You’re in for it now. You’ve been ordered down to the principal’s office, and he doesn’t look like
he’s in a forgiving mood. He lists off all the trouble you’re in, gives you a blistering lecture,
and pounds his fist on the table before pronouncing your punishment.
You’ve really done it this time, though luckily it’ll just be another bout in detention.
But some kids have been suspended from school for reasons that can be downright bizarre.
If you’ve seen movies about kids in the 80s, you’ve probably seen a food fight. These are
often portrayed as destructive free-for-alls where the whole cafeteria winds up coated in food.
But the reality is often less impressive -and the punishment severe. In Chicago, a group of middle
schoolers engaged in some light tossing of food at lunch. After one piece of food went flying,
another kid tossed an orange. Someone yelled “Food fight!”, likely hoping to start some chaos - but
no one bit. Likely hoping to deter any future food-fight fans, the school not only suspended
twenty-five students - but they were arrested for reckless conduct and spent several hours in jail!
It wasn’t the only time food got kids in trouble.
Kids love to play with their food, so it wasn’t any surprise when a seven-year-old boy chewed
his Pop Tart into some unique shapes. But when he bit it into the shape of a pistol,
the school sprung into action. The boy was sent to the principal, who immediately suspended him
under the zero-tolerance policy for bringing any kind of weapon to school. The fact that
the weapon was made out of pastry didn’t seem to matter. While the school said the boy had a
history of behavioral problems and stood by their decision, the incident caused a national uproar.
Zero tolerance policies sometimes get a little out of control.
What was the best day in elementary school? When someone had a birthday and they brought
in treats, of course! But for one Delaware first-grader, it turned all too serious.
He brought in a birthday cake for the whole class to share, and helpfully brought in a knife for
the teacher to cut the cake. She did - and then immediately sent the child down to the principal,
where he was immediately suspended for bringing a weapon to school. Happy birthday,
kid. While the school was initially going to send him to an alternative school for forty-five days,
it was eventually lowered to a three-day suspension after national attention.
Safety is first at schools, and that can even cause trouble for good samaritans.
When a student at a middle school in Virginia saw a parent they knew struggling with a heavy
package, they held the door open to the school to let them in. Sounds like a nice
thing to do - but they soon found themselves suspended for a day instead of being thanked!
The school had a high-tech security system that involved everyone who
wasn’t a student or employee being vetted by a security camera before they’re let in,
and there was no room for chivalry when it came to making sure the school was safe.
Even saving someone’s life can backfire on students!
An asthma attack can turn serious in a hurry, but when a girl in an eighth-grade
Texas class told her teacher she couldn’t breathe, the teacher wasn’t concerned. She
told the girl to wait until she heard back from the nurse. But when the girl collapsed,
a boy near her had seen enough. He picked the girl up, said some choice words,
and ran the girl down to the nurse. His reward for helping a student who couldn’t breathe?
Being suspended for two days for cursing and for leaving the classroom without permission.
His angry mother quickly changed her tune when she found out why he was in trouble.
Sometimes the call of nature can mean a call home from the principal.
We’ve all had a big lunch and we just need to get a little of that air out, right? Well,
that’s what happened to a New Mexico teenager, who let out a big burp in the middle of class.
Nothing to get worked up over, right? Well, when he let out several more loud burps,
the teacher sent him to the office - and that’s where the story took a turn. In New Mexico,
disturbing the education process isn’t just grounds for suspension - it’s a misdemeanor,
and the seventh-grader was suspended. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court,
and eventually they ruled that the law was legal. Might want to hold in that next burp.
The danger of being suspended starts surprisingly early in some cases.
A five-year-old Pennsylvania girl loved her Hello Kitty-themed bubble gun - so
much that she couldn’t bear to leave it behind when she went to school.
She couldn’t wait to have a bubble fight with her friends - but when she pointed it
at another student, the school acted fast and suspended her for ten days
from Kindergarten. The school claimed that she had made a credible threat against another student,
but agreed to reduce the suspension to two days after the parents got an attorney involved.
Students don’t have to just be careful about what they do - but what they say.
When high school senior Patrick Farves attended a school event hosted by 2014 Miss America
Nina Davuluri, he decided to take a bold step - and ask her to prom.
This stunt had been public knowledge at the school for a few days and he was warned not
to disrupt the assembly. When he did it anyway, Miss America seemed to think it was funny even
as she turned him down - but the administration didn’t. They suspended Farves for three days,
but Davuluri was more sympathetic - she wrote a letter to the school asking them to be lenient.
That wasn’t the only time a fan of a celebrity got themselves in trouble.
