kid faces explulsion for organising protest against budget

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Protest student may be expelled

By Scott Millar

Friday, December 10, 2010

A 17-YEAR-OLD Leaving Certificate student is facing expulsion after leading school friends in an anti-budget protest.


On Tuesday the pupil from Dublin’s Moyle Park College in Clondalkin organised a march by up to 20 of his fellow pupils to the office of Government chief whip John Curran to protest at education cutbacks.

This afternoon the student faces a meeting of his school’s disciplinary board, accused of "not being amenable to any direction and behaviour" which "resulted in a serious health and safety risk". If the board, which includes the school principal and deputy principal, decide against him the young man, described as a "model student", faces possible expulsion.

Yesterday, the school was inundated with callers demanding they reconsider disciplinary action against the student after a Facebook campaign in his support gained over 1,500 supporters.

Explaining his actions the young man said: "I’ve been suspended from school and must face a disciplinary board meeting to decide what should happen to me.

"I simply explained to my mates what was involved in the cutbacks and how they would affect our futures and they decided to support a protest and organise a union."

On budget day the school attempted to halt the protest and locked the students in the school building. Around 20 pupils evaded teachers and left the school where they were joined outside Mr Curran’s office by a larger group of female students from nearby Coláiste Bríde.

The Leaving Certificate student added: "I’ve never got into trouble at school and my grades are pretty good as well. I’m getting expelled just because people are afraid of what I think is a rightful reason to protest."


Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/protest-student-may-be-expelled-139025.html#ixzz186BgCfwM

Wasnt sure if there was a thread about this already but i find this an absolute disgrace if this guy is expelled. fair enough he may have broken the rules but a simple slap on the wrist would do nicely.

We try to teach future generations to stand up for what they believe in and they get faced with this when they do so.

Our education system should be nurturing kids like this and developing their spirit but instead they are trying to break this kid when in truth ireland would be a better place for more like him

chin_grin

Kids'll do anything to get time off school wouldn't they? Feckers.

Riamfada

I wonder is the principal a relation of Mr Curran.

upandcumming

Locking the students in the school? Isn't that some form of unlawful imprisonment?
Imprisonment isn't the right word but I can't think of the right one!

A bouncer locked up a lad in the when he was acting up in a club and he got €25k damages iirc.

Cookie_Monster

On budget day the school attempted to halt the protest and locked the students in the school building.

cos that's totally reasonable and all, locking kids into a building

the_syco

On budget day the school attempted to halt the protest and locked the students in the school building.

What would happen if fire broke out?

kylith

Deleted User wrote: »

Our education system should be nurturing kids like this and developing their spirit but instead they are trying to break this kid when in truth ireland would be a better place for more like him

Very true. I wish I had his gumption.

Sisko

This is pretty dodgy. How can the idiots running that school not realize how bad this makes them look.

Penn

the_syco wrote: »

What would happen if fire broke out?

They probably would have unlocked the doors.

howamidifferent

Deleted User wrote: »

Wasnt sure if there was a thread about this already but i find this an absolute disgrace if this guy is expelled. fair enough he may have broken the rules but a simple slap on the wrist would do nicely.

We try to teach future generations to stand up for what they believe in and they get faced with this when they do so.

Our education system should be nurturing kids like this and developing their spirit but instead they are trying to break this kid when in truth ireland would be a better place for more like him

Have you been watching Scent Of a Woman again?

turbot

It's appauling that young people, showing initiative, are treated in such a manner.

It's the gross incompetence of the generation of people of the age of the school head and board, and their lack of independent thought and speaking out against practices that were prevalent throughout society that significantly contributed to our current economic situation.

The contact details for the school are on this page:

http://www.moyleparkcollege.ie/contact.htm

Lets all write to the school and express our opinion.

Penn

Anyway, he's 17, which I think means that once he's on school grounds, he's the schools responsibilty. If college students wanted to protest, fair enough. That's their problem. But secondary school is different and if the school told him he couldn't go and protest, he should have sat down and shut up. Unless his parents said it was okay, the school had to stop them from leaving. If the students has just behaved and did what they were told, there wouldn't be a problem. ****ing troublemakers is what they are

Duggy747

Punk!

