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Would have to read what the Essay says, before I could make a total conclusion.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...1,696682.story
Student writes essay, arrested by police
By Jeff Long and Carolyn Starks
Tribune staff reporters
April 26, 2007
High school senior Allen Lee sat down with his creative writing class on Monday and penned an essay that so disturbed his teacher, school administrators and police that he was charged with disorderly conduct.
"I understand what happened recently at Virginia Tech," said the teen's father, Albert Lee, referring to last week's massacre of 32 students by gunman Seung-Hui Cho. "I understand the situation."
But he added: "I don't see how somebody can get charged by writing in their homework. The teacher asked them to express themselves, and he followed instructions."
Allen Lee, an 18-year-old straight-A student at Cary-Grove High School, was arrested Tuesday near his home and charged with disorderly conduct for an essay police described as violently disturbing but not directed toward any specific person or location.
The youth's father said his son was not suspended or expelled but was forced to attend classes elsewhere for now.
Today, Cary-Grove students rallied behind the arrested teen by organizing a pe ion drive to let him back in their school. They posted on walls quotes from the English teacher in which she had encouraged students to express their emotions through writing.
"I'm not going to lie. I signed the pe ion," said senior James Gitzinger. "But I can understand where the administration is coming from. I think I would react the same way if I was a teacher."
Cary Police Chief Ron Delelio said the charge was appropriate even though the essay was not published or posted for public viewing.
Disorderly conduct, which carries a penalty of 30 days in jail and a $1,500 fine, is filed for pranks such as pulling a fire alarm or dialing 911. But it can also apply when someone's writings can disturb an individual, Delelio said.
"The teacher was alarmed and disturbed by the content," he said.
But a civil rights advocate said the teacher's reaction to an essay shouldn't make it a crime.
"One of the elements is that some sort of disorder or disruption is created," said Ed Yohnka, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. "When something is done in private—when a paper is handed in to a teacher—there isn't a disruption."
The "key outcomes" this month for the Creative English class was for students to identify and utilize poetic conventions to communicate ideas and emotions. With that in mind, teachers reminded students that if they read something that posed a threat to self or others, the school could take action, said High School District 155 Supt. Jill Hawk.
The English teacher read the essay and reported it to a supervisor and the principal. A round-table discussion with district officials conveyed, with lively debate, and they decided to report it to the police.
"Our staff is very familiar with adolescent behavior. We're very well versed with types of creativity put into writing. We know the standards of adolescent behavior that are acceptable and that there is a range," Hawk said.
"There can certainly be writing that conveys concern for us even though it does not name names location or date," he said.
The charge against Lee comes as schools across the country wrestle with how to react in the wake of the shootings at the Virginia Tech campus at Blacksburg, Va.
Bomb threats at high schools in Schaumburg and Country Club Hills have caused evacuations, and extra police were on duty at a Palos Hills high school this week because of a threatening note found in the bathroom of a McDonald's restaurant a half-mile away.
Experts say the charge against Lee is troubling because it was over an essay that even police say contained no direct threats against anyone at the school. However, Virginia Tech's actions toward Cho came under heavy scrutiny after the killings because of the "disturbing" plays and essays teachers say he had written for classes.
Simmie Baer, an attorney with the Children and Family Justice Center at Northwestern University, called the Cary incident an example of zero-tolerance policies gone awry. Children, she said, are not as sophisticated as adults and often show emotion through writing or pictures, which is what teachers should want because it is a safe outlet.
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ing wow.
Would have to read what the Essay says, before I could make a total conclusion.
Wow.
I wonder...
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 pe ion the government for a redress of grievances.
im going to set up my victims memorial now.
id still want to read it.
i know that kid
Well Johnny, with the events of Virginia, things are high tension.
What do you do in that case, just ignore it?
So what's next to go because things are high tension?
They didn't make it the first one because of a coin flip.
So when do Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino get arrested?
Im just sayin...
With what just happened, and having cases of copy cats and what not, what do you do?
Call the kid in and ask him "whats wrong"
I mean, I agree arresting him is extreme, but the school followed protocol, the teacher was "highly disturbed" by the paper.
right after whoever made that movie "hostel" gets arrested.So when do Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino get arrested?
Lord I heard about that movie and it sounded grotesque
they should have talked to the kid before doing anything.
Another article:
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http://www.nwherald.com/articles/200...4f12dd77984733 83.txt
CARY – When asked by a teacher to write an essay about anything he wanted, Allen Lee made references to violence, drug use, and a dream about a shooting spree where he had sex with dead bodies.
According to a criminal complaint signed by Cary-Grove High School Principal Susan Popp and filed in McHenry County Court, Lee's free-form essay also included the line "as a teacher, don't be surprised on inspiring the first CG school shooting."
“At the very last sentence, I said that this teacher’s method of teaching could lead to a school shooting,” Lee, a senior at Cary-Grove High School, said Wednesday.
School officials also alleged that Lee used violent and strange imagery in the essay, which was detailed in the complaint charging Lee with disorderly conduct.
"Blood, sex and booze," according to the complaint. "Drugs, drugs, drugs are fun. Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, s ... t ... a ... b ..., puke."
"So I had this dream last night where I went into a building, pulled out two P 90s and started shooting everyone, then had sex with the dead bodies. Well, not really, but it would be funny if I did."
The essay led Cary Police to arrest Lee Tuesday morning on disorderly conduct charges. The arrest shocked those who know the 18-year-old Cary-Grove High School senior, and prompted some students to circulate a pe ion complaining about the way the incident was handled.
