Libertarian Rock » Rockstar

Parents sue school for viewing son with webcam

Rockstar — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:48:42 +0000

A government school in Pennsylvania used cameras and microphones on laptops issued to students to locate missing laptops and, oh by the way, to also monitor students. Yes, the “telescreen” devices from the book 1984 have arrived in 2010. Parents of a monitored student have sued the school after receiving a photo of their son engaging in what the school considered to be inappropriate behavior.

The school has turned off the monitoring program and students, taking no chances, have taped over the webcams and the microphones. The FBI will investigate to see if the school broke federal law.

Michael and Holly Robbins of Penn Valley, Pa., filed the lawsuit. In their lawsuit, they asked the judge “to issue a restraining order preventing the district from remotely activating the webcams on student notebooks. They also requested that the judge block the district from recalling the laptops from students, saying that they believe school officials will then wipe the MacBooks’ hard drives to delete evidence of any camera activation.”

The school has since admitted to using the cameras and microphones to located missing laptops. However, the parents claimed the laptop was not reported missing at the time.

On the TV Program The Early Show, the student said the principal accused him of selling drugs and taking pills. So now there’s a motive for the principal.

It’s no surprise that an official with such control over students would try to grab more control by monitoring students at home. If the state can take someone’s children for eight hours a day, I guess these officials figured camera monitoring was less offensive – which it is.

Faced with losing their Orwellian surveillance device, the school is probably going to ask the state government to proceed to the next logical step of forced schooling and require students to become full-time boarders at the school. Or maybe take an intermediate step and require students to stay at the school/prison until 9 or 10 p.m., at least until the local curfew kicks in.

Read a Computer World article.

Read a CBS News article.

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Suspended for Facebook page, student can sue

Rockstar — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 11:20:31 +0000

A federal judge ruled a former high school student suspended for creating a Facebook page that criticized her English teacher can sue the high school principal who suspended her. The page entitled “Ms. Sarah Phelps is the worst teacher I’ve ever had” attracted current and former students, some of whom criticized the teacher and others who offered support. The student, Katherine Evans, took down the page after a few days. Two months later, the principal suspended her for creating the page. Represented by the ACLU, the student, now in a second year college student, wants the suspension expunged from her record, payment for legal fees, and a nominal award. See news coverage and legal info.

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Germans flee to home school in US

Rockstar — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 12:05:59 +0000

For all we write about persecution in the United States, when it comes to home schooling, German citizens flee their country for the freedom to teach their children. A US judge recently granted asylum to a German family with five children. The article in the French paper, Le Monde, used accurate language to describe the goverment’s “free” “public” “school system” as compulsory schooling. However, the article cast home schooling as driven by religious views, when it’s about allowing people the right to study what they want and how they want. The idea of sitting in a room with 30 other people with different abilities and interests, yet all being forced to learn the same subject is not what many would call smart schooling.

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“Free Range Kids”

Rockstar — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 01:58:56 +0000

A New York City mom who allows her nine-year-old son to ride the subway wrote an article about her mothering ways and became an overnight news story, cast as the “Worst Mom in America.” Many hate e-mails later, the mom wrote a book called “Free Range Kids” and now maintains a blog to argue that childhood is about discovering the world, not being held captive, and some of kids’ fondest memories are those on their own. With more mom’s thinking that children deserve more freedom, the less likely it is that power-hungry politicians hell-bent on showing they’re tough on crime will propose laws restricting the actions of teenagers. If kids deserve free range, they don’t deserve government schools with locked-down campuses. It wouldn’t be surprising if the author decided to home school her son, giving him “free range” to learn what interests him, rather than topics chosen by the federal and state government or the local school board.

Defending her practice to allow her son to take the subway along, the author argues abductions are about as common as they have been for decades. The chance of a child being abducted are less likely than falling off a bed or other furniture.

Before this book or this post inspires someone to run off to take the subway alone, bear in mind that abductions may be less likely because parents usually ride with their children on the subway. If every kid rode the subway alone, there might be more abductions.