Sounds like he's Will from The Inbetweeners.

bonerm

Wasn't the Batman school arsonist also from Clondalkin? Those kids are out of control!

thebigbiffo

f'ucking right. this is a secondary school kids we're on about here - secondary school students can't just up and leave when they like.

expel the little upstart :cool:

dilallio

If any of these underage students were injured during the protest, how many people would be saying that the school was completely at fault for not supervising the students adequately.

When my kids are at school, I expect them to behave in a responsible manner and in return, I fully expect that the school will be equally responsible in ensuring that my child's educational needs as well as my child's health & safety needs, are all fully met during school hours.

It's great that this kid feels morally & socially responsible to protest - fair play to him for this, but dragging a load of other kids from 2 schools who may not have the same motives and most of who are under 18, is at best naive.

If the school were to simply let this go, they would be giving other students carte-blanche to do similar things in the future.

phill106

school will probably say the problem was him being outside school grounds, not that he was protesting. just to cover themselves.

thebigbiffo

phill106 wrote: »

school will probably say the problem was him being outside school grounds, not that he was protesting. just to cover themselves.

i would have thought the former was their only concern. sure teachers are the most militant shower of protesting f'uckers to grace kildare street.

cleremy jarkson

That kid should stfu and appreciate how massively subsidised by the taxpayer his education is and will be. We all have to contribute to correcting the structural deficit, and this should include everyone on the island.

Penn

phill106 wrote: »

school will probably say the problem was him being outside school grounds, not that he was protesting. just to cover themselves.

Or maybe, just maybe, the problem was that they'd be leaving school grounds. Why would they care why they were protesting or what they were protesting for? If the protest was on a Saturday, you think the school would have given a ****?

If the school had knowledge that the kids were leaving the school to go to a protest, it is their responsibilty to stop them.

28064212

Out of curiosity, would the student receive the same support here if it was "kid faces explulsion for organising protest against Mary Byrne not winning the Xfactor"?

Surely the reason for the protest is completely irrelevant?

The Waltzing Consumer

Lots of overreactions here.

Firstly, he is the schools responsibility, if he left the school grounds and was knocked down, the school would be completely liable. It is not the schools fault because stupid parents decide to sue when their little darlings go off school property so they have to protect the school and its students from these actions which will effect their budgets.

Secondly, he faces a normal procedure that many students face. Obviously the worst case scenario is he will be expelled, as can happen with many things, but he probably won't. The newspapers just jumped on the hyping it up bandwagon to make it sound as worse as possible.

So thread title is completely misleading. He is not being punished for organising a protest, that is ridiculous, he is being punished for putting him and fellow students at possible risk and putting the school in a liable position by organising this protest during school times.

Attention-seeking kid *shock*

SomeFool

If he was that interested he'd organise his protest on a Saturday, sounds like he's just a sh1t stirrer really.

Lumen

The Waltzing Consumer wrote: »

if he left the school grounds and was knocked down, the school would be completely liable.

Is this your considered, qualified legal opinion or was it just the first thought that popped into your head?

The Waltzing Consumer

Lumen wrote: »

Is this your considered, qualified legal opinion or was it just the first thought that popped into your head?

Jesus, lighten up :rolleyes:

It does not take a genius to figure out that schools are responsible for the children they teach. Teachers and schools are liable for all sorts of events, they have a duty of care for students. Do I need to be some qualified barrister to state the obvious?

Penn

Lumen wrote: »

Is this your considered, qualified legal opinion or was it just the first thought that popped into your head?

I think if the school KNEW he left the grounds, then they'd be liable. Not sure about mitching or whatever. But no doubt the parents would still try and sue the school anyway

upandcumming

cleremy jarkson wrote: »

That kid should stfu and appreciate how massively subsidised by the taxpayer his education is and will be. We all have to contribute to correcting the structural deficit, and this should include everyone on the island.

Go away please.

Riddle101

28064212 wrote: »

Out of curiosity, would the student receive the same support here if it was "kid faces explulsion for organising protest against Mary Byrne not winning the Xfactor"?

Surely the reason for the protest is completely irrelevant?

Those are two completely different issues. Since the one the school students were protesting was about their futures. Mary Byrne not winning XFactor is not the same.

Namlub

28064212 wrote: »

Out of curiosity, would the student receive the same support here if it was "kid faces explulsion for organising protest against Mary Byrne not winning the Xfactor"?

