NCSD Students’ Civil Rights Violated
I read with growing concern the foiled protest of NCSD students in expressing their dissatisfaction with its current school director. NCSD Protest: Students’ Attempts to Protest Halted
The students certainly have the right to protest against unfavorable conditions in their educational setting, even more if their access to an appropriate education afforded to them by the Constitution was blocked by an unqualified administrator.
The students’ civil rights were violated yesterday night.
Police cannot interrogate the minors without the presence of their parents or legal guardians. Yet here we see the forced segregation of students into certain rooms where they were questioned for hours by the school administrators without the permission and presence of their parents or legal guardians.
The most disturbing fact is that all of these were done considering that no laws were violated by the students.
I strongly recommend that the students and their supporters report this incident to their parents and obtain a legal advocate to represent them. The North Carolina Association of the Deaf is encouraged to step in and provide assistance for its youthful members. Hopefully Deaf people will show their support by making physical appearance at the gate of the school property and also contact the media, so this egregious act of suppressing students’ civil rights will not be buried under the carpet.
This post leaves me disturbed as it illustrates how oppressed these students are in exercising their rights.
Kudos to the person who brought this to the attention of DeafRead readers.
Disclaimer: I am not an attorney and this is just my personal opinion.
Please help these courageous NCDS students by alerting the media:
MyFox Charlotte | Inside Fox Contact Us
American Civil Liberties Union, North Carolina: American Civil Liberties Union
I’ve contacted all of them already. Please contact them, too. The more they hear from us, the more pressure they’ll feel in investigating this. MZ
email contact: mishkazena@aol.com
I read with growing concern the foiled protest of NCSD students in expressing their dissatisfaction with its current school director. NCSD Protest: Students’ Attempts to Protest Halted
The students certainly have the right to protest against unfavorable conditions in their educational setting, even more if their access to an appropriate education afforded to them by the Constitution was blocked by an unqualified administrator.
The students’ civil rights were violated yesterday night.
Police cannot interrogate the minors without the presence of their parents or legal guardians. Yet here we see the forced segregation of students into certain rooms where they were questioned for hours by the school administrators without the permission and presence of their parents or legal guardians.
The most disturbing fact is that all of these were done considering that no laws were violated by the students.
I strongly recommend that the students and their supporters report this incident to their parents and obtain a legal advocate to represent them. The North Carolina Association of the Deaf is encouraged to step in and provide assistance for its youthful members. Hopefully Deaf people will show their support by making physical appearance at the gate of the school property and also contact the media, so this egregious act of suppressing students’ civil rights will not be buried under the carpet.
This post leaves me disturbed as it illustrates how oppressed these students are in exercising their rights.
Kudos to the person who brought this to the attention of DeafRead readers.
Disclaimer: I am not an attorney and this is just my personal opinion.
Please help these courageous NCDS students by alerting the media:
MyFox Charlotte | Inside Fox Contact Us
American Civil Liberties Union, North Carolina: American Civil Liberties Union
I’ve contacted all of them already. Please contact them, too. The more they hear from us, the more pressure they’ll feel in investigating this. MZ
email contact: mishkazena@aol.com
February 25th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Sure looks to me like that Director missed her calling as a landscape designer.
February 25th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Indeed
February 25th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
North Carolina Association of the Deaf (NCAD) called on to help its youthful members? Wait a minute. Did the youthful members join NCAD? Other than that, it’s a good thing they’re doing nowadays.
.:.:.
February 25th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
I realize the wording was awkward.. More like I should have written the youthful members of NC Deaf Community.
February 25th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
did anyone contact aclu??
February 25th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Hiring of JK at the university surely send the subtle message to the state of North Carolina to stomp on deaf rights.
The deaf North Carolinia community is very apathetic and weak!
RLM
February 25th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Thanks for blogging about this.
I’m curious to see what exactly they were protesting about that made the admin act the way they did.
February 25th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
oh, i tried that link you gave above; fighting their right for a great education.
wow…. i’m stunned.. and god bless those youngsters for speaking up!
February 25th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
From what I understand, the police didn’t question the students. It was hearing school administrators. This kind of behavior is VERY typical of school administrators and pretty much, they do have the leeway to question students without parents present in this type of situation.
The parents definitely need to get involved, and the local Deaf Community as well. Clearly something is wrong there, but what exactly, I don’t know. The experiences at MSD have left me skeptical of student protests, unfortunately.
And really, the students should not be protesting if there are legitimate problems… The Deaf Community should be. The students belong in the classrooms, and they are minors. They do not have the right to walk out of classrooms and protest, like college students can. If high school students walk around protesting, they and their parents can be arrested for truancy.
So I really hope the parents and the local Deaf Community comes in and takes care of this, and let the students be their age and do their job by trying to earn an education.
