Baltimore school compels students to wear purple, or else ...

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

OK, let's not get into politics here or this thread will be closed fast. That could violate someones 1st Amendment rights, but I'll take the chance.

patsfans.com is not a govement enity. this website can lock what ever threads it wants. ban anyone who says anything negitive about the pats, and bar discussing the return of randy moss w/o running afoul with the first amendment.

 

[PATSNUTme]

patsfans.com is not a govement enity. this website can lock what ever threads it wants. ban anyone who says anything negitive about the pats, and bar discussing the return of randy moss w/o running afoul with the first amendment.

You just said ***** ****.

 

[i82much]

You will find that a lot of folks in New England have an ignorant take on the other areas of the country, especially the south. It drives me nuts. I was born and raised in Mass and Maine, but traveled around the country via the Army and now live in VA. And if you are from the south you are a hick, redneck, bad schools etc... to way to many people in the area and on this board. And IMO, a lot of that stems from not actually leaving New England.

Now, I am no fan of Baltimore, the inner harbor is nice and around the stadiums. But the rest of the city not so much. I go there several times a year for different reasons and do my best not to venture to far out of that area. One thing I can say about Boston is there is not one area in Boston that is as run down as the bad parts of Baltimore.

Honestly, you have ignorant folks everywhere. I haven't been much to most of NE but I absolutely love Maine. Baltimore is tough, no doubt, I grew up there and you need to be careful. But Roland Park is not the cause of Baltimore's bad reputation, and something about that comment just struck me as offering an incredibly uninformed opinion.

 

[DaBruinz]

Roland Park is an outstanding school. If you had the benefit of an education there, you might have learned to do a little research before you spout off on the Internet.

Roland Park Elementary/Middle School, Baltimore MD School Profile, Ranking, and Reviews - SchoolDigger.com

1st off, the school shouldn't be conducting a rally for the Ravens during school hours. The Ravens are not the school's football team.

2ndly, essentially punishing students for not supporting the Ravens is a violation of their First Amendment Rights.

So, while the "ratings" of the school might be good, the fact is that the school's administration is discriminating against children with this policy.

 

[mgcolby]

Oh for the love of G-d! Ugh, I hate the liberal Northeast sometimes! Amendments, constitutional rights...blah, blah, blah. It's a bunch of kids and an elementary school doing something fun and showing some unity. Big deal. Wish school's here would do this more. But nooooo....we have schools in Cambridge that have decided to abolish "Merry Christmas" and how 'bout the Sommerville, Ma school that got rid of Halloween celebrations because of the "message"...sometimes I just want to scream "#$%$@!"

It is a bunch of kids having fun, but it isn't fair to exclude the kids that don't support the Ravens. That is the part that I am bothered by. If my kids were forced to wear burgandy and gold to school or risk being outcast to the library, I would be pissed. And I don't consider myself a liberal.

Ask the kids to wear purple and leave it at that. Don't threaten the parents with "not wearing purple means they chose not to attend".

 

[i82much]

It is a bunch of kids having fun, but it isn't fair to exclude the kids that don't support the Ravens. That is the part that I am bothered by. If my kids were forced to wear burgandy and gold to school or risk being outcast to the library, I would be pissed. And I don't consider myself a liberal.

Ask that the kids where purple and leave it at that. Don't threaten the parents with "not wearing purple means they chose not to attend".

I completely agree. The only kids who shouldn't be allowed to attend are those no-good little hoodlums in black and gold

 

[jmt57]

1st off, the school shouldn't be conducting a rally for the Ravens during school hours. The Ravens are not the school's football team.

2ndly, essentially punishing students for not supporting the Ravens is a violation of their First Amendment Rights.

So, while the "ratings" of the school might be good, the fact is that the school's administration is discriminating against children with this policy.

I won't disagree with the first point, but in regards to point number two if you look at the article it appears as though it was strictly limited to two overly zealous teachers that wanted to put on a good show for the cameras. The principal and school administration took the opposite stance.

 

[mgcolby]

I completely agree. The only kids who shouldn't be allowed to attend are those no-good little hoodlums in black and gold

haha...Hope you stick around after the game. You have been a fun read. As many others have noted we welcome fans of other teams as long as they are entertaining, respectful (for the most part) and don't spew ignorance. Essentially don't be Flynismo, that guy is a tool. And reading his stuff on the Ravens board only reinforces my opinion of him.

 

[mgcolby]

Yes, but if you look at the article it appears as though it was strictly limited to two overly zealous teachers that wanted to put on a good show for the cameras. The principal and school administration took the opposite stance.

I think my favorite part was the "I believe" part. Really you believe they will be supervised in the library?

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

I won't disagree with the first point, but in regards to point number two if you look at the article it appears as though it was strictly limited to two overly zealous teachers that wanted to put on a good show for the cameras. The principal and school administration took the opposite stance.

Then the principal and school adminstration should make it very clear to the students, parents and teachers that the kids may wear what ever they want and and any retribution by those teachers will result in termination of employment.

