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Teen's Expulsion for Off-Campus Guns Overturned
Filed under: In The News, Weird But True
Gary Tudesko and his mother, Susan Parisio, smile after Glenn County Board of Education members overturned his suspension. Credit: Sacramento Bee / ZUMApress
Gary Tudesko, 17, and a friend went duck hunting before school started on Oct. 26. In a rush to get to school on time, he parked the truck on a public street, which he believed did not violate Willows High School policy. According to the Sacramento Bee, gun-sniffing dogs discovered two unloaded shotguns in his truck later that day.
Willows High School administrators suspended Tudesko, who hadn't been to school since Nov. 19. The family appealed to the Glenn County Board of Education, which overturned the school's decision on Jan. 22. Both the National Rifle Association and the California Rifle and Pistol Association provided support and legal assistance to the family during the appeal.
Tudesko was represented by National Rifle Association/California Rifle and Pistol Association Foundation attorneys Chuck Michel and Hillary J. Green of the Long Beach-based law firm Michel & Associates, P.C., according to an NRA statement about the case.
"This is a victory for law-abiding young Americans, over nonsensical, irrational and unreasonable policies," says Chris W. Cox, executive director of NRA-ILA, in the statement. "Mr. Tudesko broke no laws and we are pleased that the board of education has cleared his name and allowed him to complete his education at Willows High School."
Board President Judy Holzapfel read from a written version of the board's decision. The statement asserts that, in expelling Tudesko, the Willows Unified School District reached beyond its jurisdiction and acted based on activity "that did not occur on school grounds or at a school activity off of school grounds," according to the Bee.
The student tells the paper he is excited to return to school "as soon as possible." He adds that he needs to "grow up and take advantage of school."
The school contends that the board should have taken Tudesko's disciplinary record into account when considering whether or not to overturn the expulsion. According to the Bee, he has two dozen prior incidents in his file. Tudesko, however, says that any of his previous run-ins with the school have no bearing on the case.
"I think that's really the only thing they had on me," Tudesko tells the newspaper. "They couldn't get me for the guns"
Should off-campus actions be subject to school rules or did the district overstep its boundaries?
Related: Soccer Player Suspended for Being Crazy
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
1-26-2010 @ 12:01PM
LS said..."Should off-campus actions be subject to school rules or did the district overstep its boundaries?"
Well, that's a two-part question, isn't it? On the surface, you can make a case for a "no" answer - that the off-campus actions of students shouldn't be subject to school rules, and "yes" the school overstepped its bounds.
However - and there is always a "however" in a subject like this, because it's not black and white - these situations rarely are.
The fact of the matter in this, and most other cases like this one, is that nobody applies Common Sense any more.
Pocket knife in your First Aid kit, which is locked in the trunk of your car? Suspended.
Plastic butter knife in your lunch pail so you can cut a birthday cake for your friends? Suspended.
Bring a metal eating utensil that *resembles* a pocket knife? Suspended.
Hunting equipment in your locked truck, parked off of school grounds? Suspended.
In each and every one of these situations, had the student been calmly detained by school officials, treated like a human being, and actually been allowed to answer questions regarding *why* those items were in their possessions, every single one of these suspensions could have been avoided. Because, in every single situation, there was no malice behind the action, instead, there were perfectly logical and reasonable explanations for each and every one.
So when *should* off-campus behavior be considered (as I intimated at the start)?
When the kid has been making threats against other kids off campus. When he's a bully anywhere. When he exhibits signs of depression, or aggression, or sudden personality changes. But that requires people to, again, use COMMON SENSE and actually THINK about a situation. It requires school officials to be involved with their student body, and know the kids by name and personality. To know their parents and their home situations. To be absolutely involved. But that doesn’t happen, for myriad reasons – “not enough money in the budget” inexplicably comes to mind; too many students; too many stupid rules and regulations; too many lawsuit-happy, sex-obsessed people who think that when a teacher or a principal takes an interest in a student there *must* be a prurient motive.
And we've become such a knee-jerk, zero-tolerance, "protect the children" society that we've forgotten about the "Little Boy Who Cried Wolf" story.
One of these days, there is going to be a serious problem, and nobody's going to listen, because we're all going to think it's just another stupid reaction.
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