February 25th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Deaf Pundit, the police was used as an example to illustrate the rights of the students. Nowhere did I implied that the police was involved.
About protests, I disagree. I recollect the hearing kids at one county high school protesting heavily in my county when I was a student. The dissent spreaded into the community who jumped into the protests, including KKK and so forth. These protests lasted over one year and resulted in resignation of two administrators.
In fact, protests aren’t that unusual in the hearing schools. There shouldn’t be a reason why deaf students cannot partake the same activities as their hearing peers.
February 25th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Ahh ok, I misread a line in your blog. You’re right – you did not say the police were involved with questioning the students on this. My bad!
And about the protests part – really? I never was aware that hearing students protesting against their school administrators were common. In fact, I can only remember one in Detroit several years ago and that gained NATIONAL attention because it was so unusual.
I fully support people’s rights to protest, but they should be of majority age to protest. Minor students do not have all of the rights adults do, because of a major reason: they do not understand fully the consequences of exercising those rights.
And during your time, yes, it was common because everyone was protesting against the Vietnam war. It was a time of social turmoil so the rules were different back then. But nowadays, it is not common and if underaged students walk out of class, they can get in legal trouble.
Things have changed, obviously. The laws are more strict and people don’t play around. I do think the school administrators went over the line by isolating those students for hours and questioning them.
That is why I strongly encourage the parents and the local Deaf Community to get involved. Those students should not carry the burden by themselves, and they have a responsibility to themselves to get an education. The parents and community needs to fight on their behalf.
February 25th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Obviously I am of the older generation. It was about racial tension in the Deep South during the mid 1970’s.
I’ll check the laws, but I still think the students are still entitled to protest in high schools. I recalled the local reporters being appalled at the adminstrators’oppression of the students’s rights of speech during the student protest at Mississippi School for the Deaf last year.
February 25th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
You need to read Morse v. Frederick which was decided by US Supreme Court in June 2007 that allows school adminstrators to resrticts students’ First Amendment at school or school related events. Therefore, those students’ hands are tied. Yes, it sucks but oh well.
February 25th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
I checked the abstract and it referred to expression of speech in terms of illegal activities i.e. drugs. I don’t see anything that regulates against the students’ rights to exercise their freeom of speech against poor education. I’ll need to do some reading. Thanks for letting me know about this case.
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES: DEBORAH MORSE, et al., PETITIONERS v. JOSEPH FREDERICK:
“Our cases make clear that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School Dist., 393 U. S. 503, 506 (1969) . At the same time, we have held that “the constitutional rights of students in public school are not automatically coextensive with the rights of adults in other settings,” Bethel School Dist. No. 403 v. Fraser, 478 U. S. 675, 682 (1986) , and that the rights of students “must be ‘applied in light of the special characteristics of the school environment.’ ” Hazelwood School Dist. v. Kuhlmeier, 484 U. S. 260, 266 (1988) (quoting Tinker, supra, at 506). Consistent with these principles, we hold that schools may take steps to safeguard those entrusted to their care from speech that can reasonably be regarded as encouraging illegal drug use. We conclude that the school officials in this case did not violate the First Amendment by confiscating the pro-drug banner and suspending the student responsible for it.” http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/06-278.ZO.html
February 25th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Wow, isn’t this the 21st century?? High school students have a right to speak up and express their concerns, along with their parents.
February 25th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
The students can wear black armbands or t-shirts, etc, like that as a method of protesting. They can also make speeches during lunch or something. They DO have some methods where they can exercise their freedom of speech, but they can’t disrupt the classrooms or walk out.
February 25th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Okay. I just checked these cases listed in the abstract. None forbade protests.
In fact, while googling, I am finding countless cases where students executed walking out of classes in protest: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=high+school+students+rights+to+walk+out%3F&btnG=Google+Search
I still stand what I stated earlier: student protests are common.
I’ll do more research now that I’m intrigued. Are high school protests illegal or not?
February 25th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Deaf Pundit,
I regretfully disagreed your statement on the students not within rights to protest. Yes, they do have their rights to walk out and protest for what they believe in. It’s somewhat common. In here my state, there was a couple of high school students protested the schools’ decisions to change the reguar clothes policy to uniform code. I don’t remember the outcome but I THINK both schools had lost. HOWEVER, I think some schools reserve their rights to determine whether the students should be arrested in any event of walk out.
I was involved in my oral school protest on the clothes policy back in 1974. Luckily, it wasn’t against the law nor any of us were arrested because it was a different era.
Misha
February 25th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
The Constitutional rights of these students have been violated. The students were held, interrogated, and harrased without food for 3 hours in the evening. When parents load their childen onto busses to go to NCSD, they may have ate lunch at 11:00 am and arrive at 5 0r 6 pm depending on the transportation route. If the children were denied dinner for hours, that is illegal. Preventing freedom of speech is illegal. There are more problems at NCSD than what are surfacing. Take it from me. PROBLEMS way deeper, more illegal, and very sad.
