Request to have the incident expunged from the child’s record was denied by school system
NRA-ILA: In March, I reported on the outrageous case of a seven-year-old Baltimore, Md. student who, according to a Daily Callerarticle, was suspended for two days for the “horrendous” act of shaping a breakfast pastry into what his teacher thought looked like a gun.
This week’s outrage is a follow-up to that story. According to a WashingtonPost.comarticle this week, the request by the family of the second-grader to have the incident expunged from the child’s record was denied by the Anne Arundel County School System.
According to the article, the family’s attorney met with school officials after filing an appeal asking that the suspension be reversed or that the child’s record be cleared. School officials denied both requests. As the lawyer argued, the child was simply playing, and, “No one was hurt. No one was scared.”
The article goes on to note other, equally outrageous cases of “zero-tolerance” rules being applied with zero-common sense that occurred at about the same time. In those cases, children were suspended for pointing fingers “like guns” and for talking about shooting a Hello Kitty “gun” that blows bubbles.
Pistol pastry perp
The boy’s father said he had hoped for a better outcome. “I guess I expected more of a fair result,” he said. “I don’t view the punishment and the mark on my son’s record as a reasonable reaction to the situation that took place.”
These types of ridiculous cases are now all-too common, and the trend is disturbing. As we’ve said many times before, we all can agree that we want our children to be safe at school, and that reasonable safety measures should be followed. But such overreaching, misapplied standards encroach on our freedom, and in many cases, place an extreme burden on innocent children and their families. This is outrageous and should not be tolerated.
American River (community) College, Sacramento, CA
More intolerance, hate and rage from the illiberal Left.
A professor at a California community college, American River College (ARC), got so enraged at a student over same-sex marriage that he smashed the student’s cell phone.
ARC is a community college of 35,000 students in Sacramento, California.
Timothy Dionisopoulos reports for Campus Reform, May 10, 2013, that the student Vladimir Musorivschi is a volunteer on the campus campaign for student government of fellow student Luke Otterstad. Otterstad is an outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage (see below).
According to Musorivschi’s version of events, he and ARC Anthropology Professor Frank Araujo got into a verbal altercation over whether or not same-sex marriage should be legal. Araujo screamed at the student, then smashed his cell phone to the ground.
Musorivschi told Campus Reform: “I said no you are not even arguing the right way, you are just screaming at me about something. When I said I was going to call the police he just smashed my phone, basically assaulted me and the phone went like fifteen feet and smashed into pieces.”
In an email to Campus Reform, Araujo would not confirm or deny whether the alleged altercation or assault had taken place. He wrote incoherently: “Not being a student and being unfamiliar with both the slates [sic] and their issues, I’m unable to make any cogent remarks.”
Frank Araujo, Adjunct Professor, American River College
The college’s administrators are investigating the incident. Carlos Reyes, interim dean for the behavioral and social sciences at ARC, told Campus Reform: “I am currently investigating the situation. With that being said the college has a process and that process is being followed. I do not comment on ongoing investigations so there is not a lot of details I can give you. Obviously we take the environment on campus seriously so that is something that is being looked at.”
Although ARC election rules forbid professors from engaging in negative campaigns and bans the use of school resources in student elections, ARC professors changed their public Facebook profile pictures late last month to anti-Otterstad slogans while the campus LGBT club held a rally and leaflet drive against his campaign.
Otterstad, who lost the student government election, told Campus Reform he has filed an official election complaint with the chancellor of the school which challenges the validity of the election due to a discrepancy in the vote count: “I am challenging the election results because the numbers released don’t add up, professors violated election rules by actively campaigning against me, and the District has a history of violating student voting rights.”
Here’s contact info for American River College:
Address: 4700 College Oak Drive, Sacramento, Calif. 95841
Phone: (916) 484-8011
Teacher who stomped on flag in front of class gets $85K settlement
WSFA: CHAPIN, SC (WIS) – A Midlands teacher who made national headlines after stomping on an American flag in front of his classes has been paid $85,000 and remains on paid administrative leave until the end of the school year when his resignation takes effect.
