School Systems Mentally Abuses Student

What is the name of your state? Pennsylvania

I have a 17 year old who is a senior in high school, already has his acceptance into college and has been awarded a few scholarshhips. This child has always been outstanding in school, very active in music, plays, spanish club. Never one to miss school or get in any trouble. His college career will consist of classes in film, he would like to be a film producer. For his start in his senior year, he was ask to do the morning announcements, this was great for him and made him very excited. He put a lot of time, creativity and energy into this project. When the schools computer broke down, he ask if he could take it home and find out what was wrong with it and fix it? In the mean time he brought his computer into the school so they could still do the announcements and they could still use the computer. One day one of the teachers was upset and started screaming at him and told him that he now owned his computer because it was on school property and accused him of stealing the schools computer. My son went to the teacher that gave him permission to work on the computer at home and told him what had happened and this teacher began screaming at him as well and accused him of stealing the computer and kicked him off the morning announcements. My son then went the the principle and ask for help in this matter and was told that there wasn't anything going on and that he already talked with these teachers and he was pretty much on their side. My husband and i called in for appointments to try to talk to these teachers and we told there was nothing to talk about. The whole issue took such an impact on my son that he started missing school and closing himself off from everyone and became very dissappointed and depressed. I took him to counciling and he is still seeing the counsilor and is still having a very rough time at school, he has asked to drop this class and they forbid it tell him he doesn' need to drop it, they have also gave him lower grades than he deserves which are proven from his papers, but they tell him he is getting lower because of being kicked off the announcements. No one at the school will accept our phone calls or any attempts for us to solve this matter and we are very frustrated. i want to get someones attention and i have two other children in this school as well. i need some help for my son so he can get past this and move on. what type of lawyer do i need and does it sound like i have a case against this school for what they have done to him?

frustrated for my son

[JETX]

"When the schools computer broke down, he ask if he could take it home and find out what was wrong with it and fix it?"
** Who did he 'ask'?? Was this done in writing?? (Hard to believe that a teacher would assume responsibility for removing school property WITHOUT written permission). What was wrong with the schools computer?? Was it repaired?? How much time lapsed between the schools computer being taken home and his being 'caught'??

"In the mean time he brought his computer into the school so they could still do the announcements and they could still use the computer."
** Again, did he have WRITTEN permission to 'exchange' the schools computer for his?? What did the announcements have to do with the computer?? Who is the 'they' that could still use the computer?? Did ANYONE know of this 'borrowing' before hand?? Who??

"One day one of the teachers was upset and started screaming at him and told him that he now owned his computer because it was on school property and accused him of stealing the schools computer."
** Obviously, his property doesn't automatically convert to school property solely by being on premises. However, what are the FACTS of the alleged theft??

What is the value of EACH computer??

When the computer broke, he ask his teacher Mr. Wilson if he wanted him to try to fix it. Mr. Wilson told him yes he could if he wanted to. The schools computer was not fixed, there was only a few days that lapsed and he took it back. there was nothing in writing, when my son asked if he could fix it he was told yes go ahead. My son would video tape things that were going on and convert it to AVI files which needed to be done by computer. again no there was nothing in writing about exchanging computers.

i am not sure what you mean by what are the facts of the alleged theft??? one of the teachers told him he could look at it and fix it if he could and then denied the whole thing, we have a computer in every room of our house, my son doesn't need to steal one. and if he did steal it why would he take his in while he was fixing it?

my son has a lot of money tied up in his computer and the schools computer is not even close in value compared to his. the problem here is teachers mentally abusing a child. isn't there anything we can do about the treatment at this school. there are several other issues along with this and they are all issues of mental abuse.

[stealth2]

Did he actually get permission to remove the school's computer from school property? That seems to be where the issue is...

yes he got permission to fix it. why would he take it if he didn't? Fixing the computer was only going to benefit him more because he needed it to get the announcements done. my son has never stolen a thing in his life and he didn't steal this computer. like i said before if he stole it why would he take his in there to use while the other one was being fixed. the teacher knew it was his computer, it just happened that the other teacher didn't and started this whole mess. kicking him off the announcements without a valid reason. why is everyone always asuming the children are the bad ones. this kid is an excellent student, works very hard and is dedicated. he got run over by a teacher that was unaware of the situation and then once it became public the teachers had to stick up for each other, there was even a teacher next door that heard the whole thing and told my son she could help if he needed her, she was talked to by the head people and can't recall any of the story. then they wonder why these kids get so angry that they bring guns to school.

[JETX]

And what did the school board say when you took this issue to them??

[stealth2]

*Fixing* it doesn't necessarily entail removing it from school property. Did he have specific permission to do that? Apart from anything else, if - for example - it had been stolen while in your son's possession, if very likely would *not* have been covered by the school's insurance. If your son got hurt while working on it - it happens - the school might have some liability problems. Some possible explanations for the seemingly over-blown reaction.

[JETX]

"like i said before if he stole it why would he take his in there to use while the other one was being fixed."
** And that is why I asked which computer was better. It is possible that the schools computer had 'better' than his home computer had (you have since denied this as a possible cause) and his 'swap' would have been fine if no one caught on.