As for teenagers, many already ride the subway alone and should have the freedom to leave campus during the lunch, use a cellphone at school, and many other fundamental actions unnecessarily restricted by busy-body voters and their politicians.

I can’t wait for the sequel to the book, perhaps it will be called Free Range Teenagers or let’s call it Emancipated Teenagers. Write the first chapter with some elbow grease: launch a campaign to repeal a restrictive local law or school regulation.

Read the Free Range Kids’ author’s book and blog.

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Court approves uniform protest with “Hitler Youth” buttons

Rockstar — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 17:32:14 +0000

Totalitarian, egalitarian, envious school bureaucrats love uniforms. They force everyone to be equal and suppress free expression. Two students, in the fifth and seventh grades, at schools in Bayonne, New Jersey, protested their schools’ new uniform policies by wearing buttons stating “no school uniforms” with a slash through them along with a photo of Hitler Youth boys wearing identical shirts and neckerchiefs. No swastikas appeared on the buttons. School admins threatened to suspend the students, so their parents sued. Referencing the famous Tinker arm band decision, a judge ruled the protest may continue because it did not disrupt the school.

The parents specifically filed a federal lawsuit stating the district stifled their children’s First Amendment free speech rights. According to Fox News, the parents also sued to repeal the uniform policy.

One of the students had worn a button for more than six weeks before the school protested. The school claimed the buttons promoted Nazi ideology and do not, if you can believe this, constitute free speech. While the lawsuit moved forward, the students did not wear buttons to avoid jeopardizing their education.

“The school cannot prohibit student free speech even where some may find the speech offensive,” said Ed Barocas, legal director of the ACLU’s New Jersey chapter. “The school must show that the free speech is actually going to be disruptive, in order to censor it.”

The parents issued a written statement:

“I’ve gotten overwhelming support from MANY people that tell me that they absolutely agree with what the image depicted, an ominously homogenous group of blindly cooperative children,” the statement said.

“That image showed no swastikas, no weapons, and Hitler himself wasn’t depicted,” she wrote. “The picture makes a profound statement about what can happen when we turn children into ‘uniform’ followers. Our intent was not to offend but to make a bold statement about what we, as an American family believe is an erosion of a simple right, to be individuals, not blind followers. The very basic rights, to wear clothing we choose, and to peacefully protest what we know was the undemocratic stripping of those rights from us as parent and student.”

Wow!

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10 rules for dealing with the police

Rockstar — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:38:37 +0000

Did you know that if the police ask you to step out of your car, you should close and lock the door after you exit? Same goes for your home, step outside and speak to the police outside your home. A video from Flex Your Rights illustrates this advice and more. For an encounter, the video shows how you should not act, then shows how you should act. If the former, the subject goes to jail. In the latter, he or she proceeds.

This advice might come in handy when dealing with police who use curfews as an excuse to stop teenagers. The police might be more interested in seeing if you are breaking one of the thousands of federal, state, and local laws that bind us like Gulliver. And this video will show you how to keep the officer focused on the curfew.

The Flex Your Rights video acts out the encounters. For real life videos, you must view the videos of Checkpoint USA showing encounters with internal suspicisionless checkpoints. Some of these encounters can last for 30 minutes. Some end with the person proceeding on. Others end with broken windshields, smashed with the batons of internal, gov’t power-hungry officials. Don’t miss the blog as well.

Now don’t take this as legal advice, but most curfew laws have first amendment exceptions, that unfortunately require an explicit political activity, rather than just the freedom to assemble for a rock concert, discussion or any other reason. Theoretically, you could always say you are heading to or coming from a political event. Just have the name of one in mind, and the event could be a political meeting at a local fast food place.

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Youth rights group sues to repeal Florida curfew

Rockstar — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 09:27:33 +0000

Residents of the warm, year-round climate of Palm Beach, Florida, regularly stay outside during the late evening, unless they happen to be under the age 18. A local curfew law bars those under 18 from being outside past 10 pm weeknights and 11 pm weekends, unless, one is exercising first amendment rights, including the right to peaceably assemble. Confusing, isn’t it? The National Youth Rights Association of Southeast Florida sued the city to repeal the law they claim contains a First Amendment exception that, in the words of their star attorney, “swallows” the law.