Chapin High School English teacher Scott Compton agreed to the $85,000 settlement from the district’s insurance carrier in late March, according to documents obtained by WIS through the Freedom of Information Act.
Mark Bounds, spokesman for the District Five of Lexington and Richland Counties, says the district’s insurance carrier made the decision to make a monetary payment to Compton after the teacher’s attorney notified the district he had prepared a complaint for filing in federal court.
“Upon receiving that information, the District’s attorneys advised the District’s insurance carrier that a lawsuit was going to be filed by Mr. Compton,” said Bounds. “Based on financial considerations related to anticipated legal fees to defend such a suit, the Insurer made the decision to make a monetary [payment] to Mr. Compton,” said Bounds.
“We are glad this issue is resolved,” said Bounds. “The resolution is in the best interest of the district, our teachers and the children we serve.”
The district since January 1 has been billed approximately $31,400 for legal fees related to the case.
Compton resigned in late March due to “personal and family reasons,” according to district records. He will remain on paid administrative leave through the end of the 2012-2013 school year when his resignation goes into effect on June 7.
“All parties agreed that his resignation is in the best interest of everyone who was directly involved in this matter,” said Bounds.
Compton, who has been a teacher for 12 years, was placed on administrative leave with pay from the district following the December 2012 incident that received nationwide attention. His last day in class was December 13.
Students who were in the honors English class that day said Compton placed the American flag on the ground and stomped on it. He repeated the lesson in three classes that day, prompting a full investigation.
The teacher’s attorney, Darryl D. Smalls, says Compton was teaching a lesson on symbolism as part of a unit on All Quiet on the Western Frontand “nothing more.” “At no point and in no way, shape or form was this lesson a negative commentary on America. It was quite the opposite,” said Smalls.
The district placed Compton on leave after parents characterized the lessons as disrespectful and unpatriotic. After a district investigation, Superintendent Dr. Stephen Hefner on January 10 made the recommendation to the school board to fire Compton.
Compton asked for a hearing before the board to appeal the decision. After several delays, that meeting never happened. Instead, Compton’s attorney and the district worked out the teacher’s exit. Hefner then withdrew his recommendation after Compton agreed to resign.
As part of the agreement, Chapin High School Principal Dr. Akil Ross furnished a letter of recommendation to Compton to submit to prospective employers.
Stomping on Old Glory is “in no way, shape or form a negative commentary on America”? I’m sure Bill Ayers would approve.
A school psychologist is a psychologist employed in U.S. public and private schools who provides psychological and psychoeducational assessment, counseling, and consultation to students, parents, and teachers. A school psychologist is also trained in the ethical, legal and administrative codes of their profession.
Given their professional training in psychology and their supposed commitment to ethics and morality, the behavior of two school psychologists who are in the news reminds me of that old chestnut about nuts being especially attracted to the psychological profession.
Maryland school psychologist Stephanie Mikles
Brian Keubler reports for ABC2News that a school psychologist (“behavioral specialist”) in Maryland’s Hartford County Schools, 42-year-old Stephanie Mikles, has been indicted for bestiality.
School psychologists are called behavioral specialists in Harford County Public Schools and are required by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) to have a master’s degree, advanced graduate specialist’s, or doctoral degree in psychology, education, or human development from a state or regionally accredited institution. In the case of Mikles, her LinkedIn page says she has a M.A. in Counseling from Rivier College, and B.A. in Education and Sociology from U. of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Stephanie Mikles was hired in 2009 to be the behavioral specialist for Bel Air, Maryland’s Harford County Public Schools. Last year, the child advocacy center of Harford County began investigating Mikles, in the course of which the investigators were surprised and shocked to discover still photos of Mikles engaged in “unnatural or perverted sexual practice” — having “sexual intercourse with a dog.”
Police say the bestiality happened in August of 2008 but in Maryland, there is no statute of limitations for bestiality. Sources tell ABC2 the pet still lives with the family at their Jarrettsville home.
Mikles is out on a $5,000 bond and is currently on administrative leave without pay from the Harford County Schools System. If convicted of the misdemeanor of bestiality, she could be punished for up to 10 years in prison and a $1000 fine.