When popular, religious NFL quarterback Tim Tebow became famous for his “Tebowing” stance in games,
a group of students in Riverhead High School decided to show their support. They created a
little flash mob in the hallway, all mimicking Tebow’s kneeling stance. The only problem?
This apparently caused a traffic jam in the hallway,
and the administration wasn’t amused. The four students who started it were suspended,
and the school faced accusations of religious discrimination.
But one young sports fan went even further in showing his support for his team.
Patrick Gonzalez, a twelve-year-old from San Antonio, was a huge fan of Spurs player Matt
Bonner. And thanks to a talented barber, he was able to come to school with Bonner’s image
shaved into his head. The eye-catching hairstyle certainly made him popular - but it violated the
school’s dress code which banned distracting hairstyles. The only way out of his suspension?
Shave his head to get rid of the tribute. But Gonzalez did get something out of the
deal - a package of basketball tickets and autographed gear directly from Bonner.
Schools often have strict dress codes - and hair is a common source for trouble.
In 2014, a little girl in third grade was battling cancer and lost all her hair. Her kind best friend
didn’t want her to go through this alone, so she decided to shave her head as well.
This would have been a feel-good story - if it wasn’t for the administration’s reaction.
The public charter school thought a little girl with a shaved head would be a distraction,
so they suspended her until her hair grew back. This was the ultimate bad PR move,
and the school quickly found itself forced to make an exemption for this good friend.
It wasn’t the only time support for kids with cancer led to trouble.
The charity Locks of Love encourages people to grow their hair out and then have it cut for the
hair to be made into wigs for those battling cancer. One Ohio boy decided to undertake
this project, but it seemed only girls at his high school were allowed to have long hair.
The school told him that once his hair reached a certain length, he would have to cut it or
be put into in-school suspension until he did. While he fought his case to the school board,
they upheld the policy, and the young man became the only prisoner of conscience in the ISS room.
Big tech is making its way into schools, and that causes some unusual situations.
RFID is a tracking system that’s often used to keep tabs on livestock and make sure they’re
not escaping their confines, but one San Antonio principal had another idea - having his students
wear necklaces with RFID chips when in school. Good luck cutting class now, kids. One sophomore,
Andrea Hernandez, felt this was a violation of her privacy. When she rejected a compromise that would
allow her to wear a similar badge without the chip because she didn’t want to appear like she was
complying, she was suspended and faced expulsion for refusing to comply with the dress code.
Even pop music can get kids in trouble.
Six-year-old D’Avonte Meadows heard a song on the radio that seemed pretty catchy,
so he decided to sing it in the lunch line. Unfortunately for him, the song was
“I’m Sexy and I Know It” and the line “Girl, look at that body” was determined
to be not appropriate for school. He was suspended for sexual harassment, and many
people questioned whether it was likely if he even knew what he was singing about. He probably
didn’t - given that the song had been parodied on Sesame Street not long before the incident.
But some incidents can carry much more serious consequences for the kids involved.
Kiera Wilmot, a star student at Bartow High School in Florida, decided to do an experiment that she
had seen on YouTube for her science class. She mixed toilet bowl cleaner and aluminum foil,
which can create an impressive chemical reaction. But she got more than she was
counting on - a small explosion that sent smoke billowing into the room. While no one was hurt
and nothing was damaged, the explosion startled people enough that Wilmot was expelled from school
and charged with a felony - discharge of a weapon on school property. The idea of a promising young
student possibly facing jail time for a science experiment caused a national outrage, and
Wilmot eventually had the charges dropped and was allowed back in school to graduate with her class.
But that was nothing compared to the furor of the final case - which got
the President of the United States involved!
14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed was a science buff at MacArthur High School in Texas,
and he liked to experiment with simple household devices. When he took apart a digital clock and
put it together in a new shape, he decided to bring it to school to show his teachers.
While most of them might have been impressed, his English teacher panicked. She thought the
strange-looking device looked like a bomb and contacted the principal. Ahmed was arrested and
questioned for hours without his parents being allowed to see him. While no charges were filed,
he was suspended from school - and that’s where the outrage started.
His story became national news, with many saying it made no sense that a digital clock would be
mistaken for a bomb. Others said he was racially profiled, being from a Sudanese Muslim family.
The anger over the case spread so far that President Barack Obama tweeted his support,
saying “Cool clock, Ahmed” and inviting the boy to the White House. While Ahmed’s suspension
was over after three days, the controversy wasn’t - his family filed a lawsuit against
the school district for violating his civil rights, although it was later dismissed. But
it’s not many school suspensions that people are still debating on talk radio five years later.
For what happens when these situations escalate even further,
check out “Weird Times Police Arrested Kids”, or watch “World’s Worst Teachers - 9 Insane Things
That Got Them Fired” for what happens when the other people at school get in trouble.