Teachers in Dallas, responding to perceived bomb warnings and murder threats outlined in the class essays of children as young as 6, have rushed to implement the district's new procedures for identifying potentially dangerous students. And when a student in Granite City, Ill., spewed angry words at several classmates, his parents were called and he was sent to counseling. Teachers, administrators, and even students themselves are increasingly intent on detecting any hints of potential mayhem such as those that have, in hindsight, haunted their counterparts at Columbine High School and other schools where student gunmen have struck.
Expression is a way to deal with issues.
The teacher has to make a judgment. The New Mexico 10th grader at Socorro High School, about an hour south of Albuquerque, said he was merely designing new playing fields for a popular computer fantasy game. Another student in the nearby Los Lunas district was also suspended for sketching escape routes from his high school, but he was cleared after officials learned he was frightened he would not be able to get out of the building in an emergency and was mapping out the best plan for escape. A San Francisco youth is suing his district after his suspension last year over a class essay. In it, he described starting a riot and killing the principal.