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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
11 thru 15 of 24 comments
On 02/11/04
Kagura from Othe said:
Man! So what if you draw Satan, its not your fault. It's the teachers they're thye one's who misinterpeted the drawn for somthing else. But what you draw is what you draw its not like they're going to sepened you for drawing somthing on a sheet of paper. All you're doing is learning how to draw better at things like somthing hard or somthig from a dream that you had. So its not your fault about the picture it's the teachers fault for misinterperting the drawing of Satan.
On 09/15/03
cs from Othe said:
Im not sure on the teachers part, cause i didn't see the picture, but if the kid is drawing satan and as long as the person isnt hurting anyone or forcing their religion on people then i would have no problem with the kid drawing the picture. I mean come on he could just be interested in that kind of thing.
On 09/03/03
Lisa from AZ said:
The key words here are "your own time." When you are in class, you are not on your own time... you are on school time and the teacher's time. Wait for lunch or art class.
On 05/01/03
April from FL said:
I believe that whatever you do on you own time is your own buisness. If you want to draw satan then do it as long as you arn't disruptiving someone else's learning environment. If you feel like you know the stuff the teacher is teaching enough to where you can draw and not listen well that is your grade, so when you get a bad grade take it as it is.
On 01/24/03
Anon from Othe said:
You people take the drawing FAR to seriosly. If the kid didn't do this to threaten the teacher then this punishment is too strong. The only punishment which is acceptable is that the kid has to stay an extra 10-15 min in class to catch up on the wasted time and as a punishment. I belive that it was some simple stupid drawing prehaps reflecting the mood of the kid, that being bored and annoyed at the teacher. The teacher should grow up an start acting like a proper teacher and quit acting either paranoid unjust.
11 thru 15 of 24 comments


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