This Week in CT Education

As a homeschooler, I like to keep track of the happenings in public schools across my state. Some weeks the news from “the other side” is pretty quiet. Not so, this week:

DANBURY, CT --- Teen sues over hearing loss
The parents of a fifteen-year-old student from Danbury High School are planning to sue the Danbury school district on his behalf for damages related to the hearing loss he suffered when his math teacher slammed the palm of her hand on his desk during class. Apparently, she was attempting to wake the child; he had dozed off during her lecture.

From Fox News:

[The boy’s] father, Soel Robacher, claims that his sleepy son’s left ear was resting on his desk on Dec. 4 when math teacher Melissa Nadeau slammed her hand down so hard that his eardrum burst. Robacher says his son experienced an almost complete loss of hearing.

Since then, though some of his hearing has been restored, the boy has been through extensive medical treatments with ear, nose and throat specialists and could require surgery to fully rectify the damage...

NEW HAVEN, CT --- Students suspended for purchasing Skittles
A fourteen-year-old boy from the Sheridan Communications and Technology Middle School was suspended for buying a bag of Skittles from a classmate. The price: $1.00. Not a bad deal, you say, but definitely a bad decision. You see, the district has a “no candy selling” policy that students were repeatedly warned existed. So, the young man with the sweet tooth had knowledge that he was breaking school rules, as did the “candy pusher” when he offered the sinful snack to his classmate. Result: suspension for both offenders. The boy who purchased the Skittles also lost his position in student government (student council vice president) and was kept from attending an honors dinner, a pretty harsh sentence for a misspent buck. Both boys eventually saw their suspensions expunged from their records and the student council vice president was allowed to return to his post.

BRIDGEPORT, CT --- Another student brings gun to school
Another student? Brought a second gun to school? In a week? I didn’t even hear about the first student with the first gun! The school district response: crack down on security. Well, I would hope so. From WTNH News Channel 8:

Metal detectors were installed in all high schools in the city Thursday --- including Bassick High. That’s [where] a ninth grader was found with a gun in the school’s second floor crosswalk Wednesday. Another student reported seeing him with it. Tuesday, a seventh grader was found with a loaded gun at Roosevelt Elementary.

- snip –

Until now, wand metal detectors have been used in all of the schools. More resource officers have been assigned to Roosevelt Elementary and Bassick High after this week’s incidents.

And people wonder why I homeschool.