Gay Student Punished For Supporting Gay Marriage

Gay Marriage Legalized in DC; Oral Roberts Drops Dead (Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com)

A student at Fullerton Union High School, near Los Angeles, who was taking part in their “Mr. Fullerton” competition, was asked by the judges what he hoped for in the future. When he replied that he hoped to find a partner and get married if gay marriage were legal, his assistant principal pulled him off the stage.

Back in the Closet, Faggot

District officials criticized the assistant principal this week because the "matter was not handled appropriately." According to the Los Angeles Times, Superintendent George J. Giokaris said that the "matter should have been handled privately."

The “matter,” of course, was coming out publicly and condoning gay marriage, which apparently are forbidden in Fullerton. The district seemingly has no problem with disciplining a child for such transgressions, so long as it isn’t done publicly.

Later this week, after receiving the student’s consent, the assistant principal made a public apology to the student and acknowledged that he had handled the situation inappropriately. However, it is not clear whether the AP said anything in the public address about the legitimacy of gay love and relationships or apologized for his or her homophobia.

Extrinsic Motivation: Chitown Charter Implements Stiff Fines for Student Infractions

Image from Flickr, by Sebastian Bergmann

The Noble Network, which runs 10 charter high schools in Chicago, raised nearly $200,000 last year (and $400,000 since 2008) from discipline penalties, the Chicago Tribune reported this week. The Network, which has been praised by Ed Deformer Mayor Rahm Emanuel, has been charging students $5 per violation for such trivial infractions as having untied shoelaces, bringing chips to school or dozing off in class.

Critics are accusing the network of using the fines to cull low performing (and lower income) students in order to boost graduation rates. Last year the network lost 473 students, more than twice as many as the previous year.

The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves

Noble CEO Michael Milkie believes that by enforcing all rules, even the little ones, he has made the school safer. He has also said that students who behave poorly should be forced to pay, arguing that bad behavior takes away teacher attention and resources from those who are behaving appropriately, thus justifying the fines to recoup students’ costs to the school.

In addition to the fines, students must serve three hour detentions, even for little infractions like not having their shirts tucked or being caught with potato chips or energy drinks. Furthermore, if behavior doesn’t improve, the costs go up. Students with more than 12 detentions must pay $140 to take a discipline class. One student was forced to take a night behavior class for not shaking a visitor’s hand.