gender discrimination in extra curricular activities in school

[ke123]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? louisiana

My 14 year old daughter and 2 of her friends were arrested for shoplifting. All three girls have never been in trouble at all. W went to court and the judge gave them a 9 o'clock curfew and random drug and alcohol testing [which they all passed] for the rest of the summer. At that time, if they stick to his rules, all charges are dropped and no record. These girls are members of spirit groups at their high school. They are required to sign a contract before they are allowed to try out. In the contract it states that if they are arested for a felony, get cought drinking, smoking, stealing, drugs ect... they can be suspended or expelled from the squad. It is the principles decision. He decided to suspend them until he thinks they have proven a possitive change that is noticed in school andin the community. We, as parents, feel that the girls have been punished enough and that he is subjecting them to public humiliation by having to explain to their teachers, peers, extended family and the community why they have been suspended.

The principle and school staff have told many, many parents about this. If anyone ask about the rumor they heard the staff gives their names and varifies that it is true. As juvenilles, that have already been punished by the courts and their parents, We feel that this is a private family matter. Have these girls privacy rights been violated?

The boys on the athletic teams are not required to sign a contract. Many of these boys have been arrested for various things, some more than once. They are not disiplined at school for this. The girls, they say, are representitives of the school and are held to higher standards. The girls must maintain a 2.5 GPA or higher and the boys only a 2.0. Is This gender discrimination?

Sorry this is so long but there is alot about this that doesn't feel right. And by the way, this is a public high school. Any input will be greatly appreciated. ThanksWhat is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[ElvisG]

How hard is it for you to understand that each child SIGNED a contract stating that they will show POSITIVE influence in the school and community?

What in your eyes is POSITIVE about larceny?

 

[Ohiogal]

It could be gender discrimination if you prove it is only girls in the spirit groups made to sign these contracts and not the boys. But you are wrong when you say your daughter and her friends have never been in trouble at all. They have. They shoplifted.

 

[Zigner]

It could be gender discrimination if you prove it is only girls in the spirit groups made to sign these contracts and not the boys.

Makes sense to me - If a boy joined the spirit group, he'd have to sign the contract. If a girl joined football, she wouldn't

 

[Hot Topic]

Your daughter has to maintain a grade point that's .5 higher than the boys, and you think that's discrimination? How about your daughter surprising you with all B's and A's?

Your daughter knew what could happen if she violated the spirit group laws because she signed a contract laying them out. She not only shoplifted and broke the law, she broke her word.

The judgement by the court was weak since it covers the summer, which is quickly coming to a close. If your daughter is embarrassed, she should have thought of the possible consequences before she shoplifted.

Quit whining about the boys and concentrate on your daughter.

 

[ke123]

my concern is equal rights. I never said my daughter didn't do anything wrong. She is an A -B student. My objective to posting here was to get some advice from someone that actually has knowledge of the law not to be judged by someone with a holier than thou good ole boy mentality. If you have children, I feel sorry for them. No body deserves a parent that doesn't believe in them, second chances, or the constitution!

 

[Zigner]

Equal rights are fully in play. The Spirit Group has an agreement that all members must sign (male or female). Your daughter breached that agreement and is now suffering the consequences.
If you would like the football policies to apply to your daughter, have her sign up for football

my concern is equal rights. I never said my daughter didn't do anything wrong. She is an A -B student. My objective to posting here was to get some advice from someone that actually has knowledge of the law not to be judged by someone with a holier than thou good ole boy mentality. If you have children, I feel sorry for them. No body deserves a parent that doesn't believe in them, second chances, or the constitution!

 

[seniorjudge]

my concern is equal rights. I never said my daughter didn't do anything wrong. She is an A -B student. My objective to posting here was to get some advice from someone that actually has knowledge of the law not to be judged by someone with a holier than thou good ole boy mentality. If you have children, I feel sorry for them. No body deserves a parent that doesn't believe in them, second chances, or the constitution!

You did get good advice.

There is no sex discrimination here.

I think the football team should be held accountable also.

 

[stealth2]

Now, see.... if this were MY 14yo (and yes, I have one, a girl, even), this wouldn't even be a question. Because it wouldn't matter to me what agreement she may or may not have signed - she'd be done with extracurriculars until I told her otherwise. Wouldn't matter if it was Spirit Club, Math League, Field Hockey, Lacrosse, hanging with her girlfriends. Life as she knows it would be finished. It would make no difference whether a bunch of mouth-breathers or rocket scientists had to sign the same contract or not - MY kid would be done with the shenanigans.

Feel sorry for her all you want. I'm her friend on occasion. But most of the time I'm her parent. And there isn't a darned thing wrong with having a little fear in one's heart.

(edit) I should add that neither of my teens would be participating in any sort of extracurricular if they were pulling a 2.0/2.5 GPA. They'd be home with their noses in their books. Yeah, I'm a mean parent.

 

[las365]

Learning that her actions have consequences is a good lesson for your daughter. If a little public humiliation keeps her from being a thief in the future, that's a positive thing.

I do not believe that her constitutional rights have been violated. There is no constitutional right to steal another's property, or to avoid the repercussions of deciding to do so.

You feel that she has been punished enough, but you do not have authority over the schools' decision to require your daughter to abide by the agreement she made as a condition of participating in extracurricular activities.

 

[Hot Topic]

This is a mother who's convinced her daughter has been victimized. Hopefully, she hasn't passed her attitude on, but I suspect she has: What I did was wrong, but the boys have done worse, and they got away with it. No fair! No fair! No fair!

 

[lisamont72]

Discrimination?

This doesn't seem like discrimination -- they signed the contract and they broke it. Therefore they should have to deal with the consequences. They seem pretty light considering the gravity of the offense.

As a parent, I really feel for you and know that it is hard to watch your daughter deal with a punishment. However, this is one of those life lessons where you can either make a huge impression on her or cloud the issue and teach her that consequences really don't apply to her. The bottom line is that they got caught stealing -- whether it goes on their permanent record is irrelevant at this point.

The issue really isn't about everyone else -- it's about your expectations for your daughter and what you are going to do to make sure she lives up to them. If this happened in my house, my daughter's social life would come to an abrupt halt for the foreseeable future. Can you even get into college with a 2.0 or 2.5? That seems insanely low.

 

[notsmartmark]

Similar situation reversed

We just had a similar sounding situation that was reversed on appeal. The situation was a girls' spirit team member broke a contract. The parents appealed the decision and won. The reason was because the behavior occurred off season and the contract couldn't be enforced while the student wasn't part of the team.

I also believed we had issues with activities that were applying different behavior standards. I don't believe it went into gender (I believe they side-stepped it), but it was an issue that different activities were applying diiferent standards. We now starting to work on a single contract.

 

[ariastar]

Contract aside (for which I say tough, she chose to steal), is it legal that there are different minimum grades for primarily-girl versus primarily-boy activities? At my school, to participate in any extracurricular activity, a c-average must be maintained, regardless of gender or activity. So would it not be some sort of discrimination that a primarily-girl activity requires better grades? Though a C is hardly worth bragging about. Or is this saying teen boys don't have enough blood to operate both heads at once, so need the handicap?