Sidwell Friends School, Washington, DC
Then there is James F. Huntington, the school psychologist at Sidwell Friends School — the elite private school in Washington, DC, with an annual tuition of around $34,000, to which President Lucifer sends his two daughters, Sasha and Malia. Sidwell is also the school of Joe Biden’s grandchildren. Chelsea Clinton and Al Gore IIIboth attended the school, as did the children of cabinet secretaries, journalists, business leaders, senators, and congressmen, among others.
According to an account by Mary Yarrison and Harry Jaffe in The Washingtonian, the school and its staff psychologist, Huntington, are the defendants in a lawsuit brought by Arthur “Terry” Newmyer, the father of a Sidwell student. The lawsuit has a trial date of November 18, 2013.
Newmyer claims the school psychologist had an affair with his wife, Tara Mehrbach, while treating the couple’s 5-year-old daughter, and that Sidwell administrators knew about the adulterous affair but took “flagrant and outrageous actions” that “allowed its staff psychologist to have an open sexual relationship with the married mother of a then five-year-old Sidwell student he was treating.” Newmyer asks for $10 million in damages. (Newmyer and Mehrbach are now divorced.)
According to the lawsuit, during the course of the affair, Huntington sent a number of lewd e-mails to Mehrbach from his Sidwell account—sometimes in the middle of the workday:
The e-mails graphically recounted their encounters, including oral and anal sex, role-playing, and “manic rubbing and touching when [Huntington is] under the influence.”
In emails in March, 2010, Huntington expressed his desire “to be busy with [Mehrbach's] body” and why he missed her phone call: “Your call enabled me to kick out some 8th grade girls from my room. They were winners from Twin Day, so they were eating their prizes in here and talking about male P.E. teachers that try to hit on them.”
In one e-mail to Mehrbach, Huntington wonders whether he should discuss their adulterous affair with her daughter: “Do I talk about masturbating on your face or your marital situation with Terry . . . ? Decisions, decisions, decisions.”
Huntingtonhad little respect for his profession. In an e-mail to Mehrbach dated March 10, 2010, Huntington wrote that “Shrinks are a last resort in my book” and that “Drugs, alcohol, shamans, chakras, faith healers, voodoo doctor, and people that work with crystals and Ouija boards” are better than psychologists and are his recommended “first choice route to go for help.”
Newmyer says he had contacted Sidwell numerous times to register his concern that the school psychologist was having an affair with his wife at the same time he was treating his daughter. Despite many entreaties, little changed. On February 11, 2011, Newmyer sent copies of a detailed memorandum on the matter to Sidwell’s board, along with some e-mails between Huntington and Mehrbach. On February 16, 2011, Sidwell fired Huntington. Three months later, Terry Newmyer filed suit against Sidwell and Huntington.
The faculty of most colleges and universities in the United States, especially the top-tier Ivy league ones, are registered Democrats. Some are outright Marxist socialists or communists.
The University of Southern California (USC) is no different.
A month ago, I wrote about an aging loser of a political science professor at USC, Adjunct Assistant Professor Darry Sragow, who used classroom time to bash white people, Republicans, and conservatives, although he himself is white.
How is Sragow an academic loser?
“Assistant Professor” is the title of the lowest rung of professorship — typically of young fresh-out-of-grad-schools Ph.D.s. “Adjunct” means Sragow is hired only on a year-by-year basis. All of which means that Sragow was hired as a junior Assistant Professor in another college or university many years ago but was denied tenure there. So now he makes his living drifting from one university to another as an Adjunct.
In other words, Darry Sragow is a loser — a failure in academe. How can I say this so confidently? Because I know academe, having gone through the ranks, from young assistant professor, to tenured associate professor, to full professor, to full professor emeritus. I had never ever misused my authority as a professor to use the classroom to advance my partisanship or to hurl insults at political figures.
Now comes news that another USC political science prof, Richard Dekmejian, has also been caught on video using his class as a platform for bashing conservatives.
In the video, Dekmejian claims former President George W. Bush suffered from mental instability and stupidity during his time in office. He said Bush was bound by “serious intellectual and mental problems” and must have been “stupid or lying” to initiate Operation Iraqi Freedom for the reason of promoting democracy.