In a letter to the city, the attorney for the Youth Rights Group takes the time to provide a quick, First Amendment lesson to a City Council that is supposed to understand their ultimate charter for existence.

the ordinance contains the following exception, “Attending or

traveling directly to or from an activity that involves the exercise of rights

protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.” These

rights include freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of association.

“The ordinance contains the following exception, ‘Attending or traveling directly to or from an activity that involves the exercise of rights protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.’ These rights include freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of association. ”These [First Amendment] rights are implicated in any type of activity one can imagine in the downtown area, since minors in the curfew area will engage in speech and seek to associate with whomever they choose.”

The Youth Rights Group posted all legal documents related to the case, providing a helpful guide on how to sue a city council for repeal of a curfew. The documents include letters to the city, court papers, and press releases.

Courts across the country have struck down city curfews for violating the first amendment rights of teenagers. Most city councils respond by passing a new law including a first amendment exception. The laws acknowledge the First Amendment, but the city continues to arrest people for peaceably assembling or speaking (to their friends). This Palm Beach court case represents an important and long-overdue counter attack.

Had the authors of the Constitution used shorter sentences and bullet points, there might not be as much confusion about the amendments. For example, the U.S. federal government and many state governments have used the 18th century wording of the second amendment to remove the right of people to arm themselves against their government by claiming the right to bear arms only applies to members of a state-government militia. The text is as follows, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” In an action sure to have English teachers bear arms, legislatures and their courts (separation of powers is a myth) have used the introductory clause, “a well regulated militia,” to nullify the amendment’s main clause, “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Consider this sentence, “A person may play a violin and attend a concert.” This does not mean a person may play a violin only while attending a concert. The “and” in the sentence merely allows the phrase “A person” to modify “play a violin” and “attend a concert.”A person may play a violin and a person may attend a concert.

Local legislatures need another English lesson about the First Amendment. The First Amendment reads,

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Let’s focus on the last portion: “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” This means people have the right to peaceably assemble and to petition the Government for redress of grievances. They do not have to do both at the same time. If they did, then a single person would not be able to petition the government in writing–a person would have to assemble first, then petition the government. Similarly, a person does not need to petition the government in order to peaceably assemble. A person may peaceably assemble simply because the person wants to assemble. The First Amendment was written to prevent governments from doing exactly what they are doing to teenagers: imposing martial law and keeping them in their homes.

Fast forwarding two hundred plus years, let’s adopt contemporary vernacular to the First Amendment: people (including teenagers) have the right to stand anywhere on public land at any time. In short, they may peaceably assemble. They don’t need to protest the government. They can talk about movies, music, or anything else on their minds. They can also remain silent and just hang out and enjoy a warm night in Palm Beach.

Take Action! Sue your city over your local curfew law. Find a local lawyer who sued the your city or state government and see if the lawyer will take your case. The Florida activists found an attorney who successfully helped overturn a law barring feeding the homeless in city parks. Try contacting civil liberties law firms such as the Institute for Justice and the ACLU. Lawyers may be more inclined to take the case since they can reference the Florida case documents.

More Info

Florida case documents
Related article and video
National Youth Rights Association of Southeast Florida
National Youth Right Association

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Freedom at lunchtime! Students do what they want.

Rockstar — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 22:10:13 +0000

At a Maryland government school, lunch time now provides a healthy break during the day. Administrators turned lunchtime into free time. All students have the same lunch hour, and students can do just about anything they please during the hour. Some just eat and relax, while others also play sports, hold student group meetings, and study for afternoon tests. Teachers and administrators use the time to meet one-on-one with students, reducing the need for early morning and after school sessions. Everyone benefits.

The new policy did not start without problems. At first, all students rushed to the cafeteria at the same time and faced long lines. Soon students learned that if their last class was far from the cafeteria, they would be better off going to the cafeteria a little later in the lunch hour.

