At least he isn't in this situation.

Livingston High School student suspended after bringing beer to school by mistake | abc13.com

I see both sides of the story here, he did the right thing, but then so did the school. The only way out of that mess would have been for him to not be honest, and hide the beer, which isn't the best (moral) path either.

But then, it was Texas, he is probably being punished for not bringing enough for everyone!

Just like I said:

"Livingston Independent School District wouldn't talk to Eyewitness News on camera but in a statement said, "The principal of Livingston High School followed appropriate LISD administrative procedures and protocol. LISD encourages any parent who is in disagreement with an administrative decision to seek relief through the appellate process as provided through Livingston ISD policies. Livingston ISD policies may be accessed through the Livingston ISD Homepage."

Interpreted into English, this is roughly: I don't have the spine or ability to think independently so I will blanket apply this arbitrary punishment from our handbook.

First of all, suspension isn't keeping him out of college, and his college admissions aren't up to his high school aside from their cooperation in submitting transcripts and verifying he has his diploma.

Plenty of criticism for the school overstepping, but when they have a student file a complaint with evidence what are they supposed to do? How would you fathers feel if your daughter was on the receiving end of this from a boy in her class?

What he did isn't the end of the world, but neither is a little community service.

If the extent of what he did was truly what the OP stated...I would not care if he'd sent those texts to either of my daughters.

No offense to the OP, but I teach my daugthers that azzholes (and immature boys) exist, and they need to learn to deal with them.

me too. i was 16 in 1988. was that really so long ago? has the world changed that much? all this drama blows my mind.

but, i never had kids so i have not seen the changes that have taken place in the schools and i certainly dont hang out with kids. i cant even stand to hang out with 25 year olds. they seem like aliens from mars to me

Yup. If the worst that my daughter ever has to endure is someone writing "boobs" to her in a text, I'll be a happy dad.

Well things are more calm today but still way out of proportion in my opinion. Because the girl reported it to a teacher (and it did stem from a school project after hours) they "need to treat it as a sexual harrassment issue".

I'm a huge proponant (sp?) for taking the punishment due but they've really over stepped. I'm keeping my mouth shut as a few hours of comunity service isn't too bad.

He's a good kid but with this particular group, common sence goes right out the window. He won't be fully grounded as I think the drama at school will be enough but that neighbor family of kids is off limits for a yet undetermined amount of time. They are just too disrespectfull and too full of trouble; they have been since they moved in several years ago.

The girl and my boy will sit down one day this week with a school admin to sllow him to appoligize again and hopefully move on.

Funny thing is the we just had a family discussion about problems with texts and facebook and the internet as a whole. This was after the incident but before we knew about it.

Oh yeah, he knows it was dumb and knew it even before he sent it. We all admit it.

David, that sounds like the exact same approach that I'd take.

Cheap lesson for the future. How many people have ruined careers over stupid Facebook pages, texts and emails ?

I'm not saying it's right, but I am saying it reflects the future.

I think this is a very serious issue. I would have a talk with the school about them lying to your son about the effects of a short suspension. If the school staff expects him to act like an adult, they should act as examples and behave like adults themselves. Ask them if they believe lying to people in order to manipulate their behavior is acceptable.

Would this be an appropriate time for the old saying "Only in America"?

Utterly puritanically ridiculous.

No, because it isn't 'Only in America'.

Yes. But useful life lesson, it will be the same at college and and in his eventual workplace.

Assuming that he ever gets a job after this egregious act.

+1
Don't be too harsh with the school. In today's environment, school admins are paranoid about being slapped with a lawsuit. They have to be over-react to everything to prove they weren't slack on the issue of sexual harassment.

If I were your son, I'd politely steer a thousand miles clear of that girl. She really put him under the bus by sending the text to the school. If he says ANYTHING that can beeven remotely misunderstood, she may cry wolf and he'll end up with chrome bracelets.

Unless she has nice melons...