February 25th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
After this discussion with Deaf Pundit, I’ve decided to contact North Carolina branch of ACLU and informed them of this recent incident. Hopefully they will investigate this further.
February 25th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Sadly, our country getting more politically conservative and conservative since the Reagan era.
The student rights case from the right to wear the black armbands as protest against the Vietnam War would be not likely possible vindicated with the Roberts’ U.S. Supreme Court as compared to the Warren Burger’s court.
Contact the ACLU, People of the American Way and other pro-freedom of the speech groups to see if they could be of any help to this NCSD situation.
Remmy Ryan Commerson and the Gallaudet Tower Clock yearbooks were seized by Janey and i.King which considered legal by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 90’s judicial decisions.
More of our constitutional rights to the freedom of speech, the right to the assembly and protest and freedom of expression begin to be increasingly trampled every day under the political conservative leadership as compared to the heydays of the 1960s and 1970s.
GWB’s Secret Services and political conservatives found some way to manuever the legal grounds for barring protestors from the television lens like seperate quarters for protestors and supporters in name of security concerns.
NCSD done was what they instilled fear and subordination within the deaf student body as a subtle message – “Don’t raise any antes, etc!”
RLM
February 25th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Good idea, MZ. Let me know if ACLU gets back to you on this!
February 25th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Nice job, MZ!
Hopefully you will get the report from the ACLU.
February 25th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Students have a right to walk out. I very well remember that some deaf people, myself included,
discussed the walkout of some students in a Colorado school over a teacher who made comparisons between Bush and Hitler. Also, a very large percentage of students left the classrooms in protest about their immigrant rights in Los Angeles. Some legislators in CO and CA and on the Capitol Hill supported the students’ right to walk out. Their walkouts were not the first ones. Actually, protests and walkouts happen every year.
If my memory serves me right, high school students who walked out were not punished in that they did not lock down the schools.
We are all protected by the First Amendment.
February 25th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
one day when we will move to north carlonia near by beach. I love nags head,nc and I will help them to support for ncsd. I beleive students got rights for the freedom.
February 25th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
NCSD’s ADM- audisom on deaf staffs!!!!
February 25th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Mishka Zena,
Thanks for posting a follow up to my blog. I posted on DeafRead in hopes of getting feedback and ideas from the community.
Other Commenters,
Thank you for your support. I agree with most, our students have not only been failed by Dr. Lindsey, but by their very own Deaf Community. We need to step up to the plate, take ownership, and make things better for them.
As outsiders, we are laughable. School staff cannot get involved for fear of reprisals. We need to gain the support of parents. Parents are a powerful group. We are trying to decide how best to inform the parents of the goings on.
Thanks again for all of your support!
February 25th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
standupfordeafkids@hotmail.com Says:
Can you furnish us with more information? What are the problems that you sau are way deeper, more illegal, and very sad? We must help the students as much as humanly possible.
February 25th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
NC Association of the Deaf board will visit the students at NCSD tomorrow to get details from them. NCAD wants to help ease the situation by working with students and staff.
February 25th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
NCSD staff have tried to work with administration for more than 1 year and express concerns for the children. The administration did VERY little, and also forced many staff into silence. many staff are afraid now. the students’ concerns expressed on TV and the morganton newspaper are only the tip of the iceberg. ncsd’s deaf children need your help! ncsd’s staff has tried hard, but cannot do it alone. the administration is very oppressive for deaf people and hearing who support deaf children. please help ncsd’s deaf children who are pleading for help.
February 25th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
What are the issues? I do get about the poor quality of education, but there seems to be more to this.
February 25th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you… Had long day at school…
Yes, Morse v. Fredrick is about Bong 4 Jesus which resulted that administrators can restrict students’ First Amendment rights. Since the case talked about drugs but the concept is about school CAN regulate or restrict what students do or say. In nutshell, Morse v. Fredrick does apply to restricting or regulating the freedom of speech or First Amendment like indicated by US Supreme Court at the discretion of the administration. My constitutional rights professor and few of my classmates had lengthy discussion about that case.
Many people didn’t realize that administration has been regulating/restricting students’ First Amendment for years…. Dress Codes and censorship in school media.
Protesting is not illegal but many cities required people to apply for permit to protest on city’s property or be charged with disturbance of peace. If I remember correctly, there is a case that is being heard by US Supreme Court about protesting right now or in few months. Am not sure…
Sorry for lengthy response and for getting off track little bit. But good luck to those students… They would have better luck if parents get involved…
February 26th, 2008 at 12:23 am
It has always been well known that school officials can restrict the free speech of students in certain ways, BUT it is also well known that they are not allowed to restrict free speech in ALL ways.