Janitorial staff initially worried the new policy would introduce more work. The cafe manager didn’t think he could serve all students during one hour. Teachers were split; many immediately thought of ways to use the time to teach students in new ways. A group including teachers, students, janitorial staff, and administrators set out to resolve these problems and eventually devised an agreeable plan. For the problem of serving all students at once, the cafe set up satellite distribution points! Innovation at a government school!

Eight years later, the principal considers the single lunch hour a huge success. Officials from other schools regularly visit to learn about the policy.

It’s worth noting the principal sees fewer lunchtime fights because students are not confined to lunchroom. Why not extend this idea to schooling in general? There would be a whole lot less tension if teenagers could decide how to spend all their time, and whether to spend it at school or at work, and to decide who they want to spend time with. Those who show up at school, likely want to study the offered coursework, while those who choose jobs, want to work at a job.

People over 18 with jobs often will leave a job because of the culture and the people. For teenagers, they often have to study/work with the same people for four years during high school and often many years prior.

But progress is progress, and at least for one hour during the day, for 60 precious minutes, teenage students can decide for themselves how to spend their time.

Read this amazing article written by the principal about the policy (PDF).

Read a related article.

Take action! Propose this idea at your school! Print copies of the principal’s article and distribute it to administrators and teachers at your school. Explain the benefits of one lunchtime period for all students (and teachers):

fewer lunchtime supervisors needed
more time to spend with students one-on-one during the day, instead of before and after school
less stressed students
less talking during class (we hope) because students know they can speak to any of their friends during lunch (at most schools, students need to have the same lunch period to meet)
more student club participation
only clean cafeteria and grounds once, not after many different lunch periods
more time for students and teachers to meet
and more!

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Gov school bans skinny jeans, home school doesn’t

Rockstar — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 20:56:56 +0000

An ultra-conservative, Texas government “school” does not allow the latest denim craze: skinny jeans. Administrators at a Kimbrough Middle School in Mesquite gave Seth Chamlee a choice: change into some pants provided by the school or go home. He went home and he’s going to stay there. His mom said, ““We’re going to home schooling. He can learn more without the distraction of what to wear. To not be getting your education because of pants … I don’t want him to learn that.”

The school admins claim skinny jeans violate their modesty requirements. They might have a point. Some clothes are not appropriate for all circumstances, and choosing which clothes are appropriate is a subjective decision. The school likely doesn’t allow males to show their briefs, a style favored by some, and students likely leave government schools for this reason.

However, students and their parents also have the right to decide if they think skinny jeans or any other dress style distracts from studying. And they have the right to leave a school that bans styles they deem acceptable, as Seth and his Mom decided.

The dress code could have been the last straw. The school may be conservative with all policies: music, arts, essays, group projects. Do they welcome creativity and new ideas or suppress them?

Seth has an exciting road ahead of him. Not only can he wear any dress style, he will have much more control over what he studies. Clearly Seth thinks for himself and now he can think for himself while learning. And when Seth meets his friends after the government school day ends, he’ll be wearing skinny jeans, while his friends, unless they changed their clothes, will be wearing more conservative attire.

» Read a related article.

» Seth’s facebook page?

» Search Google for more stories about Seth.

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Youth rights org wins $25,000

Rockstar — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 19:13:34 +0000

The National Youth Rights Association won $25,000 in a Facebook community giving contest! The organization received enough votes to place them in the top 100 organizations. The 100 finalists now compete for a grand prize of $1 million. The voting begins January 15. Help them out by visiting their Facebook page.

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Libertarian Rock » Rockstar

Parents sue school for viewing son with webcam

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Suspended for Facebook page, student can sue

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Germans flee to home school in US

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“Free Range Kids”

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Court approves uniform protest with “Hitler Youth” buttons

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Youth rights group sues to repeal Florida curfew

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Freedom at lunchtime! Students do what they want.

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Gov school bans skinny jeans, home school doesn’t

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Youth rights org wins $25,000

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