Dekmejian also leveled a number of derogatory comments against members of the Bush administration, alleging both Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice “lied” to the American people during their service. The professor instructed his students that “You have to use that term [lying] people. Don’t use that term mislead.”
Dekmejian also accused Christians of salivating over violence in the Middle East: “The right wing evangelical community… these are the people who get happy on television every time there is a conflict in the Middle East. They think that the book of revelation tells them that the messiah…the Christian messiah, Jesus is going to come…all we need is a war in the Middle East involving Israel and the Arabs.”
Dekmejian did, however, praise former President Jimmy Carter (D) for his service during and after his presidency: “He’s still going around doing good things by the way, Carter. That Carter, very respectable.”
Elizabeth Garrett, provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs at USC, told Campus Reform in a written statement that “faculty members are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. The freedom to take unpopular positions and the freedom to express those positions publicly are at the foundation of what it means to be a faculty member of a university. One of the most important principles of an academic community has been that academic inquiry and discussion be free from censorship or undue outside control.”
Blah, blah, blah.
But for Garrett, “academic freedom” seems only to apply to faculty but not to students. She noted that USC’s student code of conduct “expressly prohibits” students from videotaping their professors in the classroom, but declined to say whether Talgo would be disciplined for releasing his video of Professor Dekmejian to the public.
Here’s the video of Dekmejian:
Richard Dekmejian is a full professor of political science. Surprisingly for a full professor, Dekmejian’s faculty profile lists only his “conference and other presentations” and his university service, but no book or even a refereed journal article. On Rate My Professors, on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 signifying “excellent”), he scored an overall rating of a decidedly mediocre 3.4.
C. L. Max Nikias, President
Office of the President
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-4019
Phone: (213) 740-2111; (213) 821-1342
email: president@usc.edu
You may just be a goof like me and hit the wrong button. Hey it was an accident. Know what? I froze, I googled, and I found a program and got files back. Now if you read this there could be other reasons you want/need them back. Good luck ~ Steve~
WANT TO KNOW HOW TO RECOVER DELETED PHOTOS AND VIDEO FROM YOUR DEVICES?
Last week, the story of parents who had their baby seized by police went viral. Video shows Sacramento Police Department officers entering the home of Anna and Alex Nikolayev without a warrant and saying they were going to “grab” the baby and advising the parents not to resist or fight. The Russian couple’s lawyer though believes law enforcement and child protective services overstepped their bounds.
Now imagine how difficult this portion of the case could be without video evidence. Image if the video and pictures of police taking the baby away were deleted.
In fact, Miller last year was acquitted from all charges after he was able to recover deleted video showing he was not resisting arrest or breaking any other laws. He is now trying to obtain enough evidence to bring a case against the Miami police department and the individual he believes wrongfully took his camera and deleted its content.
Everything Miller learned about recovering deleted images and video was self-taught from the Web and help from a tech friend. The most important thing to know, he said, is to not take any more photos or video if you believe your content has been deleted.
“Once you realize that video has been deleted, put your camera aside and figure out a way to recover it,” he said.
There are programs that can help you recover such content. Pictures are easier to get back than video due to the size.
For photos stored on Millers Sandisk memory card, the program recommended that he used is RescuePro. Video was a bit tricker because it took longer to sift through all the recovered content to find the portions he was looking for, but he used the program PhotoRec.
Just recently Alex Heid with Federal Jack and HackMiami went through this process when his own video, which deleted allegedly by Miami police upon his arrest. He details in this video how he recovered his footage:
Even better than going through any of this process though is to not put yourself in a situation where your footage could be deleted in the first place. The easiest way to protect against this is by password protecting your phone, which is the device Miller said the average citizen
would likely be using to film or take pictures these days.
Another recommendation Miller had was to consider using an app that would automatically begin transferring pictures and video into cloud storage. On a PINAC forum is a discussion on just these types of programs.
One user with an Android phone suggests Bambuser and Dropbox.
