if those fighting got punished?

[Carol&Marc 0]

I would take it up with the principal and if you dont get any where go to the school district office, Its very natural for kids to yell "hey check out the fight"

Marc

[almaty 19]

i agree...fighting and watching a fight was a varsity sport where i went to school

[Cristy 4]

That is the rule at our school too. It seems harsh but I think it makes sense.

[Nizzy 1]

It makes sense because when I went to highschool it would take the administrators quite a bit of time to break through the huge crowd to stop the fight. And it makes it hard to decide who was involved directly and what happened etc. etc.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I'm not sure where to post this, so am starting here. My son, who is as new to the whole gang thing as I am, was suspended from his school today because he alerted other kids, his friends, to the fact that a fight had broken out between two gang members. The principal's reasoning was that he, basically, 'incited a riot', because he alerted other kids to the fight and turned a crowd of 15 into a crowd of around 100+.

I don't know the US school system well enough... but think this is really unfair. Any thoughts?

Hey Lisa. It depends on the connotation. Some kids will yell out, "A fight! A fight!" to draw attention to it - not to stop it. I'm sure your son wasn't doing that but I would talk with the Principal and find out what is the school policy regarding how a student should report a fight. Most schools that my kids have gone to have adults patroling the grounds. You might want to find out who they are at his school and what they recommend he should do in that situation.

Edited October 28, 2006 by Steven_and_Jinky

[dalegg 143]

My 13 year old daughter was actually arrested here for just witnessing vandalism. Yes, that was the actual charge on the arrest sheet "witnessing vandalism". Their explanation is that she should have fled the scene and called the police on her friends. She got 30 hours of community service and I had to pay $60 for anger management courses that we both had to attend.

[Peikko 1,575]

Harsh as the punishment was, it's sort of what I have been trying to explain to my son. If you are with someone who is committing a criminal act, you may as well be committing the act yourself because that's how you will be viewed.

As for the OP, a visit with the principle to hear first hand what his understanding of the situation is would surely be the best option. As it stands you are speculating on his reasoning and are naturally upset and frustrated.

[Sheriff Uling 3]

I would take it up with him personally, seems somewhat heavy handed to me but I don't have any experience with US school system....it isn't a good thing to have a suspension on his record....I wonder if those fighting got punished?

Wow! That's unbelievably unfair. Kids always turn to their friends and alert them of mischief that's going on. I would take it up with the principle and elevate it if needs be because that's definitely heavy handed to me as well. According to their logic, he could have been expelled for telling a teacher. Give me a break. Definitely fight this one tooth and nail because your son was being a kid and even if he stood up with a microphone, the punishment does not fit the crime. I'll pray for the best. Take care...

[Heracles 417]

I'm not sure where to post this, so am starting here. My son, who is as new to the whole gang thing as I am, was suspended from his school today because he alerted other kids, his friends, to the fact that a fight had broken out between two gang members. The principal's reasoning was that he, basically, 'incited a riot', because he alerted other kids to the fight and turned a crowd of 15 into a crowd of around 100+.

I don't know the US school system well enough... but think this is really unfair. Any thoughts?

How old is your son?

The principal sounds like a jack ###. Did the kids involved in the fight get punished?

[Hornet 2]

My 13 year old daughter was actually arrested here for just witnessing vandalism. Yes, that was the actual charge on the arrest sheet "witnessing vandalism". Their explanation is that she should have fled the scene and called the police on her friends. She got 30 hours of community service and I had to pay $60 for anger management courses that we both had to attend.

This country has gone friggin insane! The Court system and the School system are full of politically correct morons!! There is no common sense anymore and they're all just worried about keeping busy so they have a job!!!

I'll be filing a Visa petition to move to another country someday. Hello Philippines!!!

[sarah and hicham 3]

I'm not saying this is the case here but from my experience the parents never really know what exactly happened. The child is probably going to play innocent and tell the parent that they didn't do anything bad to a certain extent. No one likes to get into trouble but really the parent doesn't know what happened.

I don't think it's good to call kids attention to a fight and as someone stated above it draws an even bigger crowd of people that administrators have to squeeze through to stop the fight.