Unjust detention?

Posted 1/17/17

Unjust detention? Student Paula Cavanagh sent the Beacon this photo of students serving a three-hour detention as punishment for walking out of their classes for a protest of a School Committee decision to not follow the City Council's resolution to get

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Unjust detention?

Posted

Student Paula Cavanagh sent the Beacon this photo of students serving a three-hour detention as punishment for walking out of their classes for a protest of a School Committee decision to not follow the City Council’s resolution to get a third party investigation into Warwick’s special education program. “The three-hour detention was an extreme and unjust punishment for our actions,” Cavanagh said. “We feel more should be aware of this unjust doing.” The administration has defended the decision to invoke the three-hour detention and said it is appropriate, but many, including the Rhode Island American Civil Liberties Union, have raised First Amendment questions and claimed the “harshness” of the punishment resulted from the fact the students protested, not just that they walked out of class.

Comments

5 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here

  • davebarry109

    Extreme and unjust? Paula, your stupid walk out disrupted the entire school. You should have received more punishment. Your generation is awful.

    Tuesday, January 17, 2017 Report this

  • richardcorrente

    This is a great picture of a group of young Warwick students that had the strength of character to stand up for what they believe in. Whether you agree with their message or not, you have to admire their courage. They knew there would be consequences to their peaceful display of "civil disobedience". They weighed the penalty of their actions, and the value of the message they wanted to get across to the School Committee, and they willingly accepted the cost.

    Take a good look Beacon readers, and join me in applauding these brave future leaders of our city. They didn't just sit back and take the injustice. They did something about it. Their message was peaceful and insightful, the very definition of "leadership".

    Ann Landers once said that there are only three kinds of people in this world.

    Those that watch things happen.

    Those that make things happen, and

    Those that say "What happened?"

    These students are definitely in that second group.

    Congrats to these students for delivering a clear yet respectful message to the School Committee.

    Happy 2017 everyone.

    Rick Corrente

    Tuesday, January 17, 2017 Report this

  • Thecaptain

    Typical moronic statement above. No clue on any topic.

    Wednesday, January 18, 2017 Report this

  • ThatGuyInRI

    First off, the ACLU is out of their ever loving minds to consider this a "free speech" issue. It's a cutting class issue.

    If these students were so concerned about the "issue" they "protested" by cutting class they could have held their protest outside of school hours and avoided disciplinary action. But ditching class is more fun.

    This "unjust" punishment has brought more attention to their cause than their protest ever could. They should be THANKFUL for this "unjust" punishment as it brings attention they would never get otherwise.

    It used to be that people engaged in acts of civil disobedience BECAUSE the punishment they received brought attention to their cause, they wanted and welcomed the punishment. These kids want to have their "protest" without consequences, sorry, the world doesn't work that way. Consider this a real world lesson.

    Thursday, January 19, 2017 Report this

  • Thecaptain

    Extremely intelligent comment above by ThatGuyinRI.

    Thursday, January 19, 2017 Report this