“Dropbox will automatically upload video (or pictures) when off button is pushed or recording stopped. Just make sure the app is running in the background. Not live streaming, will only upload after recording stopped,” rick wrote. “Bambuser is live streaming and will continue to record and upload even after off button is pushed. Unsent data is saved to phone and can be uploaded later to complete video record. As always, test these apps under different situations and know their ins and outs.”
Dropbox, another user cautions though, won’t upload video on iOS devices unless the user is connected to WiFi, but it will do so through a data package on Android.
So, whether you accidentally hit the trash button or if your photos and video were purposefully deleted, these are methods you can recover or preserve your data.
Miller’s ultimate goal is to change a mentality he thinks some officers have when it comes to “creating their own truth.”
“Cops have to rethink that they can’t just create their own truth anymore,” Miller said.
A pencil is now considered an assault weapon in Driver Elementary School, Suffolk, Virginia.
Patriot Action Network‘s Darla Dawald reports that the school suspended a 7-year-old student because he pointed a pencil at another student and made a gun sound.
Dawald got a confirmation of the suspension from Bethanne Bradshaw, spokesperson for Suffolk Public Schools.
Bradshaw said that the boy had violated the school district’s “zero tolerance policy” because “a pencil is a weapon when it is pointed at someone in a threatening way and gun noises are made.” Bradshaw also said that the zero tolerance policy could also apply to a drawing of a gun on a piece of paper or making a “bang bang” gun sign with one’s hand because a student doing that could have violent thoughts.
Suffolk Schools Superintendent Deran Whitney (l); Community Relations Officer Bethanne Bradshaw (r). [Source of photo: Suffolk News-Herald]
Here’s contact info:
Driver Elementary School Principal: Melodie Griffin
Address: 4270 Driver Lane, Suffolk, Virginia 23435
Phone: 757.923.4106
Fax: 757.538.5407
Email: melgriffin@spsk12.net
Suffolk Public Schools
Address: 100 N. Main St., Suffolk VA 23434
phone: (757) 925-6750
fax: (757) 925-6751 Superintendent: Dr. Deran R. Whitney
Email: derwhitney@spsk12.net
Community Relations Officer: Bethanne Bradshaw
Email: betbradshaw@spsk12.net
House approves guns on campus, school marshals bills
KHOU: House lawmakers passed a measure Saturday to allow armed school employees in school districts and charter schools, and they also passed another bill that would allow college students to carry a weapon in the classroom.
John Woods is a graduate student at The University of Texas, he’s spending his Saturday studying for finals and grading papers. “It’s not an issue I really ever planned to become involved with,” he said.
Woods’ girlfriend was killed in the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007 and he’s been fighting for stricter gun laws ever since. ”It’s great that they’re talking about preventing tragedies like this but I really think this is the wrong approach,” Woods said.
Lawmakers in the House passed a bill Saturday to allow college students who are over 21 and have a concealed weapons permit to bring a gun on campus. “This idea that somebody is going to be a hero and stop a mass shooting is dangerous,” Woods said.
“I’m really split on that,” said father of 3 Bryan Johnson. “My 2 other children are older and it was Columbine. That just struck fear in the hearts of every parent I know.”
The House also passed a measure to allow trained school employees to become school marshals and have access to a gun in case of an emergency. “Trained people yes, everybody… no,” said Johnson.
“Each school will be posted with a sign that says ‘this school is protected by a certified school marshal.’” said state Rep. Jason Villalba who authored the bill.
Villalba said the appointed employees would undergo 80 hours of training.
“What we’re doing is taking people who work at the school; teachers, vice principals, other folks who are already there to become school marshals like police officers for that very narrow circumstance in the moment of crisis, when somebody has broken down the front door and is then attacking our children,” Villalba said.
Still, students like Woods urge lawmakers to take a different approach, like universal background checks. “We need to look at solutions that are preventative and not reactive,” Woods explained. Woods said he supports the 2nd Amendment but says with those rights, come responsibilities.
Those bills still need one final vote in the House before moving on to the Senate.
A universal background check is not going to stop some mad man from committing a horrific crime. I’d rather be able to protect myself from a crazy than be totally defenseless.
