Friday, November 25, 2005

Me in the news

The time has come to reveal my identity- My name's Chris, I'm a high school student living in suburban PA. The following was printed in a local paper called the Intelligencer although I have no memory of talking to their reporters. here goes:'

I'm in the News!
while i never talked to any of their reporters, somehow my story ended up in the Intelligencer. here it is:
T-shirt leads to dress code discussionBy JOHN ANASTASIThe Intelligencer
A recent flap over a North Penn High School student's decision to wear a T-shirt that referred to President Bush as an "international terrorist" prompted one school board member to ask the administration to research the pros and cons of requiring uniforms.
"I'm talking about khakis and a polo shirt here," said Terry Prykowski. "I think it would solve a lot of problems."
School board members did not endorse a uniform policy during Thursday night's meeting, but Prykowski maintained and others agreed that the possibility should at least be part of a larger discussion regarding student dress code.
"I think that is part and parcel of looking at an issue we need to look at," said board Vice President Tim Kerr.
A discussion about uniforms was probably not what Lisa Wildman and her son Chris Schiano were looking for when they came to Thursday night's meeting to protest high school principal Burt Hynes' refusal to allow the teenager to wear the T-shirt in class.
"It was important to me that some action would be taken to prevent a similar situation so someone else's right to freedom of speech is not trampled on as it was in this case," Schiano said.
According to Wildman, Schiano came to school Oct. 24 wearing a T-shirt depicting President Bush and the phrase "international terrorist." North Penn High School principal Burt Hynes told Schiano he had to take the shirt off or turn it inside out, she said.
"Knowing it was his constitutional right, he refused and they kept him out of class for the rest of the day," Wildman said.
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She added the principal told her he felt the shirt could anger other students, that it contained a "controversial message" and that it was "disrespectful of the president."
"It is our job to teach that we should all get along, though we may disagree," said Wildman.
Eventually, following two letters to the administration and threatened litigation by the American Civil Liberties Union, Wildman said the district backed down and indicated the boy could wear the shirt. But Wildman asked the district to take a close look at its dress code, make sure it is not infringing on students' free speech and ensure that it is being properly enforced.
"As a taxpayer, I'm appalled this violation of someone's right to free speech could have ended up being a costly lawsuit," she said.
Prykowski mentioned uniforms at the end of the meeting, after Schiano and Wildman had left.
"I want to make sure that this doesn't happen again," Prykowski said.
Assistant Superintendent Don Venema indicated he would check into the use of uniforms at other Pennsylvania school districts and take a closer look at North Penn's dress code and report back to the district's education/community/policy committee on Nov. 29.


the end