Kids, vandalism, etc

[Karenrbw]

On New Year's Eve, three students travelled around the county, destroying several teacher's mailboxes. They stole a log with a name carved in it from one home and used it to bash in all the mailboxes. Numbers range from at least 5 teachers/staff mailboxes to a total of 9-10. One of the culprits dropped his cell phone at a house. All three students were under age 16 and not able to drive. One parent drove her child around to the affected mailboxes and made him fix them and apologize last night. This is probably only because they knew he was busted and are trying to avoid prosecution (it was his phone). Several mailboxes will have to be completely replaced. In our student handbook it specifically lists out of school teacher harrassment and even lists vandalism to teacher property. A few years ago, a student (that I never had in class) called my home several times in the middle of the night. I told the principal and he called him in and read him the riot act and threatened to suspend him. I miss the good old days. I don't see the current administration making any strides to even talk to these boys about what they have done. Do you think the school has the authority to discipline these boys for their actions? The kicker is one child is the son of a law enforcement officer and oen has a parent thinking about a run for school board. You got to love living and working in a small town.

[Chef Dave]

Do you think the school has the authority to discipline these boys for their actions? The kicker is one child is the son of a law enforcement officer and oen has a parent thinking about a run for school board. You got to love living and working in a small town.

Earlier in the year, we had a student go to a neighboring high school with some friends. In the dead of night, they dug the initials to our high school in the other school's football field.

I am not sure how they were caught but the school that was vandalized theatened criminal charges unless the students ponied up the money to pay for the damages. Our school suspended the boys for three days.

With regards to the mailboxes, I don't see how a school could have any responsibility or control over this sort of behavior. I think this matter needs to be pursued by individual teachers as private citizens who may choose to press criminal charges and/or seek civil damages.

[TeacherRW]

Damaging mailboxes is a federal offense... your locals may not have much of a choice in what they do to the boys even in a small town!

Ugghh... would not want to be in any of your shoes in this situation. The school, I do not believe, should punish the students as it was not on school ground, with school property, or addresses provided to them by the school. The law needs to...

[Chef Dave]

I have a teacher friend in California who kept having her mailbox plowed under. She thought it was a high school student, but she wasn't sure.

After losing four or five mailboxes, she and her husband installed a mailbox with a hollow steel shaft. Not only was the mailbox set in concrete but the shaft was filled with concrete.

When the kid hit the mailbox, he wrecked his vehicle.

Sounds like poetic justice, right?

The only problem was that the parents took the teacher and her husband to court, suing for civil damages. Surprisingly enough, they WON. My friend had to pay to have the vehicle repaired.

[busbus]

The only problem was that the parents took the teacher and her husband to court, suing for civil damages. Surprisingly enough, they WON. My friend had to pay to have the vehicle repaired.
I don't get this one. How in the world were your friends made to pay for the vehicle repair? The kid hit the mailbox with his vehicle. That was an accident. ;) Your friends should have been able to sue for their property damage and the kid's insurance should have picked up the tab for all of it -- vehicle repair and the damaged mailbox.

The outcome of this case suggests, to me, that injured parties might wind up having to pay damages caused by the person who does the damage -- accidental or deliberate!

Too bad "Judge Judy" wasn't deciding the case. Your friends would have won! :D(

[Spectre]

We've had troubles with this very thing in my neighborhood for the past two-three years. My own mailbox has been hit six times. I live in a different county than where I teach, so this has nothing to do with my being a teacher. It is just plain meanness.
For awhile now, I have known who the perpetrators were. Even told the sheriff's deputy when he came out (twice) and he confronted the teens and then went to their homes and talked to their parents. The boys denied it all, of course, and their parents took up for them.
"My child? Never!"
the vandalism went on. then about a month ago, one of the locals here went to the home and confronted the boys again, this time with some evidence. It seems the boys had put a dead snake into a mailbox, then rigged it with a spring that made it jump out when the box was opened. An elderly person apparently opened the box and nearly had a cardiac event. This prank nearly resulted in murder.
The boys confessed. My mail carrier told me about it. Seems I had been right all along.
I don't know what happened as a consequence. Since the boys are all under 16, probably nothing. They'll get a lecture, have to do some "community service" and then, a few years from now, will be out doing it again. They should, at a minimum, have to repair the mailboxes or pay to have them replaced. I already did it myself, in my case.

[Chef Dave]

I don't get this one. How in the world were your friends made to pay for the vehicle repair? The kid hit the mailbox with his vehicle. That was an accident. ;) Your friends should have been able to sue for their property damage and the kid's insurance should have picked up the tab for all of it -- vehicle repair and the damaged mailbox.



The kid hit the mailbox but was unaware that he was hitting a steel reinforced concrete obstacle that might have obstructed an armored tank.

The court said something about the deceptive nature of the mailbox and penalized the teacher and her husband.

[kingrichie]

Wow. I'm glad I teach 3rd.

[busbus]

The kid hit the mailbox but was unaware that he was hitting a steel reinforced concrete obstacle that might have obstructed an armored tank.

The court said something about the deceptive nature of the mailbox and penalized the teacher and her husband.

:rolleyes:Oh well, what is done, is done!