Surely the reason for the protest is completely irrelevant?

To the school, maybe; all they care about is covering themselves and their duty of care. But from an objective point of view, it's relevant and he's obviously going to draw more support than your trivial example...

SomeFool

SomeFool wrote: »

If he was that interested he'd organise his protest on a Saturday, sounds like he's just a sh1t stirrer really.

when the chief whip isnt even in his office? Yeah real smart. :rolleyes: i respect the view that he shouldnt have left the school but the school should have accommodated the protest. they are the very ones who protest at the drop of a hat when it suits them. the budget affects future college goers so they had every right.

thebigbiffo

Namlub wrote: »

To the school, maybe; all they care about is covering themselves and their duty of care. But from an objective point of view, it's relevant and he's obviously going to draw more support than your trivial example...

the reason for the protest was irrelevant! surely you see the point!

grungepants

paddyirishman85 wrote: »

Anyway, he's 17, which I think means that once he's on school grounds, he's the schools responsibilty. If college students wanted to protest, fair enough. That's their problem. But secondary school is different and if the school told him he couldn't go and protest, he should have sat down and shut up. Unless his parents said it was okay, the school had to stop them from leaving. If the students has just behaved and did what they were told, there wouldn't be a problem. ****ing troublemakers is what they are

eh can you curse at a moderater without being banned?

nevermind you sound like a big wancker

28064212

Riddle101 wrote: »

Those are two completely different issues. Since the one the school students were protesting was about their futures. Mary Byrne not winning XFactor is not the same.

Namlub wrote: »

To the school, maybe; all they care about is covering themselves and their duty of care. But from an objective point of view, it's relevant and he's obviously going to draw more support than your trivial example...

Is he being punished because he went to the protest? Or because the protest was against the budget? If it's the former, then the reason for the protest is completely irrelevant. If it's the latter, where is the 'non-trivial' line drawn? Is there a list of approved things that he can leave school to protest against?

humanji

Namlub wrote: »

To the school, maybe; all they care about is covering themselves and their duty of care. But from an objective point of view, it's relevant and he's obviously going to draw more support than your trivial example...

The protest is not the issue. A student trying to get other students to walk out of school grounds during the school day, is the issue. And that's what he may be expelled for.

If he wants to protest then he can organise one with parental and school consent, or do it on his own time. There's no need for him to pretend he's a martyr.

Namlub

thebigbiffo wrote: »

the reason for the protest was irrelevant! surely you see the point!

Again, the reason no it wasn't. Just look at the posts in this thread, are you trying to say that anyone would have supported him if the reason for the protest had been completely trivial? Using exclamation marks isn't actually more persuasive...

Namlub

28064212 wrote: »

Is he being punished because he went to the protest? Or because the protest was against the budget? If it's the former, then the reason for the protest is completely irrelevant. If it's the latter, where is the 'non-trivial' line drawn? Is there a list of approved things that he can leave school to protest against?

To the school, as I said before. But looking at it purely as a news story, with no involvement, of course the reason for the protest is an important factor in making a judgement. There wouldn't even be 3+ pages of serious discussion on the matter had he decided to protest against a lack of twixes in tge school vending machines.

Zombrex

"I’m getting expelled just because people are afraid of what I think is a rightful reason to protest."

No you idiot, you are getting expelled because you lead a group of students to leave school grounds and teacher supervision, putting yourself and them at risk and putting the school in a position of risk of extreme liability if anything happened to you.

While I think expulsion is a bit harsh given that this is apparently a first offense it seems the kid still doesn't realize what he did wrong and why it was wrong.

Just goes to show academic ability isn't the same as being smart.

Penn

grungepants wrote: »

eh can you curse at a moderater without being banned?

nevermind you sound like a big wancker

Why? Look, I admire the kids passion and drive, and from the article he sounds like a good enough student. But he knows the rules. He knows he's not allowed to do that. He planned this on some facebook group. Do you think he told his parents? Do you think any of the students did? And if the school had to resort to locking them in a room in order to prevent them from leaving, then that's pretty much a last resort. He may not have been causing as much trouble, but he was part of it.