"the teacher knew it was his computer, it just happened that the other teacher didn't and started this whole mess. kicking him off the announcements without a valid reason."
** I bet that he has learned a very important lesson from this.... do NOT 'borrow' someone elses property without getting PROPER approval/permission.

"why is everyone always asuming the children are the bad ones. this kid is an excellent student, works very hard and is dedicated. he got run over by a teacher that was unaware of the situation and then once it became public the teachers had to stick up for each other,"
** Gee, and I guess that we (who only GET to hear one side of this story) are supposed to believe 2nd and 3rd hand information that a student is truthful and several teachers are 'conspiring' against him. Guess we all got doubtful of the balanced facts when we finally found out the truth about the 'vast right wing conspiracy'.

"there was even a teacher next door that heard the whole thing and told my son she could help if he needed her, she was talked to by the head people and can't recall any of the story."
** Is this from your own personal knowledge, or something you have again been told??? Do you see a pattern here.... do you have ANY first-hand information from ANYONE that would support what your son is saying to you??

"then they wonder why these kids get so angry that they bring guns to school."
** WOW, what a leap. And a dangerous and telling one at that. So, since you are being blunt....let me do so also. Watch out for your son. He has you so bumfuzzled up that he is Mr. Clean and Honest that he is very likely getting away with a complete second life.... drugs, booze, burglaries, robberies, drive-by's and all!! And you just think he is the 'cutest thing'!!

Sometimes the hardest thing in life is to hear the things that are NOT being said.

point well taken and i am not trying to sound like he is an angel and they are the demons, but it is very frustrating to see a student that has always been interested in school and a good student with good grades take a down hill slide, and yes i guess it is easier to blame it on someone else. but if they are the good guys then i expected them to help me when i called to discuss this issue with them. telling me we have nothing to talk about was the wrong approach. i know my son is not perfect and yes lately he has been doing a lot of lying. but when a student is in trouble and he needs help, you should be able to have teachers willing to help instead of blowing you off and refusing to meet with you. now before i get acused of it, when i spoke with the school i was very nice and ask if we could have a meeting to try to understand and solve this issue in a rash manner. i did go in with a angry mode and threaten them or bash them. i just ask for help with the situation, because like you, i was only hearing one side of the story and needed some light on the issue. i know that the problem is my son, i just expect the teachers to have more ampathy towards students. life is a lot harder out there today and kids need support and understanding as well as discipline. just the right kind of discipline.

[stealth2]

aah, so there is more to the story. It is quite possible that this is not the first problem they've had with your son, and he's managed to hide it from you. Which would explain a lot about the school's reaction to you. Unfortunately, I found it impossible to tell if you did or did not go in to them in angry mode (due to the typos). I suspect that they may be interpreting your reaction as another parent upset about the "unfairness" shown a problem student.

It seems to me that a very likely scenario is that he didn't actually have permission to remove the school's computer, and the teacher who told him he could fix it got reamed out, and several people caught it for not noticing sooner. So none of them are happy with your son. And this not being the first problem may have been enough to put them over the edge.

If this is affecting your son so severely, I really do think there's more to it than he's told you.

no actually in 12 years of school this is the first trouble that anyone has ever had with my son. that is what is so wierd about it. he has always been the teachers pet and he works very hard to please everyone. These teachers are very defensive when it comes to parents wanting to come in get to the bottom of things. to be told there is nothing to talk about is a very poor way of dealing with parents who want nothing but to see their son succeed in life and not let a stupid little incident like this change his outlook. the announcements met a great deal to him and the took this off of him for fixing a computer. no the best approach to the situation and never even offered him any type of counciling inside the school or would even talk to his parents. bad management.

[stealth2]

I find it difficult to believe, I'm sorry. A few posts up you said that he's started lying - what makes you think he hasn't been lying for longer than you've caught him at it, but has been good at talking his way out? I know that I've told my kids teachers that I expect to be called should there be any issue with either of them, to be told that they prefer to deal with the child first - the intimation being that if it's resolved, I may never know in the first place.

Something to consider.

I'm sorry, i said he started lying i didn't say he turned into a horrible child. i would never leave it up to the school system to handle all matters without ever knowing what is going on. then they are the first to make statements about parents not caring and not getting involved in their childs life. obviously your children go to a good school, mine however go to a school where the teachers have given up on students and their ability, they find great satisfaction in demeaning a student or prohibiting growth rather than helping them grow and prosper. you must be really fortunate.

Something to look at is what kind of files were stored on "said" computer? Were there grades? Confidential Information? This sort of thing needs to be looked at as well. If there was nothing of great importance on the computer, I know this is shaky, but what point would there have been to take it and fix it other then to aid his tasks. However, the ultimate question is was it stealing? Did he have the proper permission to take the computer off school property? If not then I'm sorry but bad things do happen to good people.

[stealth2]

CTSCAM raises an interesting point. Another question would be - what was on the computer he brought in as a swap...