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Thursday, May 11, 2006
Harsh Penalty for Smokey Chanteuse
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Gwinnett County student who sang her own version of “On Top of Old Smokey,” complete with a reference to shooting her teacher with a .44 slug, gets to come back to school next week after serving out her five day suspension.
But in reading Laura Diamond’s story, I noticed a much harsher penalty. She has an administrative transfer to attend Peachtree Ridge High, but the principal has decided to send her back to her neighborhood school, North Gwinnett High. For a high school student, this seems a severe punishment.
We didn’t get a chance to discuss this when it broke, but for those of you who haven’t grown tired of this one (I find it fascinating on many levels - Can you read the first few lines of the “apology” letter she’s holding up in the photo?), tell me what you think. Has justice been served? Or did Beth Anne get a raw deal?
Update: My eyes aren’t as young as they used to be, but here’s what the “apology letter” appears to say, judging from the photo accompanying the story. “Dr. Carroll, I’m very dissappointed(sic) in the fact that you believe I was insinuating that I wanted to “shoot you.” This (Next part obscured)…was a very (underlined) false accusation … (more obscured text)… the tune stuck in my head and … remembered the words from …grade. Eric heard and told …” That’s all the photos shows… At the top, someone wrote: “The tone is threatening.”
Teachers, have you ever been the recipient of such a sincere “apology letter”?
