Journal # 6

 

 The court case my group and I choose was Goss V Lopez and I found the whole case very interesting. I had never heard of the case before so I was excited to research it when we finally decided which one we were going to do. The main thing that stood out to me in this case was the fact that these nine students were suspended, without a hearing, and parent notification, for ten days. I thought that was a huge deal and I can completely understand why this case made it to court. When students break the rules, there are consequences, I understand that, but when the students don’t get the proper process that comes along with the consequences, then I believe they have every right to fight back.

I found this particular thing to be most interesting because I feel like it goes on a lot in schools. Although the students did wrong (and I’m not defending them on that part), they still deserved a proper hearing in which they could have said their side and at least defended themselves. The principle jumped so fast on the issue that parents weren’t even called to be notified that their child was suspended! I would agree that these student’s due process rights were violated and I think that they deserved the proper hearing. However, the state didn’t require a hearing to be held, but as a principle, I would think that he would know the proper thing to do. I just feel like this court case could have been prevented if the principle just gave the students a proper hearing and suspended them under the right terms, even though this case has changed the ways schools act upon disciplinary actions. I was just shocked that the school thought it was fine to suspend these students without a hearing and without parent notification and that they thought they were going to get away with it.

In class we have briefly touched on amendments and student/teacher rights. I would agree with the community that these students fourteenth amendment was violated and that they deserved a proper hearing to conclude their suspension. Student’s rights are a huge deal in schools and if they are violated, problems are going to occur. Schools need to respect students and their rights so that situations like this don’t occur. I’m not saying that what the students did was right, because in no means was their behavior appropriate, but I am saying that they have the right to a proper hearing which would then inform their parents and themselves as to why they are being suspended for ten days. As a teacher I know that I have to respect my student’s rights, and treat them with respect. I would never violate my student’s rights because I would never want my rights to be violated. I was raised to treat people with respect and I would hope that the school I was working for would treat not only their faculty and staff with respect, but also their students.

This court case has taught me so much valuable information. For one, I now had the chance to see what a suspension could do to whole school district. I also had the chance to learn about consequences that could take place in my future school due to the principle being in the wrong. This case became so big and schools have become what they are because of this case. I’m pretty sure that a lot of schools hold hearings for their students if their being suspended for a certain amount of days and parents are notified right away. I know that if my future child was in this situation I would want a fair hearing to discover what really happened. I would also want my child to be fairly punished and I would want to be notified right away, not two days later. This case really opened my eyes and helped me to better understand why hearings are held when students are suspended. I believe that the school should have acted in a more professional manor and they should have handed the situation in a better way. Either way I believe the students should be punished for their consequences, but again, they deserved the proper and most fair way of punishment. Professionalism is everything when working in the education field and I think that the principle acted unprofessional. He should have known better especially because he wasn’t new to the job. However, everyone makes mistakes and learns from them and this mistake went worldwide and has helped to mold our education system into what it is today.