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Question: Does a public school teacher have the right to send me to the office for drawing a picture of Satan in class?

Answer: Public school teachers are encouraged to deal with difficult students without resorting to trips to the principal, but teachers can decide whether a student is so disruptive that he or she needs to be removed from the classroom.

Once the student has been removed from the classroom, the principal or assistant principal should talk with the student to find out what happened before deciding what disciplinary action will be taken, if any.

Drawing a picture of Satan could be a completely innocent act of self-expression or an act of serious misconduct. It depends upon the circumstances: Was the drawing an art project or part of a threatening note? Was the drawing made on a piece of paper or on the student's desktop? A drawing of Satan is not something that warrants disciplinary action all by itself. But if the drawing is tied to some other misconduct, then disciplinary action may be justified. A trip to the principal's office may be needed to sort out what really happened.
Comments
6 thru 10 of 24 comments
On 04/18/05
Kaitlyn from AL said:
so what if you draw Satan? He wasn't hurting anyone but himself. Later on he is going to regret it but until then he/she's just a kid and i don't think that is right..........unless it's a private school........
On 03/28/05
Amanda from PA said:
So the teacher turns her head until a student that has been drawing satan commits some violent act in school. Then everyone would be questioning why the teacher did nothing. Even if the drawings and the violent act are unrelated people would expect an explanation from the teacher.
On 01/24/05
Sue from AZ said:
It seems that every since the Columbine incident, teachers and school administrators are considered responsible for noticing "deviant" behavior in their students. But, if they decide someone should discuss a student's motives about drawing Satan (a demon), that is invasive?? You cannot have it both ways!
On 01/11/05
Karen from MA said:
If the child was bored and was not disrupting anyone or anything, then there should not be a problem, it is her/his fault if he doesn't know the answers on the next quiz or the next paper that they have to do because they weren't paying attention not being on anybodies side that is my idea
On 02/21/04
Kay from VA said:
Anon, then the teacher would be using "her" time to reteach something the student should have learned during the "class" time. I don't believe that the drawing was of satan is relevent here. The student should learn to be more respectful of the teacher and not believe that it is the teacher's responsibility to take the extra time to discipline him.
6 thru 10 of 24 comments


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