School officials said they had since removed Lee from the general student population and placed him in a separate building to continue his education. Lee said he had been told he could face expulsion from school.
The essay was the result of what Lee said was an in-class assignment in his creative writing class during the last period of the day on Monday. He said his English teacher, Nora Capron, told the students to write whatever they wanted.
They could even write “I don’t know what to write about” repeatedly for the duration of the class period, Lee recalled his teaching saying.
He said that he wrote the entire essay as a joke.
Student faces penalties
Allen Lee said he had a 4.2 grade-point average, wrestled on his high school team and planned to join the Marines after he graduates later this year.
But with graduation a month from today, Lee could be sentenced to up to 30 days in jail and a $1,500 fine if convicted, and might not get to finish the year at Cary-Grove.
Tom Carroll, first assistant state’s attorney for McHenry County, declined to comment on the essay.
He said in the light of recent events, particularly the Virginia Tech shooting last week where Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 students before killing himself, and the 1999 Columbine tragedy, the statements made in the essay were inappropriate.
“Ten years ago, maybe a statement wouldn’t raise as much comment or concern,” Carroll said, “but you have to factor in the world and the fact that these tragedies had happened.”
Lee was set to begin boot camp in October, but now is worried that if he can’t get his high school diploma before that, he won’t be able to attend.
Principal called police
District 155 Superintendent Jill Hawk said the response to remove the student from the others, put him in a separate annex on the campus and call the police was appropriate. Lee still is being supervised and receiving an education, she added.
“Concern doesn’t just come from a mention of violence,” Hawk said. “It’s a continuum of a combination of factors from what is written in the essay.”
“Our response was based on the essay,” she added. “That was the issue.”
She said the teacher, whom she declined to identify, called her department head, who then called school Principal Popp.
Hawk said it was Popp, not the teacher, who decided to call the police.
“I think it’s appropriate that we do everything possible to make students safe,” Hawk said.
The district responded to another threat made last week at Crystal Lake Central High School. About half the students at Central stayed home Friday and police presence at the school was increased after threatening graffiti was found on a bathroom wall. The graffiti was determined to be a prank, officials have said.
Student reaction
Students who know Lee said they didn’t expect him to write what he did.
“He’s an outstanding kid; a good athlete,” said Nick Charles, a senior at Cary-Grove who wrestled with Lee their freshman and sop re years.
Lee’s friend, Jameson Emling, who also is in the class, said he felt the teacher overreacted to the essay. Emling also has enlisted in the Marines.
About six weeks ago, Emling said he gave a 10-minute speech in the same class describing what his life would be like as a “hit-man” and identified students he would shoot. He said he was not punished for that speech.
“The teacher threw up a red flag on someone who is going to be fighting for her freedom,” Emling said.
Investigation is one thing. Arrest is on a completely different level.
What is with the kids at this school fantasizing about shooting people? Christ, no wonder they're both joining the Marines. Aside from that, they went to far by arresting him. He needs to get a hardass lawyer to bring the school down for obstruction of 1st amendment rights and get a nice settlement out of this. My stepbrother wrote a variation of the Deck the Halls song when he was in elementary school with the lyrics "Deck the halls with dy-na-mite" and he was suspended for like 3 days and recommended for therapy, but he wasn't arrested or had charges filed against him.
This is bull . I hate how authority figures bend laws in times of war or tension because people are more paranoid about everything.
[QUOTE]I hate how authority figures bend laws in times of war or tension because people are more paranoid about everything
Cause thats what the people want.
What about all the VT cops got the critics saying "Why wasn't this prevented?"
These are the measures that result.
I DONT AGREE WITH EM!!
But, Its what happens
[QUOTE=T Park]I think that had more to do with the school not the police and the complaint was why didn't they put the school on lock down right after the first shooting.
Cause thats what the people want.
What about all the VT cops got the critics saying "Why wasn't this prevented?"
I doubt people are pissed off at police for not having Nic Cage like powers.
Ok.I think that had more to do with the school not the police and the complaint was why didn't they put the school on lock down right after the first shooting.
I doubt people are pissed off at police for not having Nic Cage like powers.
I tried to stay away from all the media bull that surrounding it, cause it predictably got political.
Well, when shootings like VT happen, you're always going to get dumb s trying to make someone take a fall for not preventing it. Police forces have protocols to deal with situations like that, but seriously, who woke up that day and thought some kid was going to go nuts with a gun? Virginia Tech ain't no CTU.
It's pretty sad that now everyone is going to have second thoughts about people they think are strange, and kids are getting arrested for writing on high school assignments. It's kinda like all the Patriot Act BS from after 9/11 and all the radical people thinking all muslims were terrorists.
Not all.all the radical people thinking all muslims were terrorists.
But uh, all the conspirators on 9.11 were muslim.
I know they were, I'm just saying it's dumb how society tries to bring someone or a group of people down after a horrible tragedy happens. I know a few guys from Pakistan and another dude from Iran, and they're all the furthest possible kind of people from terrorists. But you know...racism in America, goin' strong since 1776.
They were terrorists, their religion shouldn't be brought into this.
Terrorists are terrorists, not chirstian or muslim or mormon.
Because it was Japan that bombed Pearl Harbor, we rounded up every Japanese American and put them in camps. What kind of backward ass thinking is that?
T Park, it would take almost no effort to find something that you or a lot of other people have written on this board and, applying their logic, argue that you need to be arrested.
And the Oklahoma City and Atlanta bombings were done by Christians.But uh, all the conspirators on 9.11 were muslim.
Yep. Only in America, nowhere else.But you know...racism in America, goin' strong since 1776.
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