Like I said, I admire his passion and interest, but he cannot leave school grounds to go and protest. He cannot. He knows this. I don't think he deserves to be expelled for it if he's as good a student as he claims, but he should be punished for breaking school rules

sollar

chin_grin wrote: »

Kids'll do anything to get time off school wouldn't they? Feckers.

Yeah i can imagine half of them heading off asking "what are we marching against" while going along with the chants..... no more cuts, no more cuts!!

Namlub

humanji wrote: »

The protest is not the issue. A student trying to get other students to walk out of school grounds during the school day, is the issue. And that's what he may be expelled for.

If he wants to protest then he can organise one with parental and school consent, or do it on his own time. There's no need for him to pretend he's a martyr.

Again, it's not the issue TO THE SCHOOL. I know the reason for it will be irrelevant to them when deciding on disciplinary action, and I didn't claim otherwise.

28064212

Namlub wrote: »

To the school, as I said before. But looking at it purely as a news story, with no involvement, of course the reason for the protest is an important factor in making a judgement. There wouldn't even be 3+ pages of serious discussion on the matter had he decided to protest against a lack of twixes in tge school vending machines.

Then there are two news stories: "kid protests against budget" and "kid facing expulsion for breaking school rules". Neither are worthy of serious discussion

Zombrex

sollar wrote: »

Yeah i can imagine half of them heading off asking "what are we marching against" while going along with the chants..... no more cuts, no more cuts!!

true, I would be surprised if half of them knew what the budget actually was

I remember in college a student in my course wanted to protest at the time of the 2002 abortion referendum because he was sick of the government "trying to push abortion on us", demonstrating rather conclusively that he had no freaking idea what the abortion referendum was actually about.

cleremy jarkson

upandcumming wrote: »

Go away please.

No. That kid should have respect for his teachers and not walk out of class like that. If i was a teacher I would have felt like beating him for being such an overly confident celtic-tiger minded pup. So un-irish :rolleyes:

Zombrex

People Before Profit Councillor Gino Kenny Backs School Walkouts

I take it back, apparently you don't get any smarter as you get older.

drdeadlift

How/why was he singled out,there were plenty of other students involved.
Isn't expulsion a little harsh? i mean can the school not just deal with the kids without going public with the whole mess.

Namlub

drdeadlift wrote: »

How/why was he singled out,there were plenty of other students involved.
Isn't expulsion a little harsh? i mean can the school not just deal with the kids without going public with the whole mess.

I guess they're taking it more seriously because he'll have encouraged others to walk out as well, rather than just do it himself. Really he should have just done it in his own time...

Penn

drdeadlift wrote: »

How/why was he singled out,there were plenty of other students involved.
Isn't expulsion a little harsh? i mean can the school not just deal with the kids without going public with the whole mess.

Think he started a facebook group to organise it.

As for going public, I'd be more inclined to think it was the parents going public with it rather than the school. Would make the school more likely to not expel the student due to fear of public backlash. I'm just guessing though

Zombrex

paddyirishman85 wrote: »

Think he started a facebook group to organise it.

As for going public, I'd be more inclined to think it was the parents going public with it rather than the school. Would make the school more likely to not expel the student due to fear of public backlash. I'm just guessing though

Yeah the school wouldn't have gone public with this, this sounds completely one sided, the student, his parents or the socialist party he is supposed to be a member of are making a big deal about this under the guise that it was all because he was being anti-government, when in fact it was most likely simply a matter of school safety.

Everyday people try and make out we live in China or something, as if the government would have anything to do with how a school deals with one of their students. If people have a problem with the government DON'T VOTE FOR THEM

Moomoo1

But what if people have a problem with every major party?

What then?

Anyway, I think the school is out of order here. The guy went to exercise his democratic right to protest. That to me trumps everything - health and safety, school discipline, etc etc. He also 17, so almost an adult. Many people of his age in the UK go to sixth form colleges where you attend lessons when you feel like it (like lectures in uni). To throw the book at him for that seems odd at the very least.

melekalikimaka

proper order imo, last think we need is the youth getting all uppity. damn labour party poisoning the youth

Angron

Deleted User wrote: »

We try to teach future generations to stand up for what they believe in and they get faced with this when they do so.

Our education system should be nurturing kids like this and developing their spirit but instead they are trying to break this kid when in truth ireland would be a better place for more like him

No, we should be crushing their spirits while they are young!