 

[Deus Irae]

Then the principal and school adminstration should make it very clear to the students, parents and teachers that the kids may wear what ever they want and and any retribution by those teachers will result in termination of employment.... and that the Jets suck

Fixed......

 

[Fixit]

Actually Roland Park is one of the best public schools in the area, and there are academic qualifications to get in. I went there 6-8th grade, and many of the students go on to top college prep highschools. But your stereotyping is hilarious and typical of the chowder eating n word screaming stereotype I pictured YOU as

Am I the only one who finds it odd that you're upset with someone for stereotyping a Baltimore school, considering the fictional character you're championing by using it as your handle?

I'm not saying that to start a fight, Avon, but don't you see just a little hypocrisy there?

 

[eom]

if they don't wear purple I hear they gotta spend the weekend at ray lewis's house.

 

[Fixit]

I really don't know about the constitutional issues. You'd be surprised how many subtleties there are to constitutional law. Often we Americans think we have certain absolute rights, but the courts have set up a fairly complex web of exceptions. If someone on the forum happens to be a constitutional law scholar or wants to cite some case law, we may be able to kind of unwind whether this is really a 1st amendment violation or not.

Regardless, I love the Ravens but I absolutely hate groupthink. There is really no reason for the school to impose the viewpoints of the administrators on the kids at the school. Any kid who doesn't want to wear purple is going to feel left out, and that's a pretty stupid consequence for what is, at the end of the day, a freaking football game and nothing more.

Perfectly reasonable response.

 

[i82much]

haha...Hope you stick around after the game. You have been a fun read. As many others have noted we welcome fans of other teams as long as they are entertaining, respectful (for the most part) and don't spew ignorance. Essentially don't be Flynismo, that guy is a tool. And reading his stuff on the Ravens board only reinforces my opinion of him.

Thanks man. Always helps when folks are open and give you a chance. Speaking of which, I really need to talk some trash to my Pats fan buddy here soon, I've been neglecting him. But you know how that is, when you are friends with someone you can get away with more and don't come off like a tool. On an anonymous forum it's a different story, I don't think everyone gets that.

 

[Fixit]

There were a few posts that were made that tip toed into politics while I was checking my 1st rights. So that was made as a general warning as poltics and football do not mix here.
We have a Political forum for political "discussion", if you want to call it that.

No offense, but the message may have been made a little clearer if you didn't have multiple sarcastic posts about the 1st amendment.

You know, like this one.

 

[Snake Eyes]

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The school is not congress. It may be covered in another Amendment but I see no violation of the 1st. Besides it was stated in the article that they are not required to wear the purple.

OK,if a few kids go to the Ravens rally and start chanting 'let's go Patriots" and the school officials kick them out, is that violation of the 1st? I don't think so.

As previously stated, the 14th Amendment makes the 1st Amendment binding on the States and their institutions, this is why a state school cannot compel prayer in schools even though they are not Congress.

That said, for the school to essentially discriminate and exclude students from an event because they chose not to support the Ravens would almost certainly be a violation of the 1st Amendment, and rightfully so.

 

[jmt57]

Then the principal and school adminstration should make it very clear to the students, parents and teachers that the kids may wear what ever they want and and any retribution by those teachers will result in termination of employment.

My guess is that the teachers in question have been pretty much royally reamed out (virtually, not literally ) behind close doors. The two of them have single handily turned what was supposed to be a fun, positive publicity event into a very negative critique regarding how the school operates.

Ravens' pride overzealous at Roland Park Elementary/Middle, say some parents - baltimoresun.com

"I think a couple of elementary teachers sent that out thinking: 'I would love my whole class to have all purple on,'" Cole said. "But it's a choice, and no one is excluded."

Cole said the only pupils who will be excluded — and supervised in the library — are those who are late to school. The pep rally is on a stringent schedule and is supposed to last only about 20 minutes.

Cole said pupils have regularly worn the jerseys of other football teams to school and that "we have not said a word because it's little children, and that's not what we're about. We're about the education of children."

 

[IcyPatriot]

That's great. A really good way to make the subject relateable to the students.

For extra credit, you should ask "A Gronkowski coverts to how many Woodheads?"

or what weighs more 100 lbs of Gronk or 100 lbs of Wood.

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

I really don't know about the constitutional issues. You'd be surprised how many subtleties there are to constitutional law. Often we Americans think we have certain absolute rights, but the courts have set up a fairly complex web of exceptions. If someone on the forum happens to be a constitutional law scholar or wants to cite some case law, we may be able to kind of unwind whether this is really a 1st amendment violation or not.

While I am not a consitutional scholar by any means.

There are signficant limitation to what students can say in school. Even beyond that case someone cited about promoting drug use.

No supreme court case (to my knowldge) as ever been exactly on point.

But I have read enough cases to be willing to bet that if this went to court the students would prevail over the teachers.

But schools do have significant rights to curtail student speech. For example if let say in a school that bordered two team areas, the school decided to ban all NFL attire, because kids who support opposing teams frequently get into fights. That would almost certainly be okay. Even though you couldn't do that with adults. But if they decided to ban the wearing of one team and not the others that would run afoul.