The students have a constitutional right to peacefully express their views, so long as they are not promoting illegal activity, and so long as they are not disrupting the function of the school.
February 26th, 2008 at 8:48 am
We, the deaf community, MUST do something! That includes DEAF staffs at NCSD! The adm people are probably laughing at us knowing nothing will happen! There were deaf concern group and look what happened?? It fell through. Adm ppl are not worried at all! They know by next week everything will be back to normal.
DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN!!! LET’S GET DR. LL TO RESIGN!!!!! SHE NEEDS TO GO!!! WE NEED DEAF DIRECTOR TO GET THIS SCHOOL BACK IN ORDER!
If Dr. LL is still there, NCSD will close soon! That’s probably the reason she was hired! She is slowing trying to close the school for the state!!!!!!!!!
DO YOU WANT THIS TO HAPPEN??? DEAF STAFFS NEED THIS JOB! NCSD IS A GREAT PLACE TO WORK AND WOULD BE GREATER PLACE TO WORK IF WE HAD DEAF DIRECTOR WHO CAN MAKE CHANGES FOR OUR DEAF CHILDREN!!! WE CAN DO IT!!!!!
CAN WE DO IT??????? YES!!!
DEAF DIRECTOR NOW!
DEAF DIRECTOR NOW!
DEAF DIRECTOR NOW!
February 26th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
In response to the “Way deeper” post..
As it would seem, a strong rank of apathy are among the North Carolina alums, parents and staffers and yes, we need to combat that in North Carolina and many places all over the country.. As for the North Carolina Deaf “leaders”, it may be due to the fact so many of them have “died” trying and/or fighting..
This is something that has been happening for over 10 years, the former Superintendents as in Gary Mowl and Kent Mann have discovered that fighting against the mighty North Carolina Political machine are well, truthfully career killers..
This woman, L.L. is obviously an appointee of the Mighty NC Political machine again and will the state be willing to push her aside due to the weak rallying cries of the Carolina Deaf population ?
Remains to be seen…., I do feel that the KEY to forcing changes at NCSD belong to the Students and their Parents.. Deaf or Hearing, they are still the KEY to defeating this whole thing.., if only they can be heard all the way over to Raleigh…
The “problems that goes way deeper” as I’ve heard from several close contact of long time staffers at NCSD, are that there are instances of Incident Reports being torn up, not resolved nor reported.. Also with the Deaf staff at NCSD receiving more dire consequences for improper actions, failures and oversights more than their Hearing counterparts..
So it is again something deeper than just that L.L. and her staffers, the Dean of Students, Jody Self, Business manager and most of the Administration being unable to sign or communicate with the students they are there to help, to nurture and to educate, to begin with…
Again, ANY attention on this pressing issue, will fall on “deaf” ears at the state capitol unless the Students and their parents speak up, raise a STINK about these issues..
Again it is a matter of changing what others view us as, DPN 1 and 2 has raised consciousness on these issues on a national level but it is up to us, DEAF to keep pushing that trend further, exposing other ignorants (especially our country’s governments starting with local venues and all the way up to our congress) to what we are and what we can do..
Thoughts and prayers are with my fellow North Carolinan’s…
February 26th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Okay, for starters, everyone knows that ncsd is controlled by audism. The hearing admin don’t have a clue what audism is. Even hearing staff who support deaf are oppressed too.
Interpreters have a big job at ncsd, why? Because there are many people in administration who cannot sign well. The newspaper says LL takes classes. Ha Ha! Try signing other than “how are you?” with her! And that will soon be 4 years of classes!
How can you have quality education with teachers who are hired without any knowledge of sign language AND who are NOT required to go to sign language classes?? The children suffer because they don’t understand the teachers.
People in the community know that they don’t see ncsd students walking around in the community without a bus there. Older students can’t even walk across the street to go to Pizza Hut, even with a light and crosswalk installed.
If you really want to help the students who tried to protest, contact any high school students at other deaf schools in the southeast or MSSD. They all know how to contact each other. Try to contact them and ask them for an interview. See what you learn.
People in the community don’t know alot, but if you can get to the students, I’m sure they will be happy to express their concerns. Please help ncsd’s students.
February 26th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
“It’s not about cafeteria food and athletics.
The problems at the North Carolina School for the Deaf are more serious than that….”
For the latest article in Morganton about the attempted protest, go to this link:
http://www.morganton.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=MNH/MGArticle/MNH_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173354758186&path=%21frontpage
February 26th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
“It’s not about cafeteria food and athletics.
The problems at the North Carolina School for the Deaf are more serious than that….”
Here’s the latest article in Morganton about the attempted protest. To see the full article, go to this link:
http://www.morganton.com
Under “Today’s News” you will see “NCSD Suspends Staff/Students”
February 26th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
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