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EDUCATION: K-12: SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENTS :
PSYCHOLOGY: DISORDERS: ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER ADD ADHD : DISABILITIES:
LEARNING DISABILITIES :
CRIME AND CRIMINALS: BULLIES AND BULLYING :
CRIME AND CRIMINALS: PHOTOGRAPHY??? :
EDUCATION: K-12: COMPETENCY AND MALPRACTTICE ISSUES :
EDUCATION: K-12: SCHOOLS: NAMED SCHOOLS: PENNSYLVANIA'S SOUTH FAYETTE HIGH
SCHOOL :
EDUCATION: K-12: ADMINISTRATION: NAMED ADMINISTRTORS: SCOTT MILBURN :
LAW: CASES:
District Attorney Dropping Charges Against South Fayette Student
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District Attorney Dropping Charges Against South Fayette Student
By Deana Carpenter
For The Almanac
http://www.thealmanac.net/article/20140417/NEWS/140419954
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Close friends and classmates, as well as people who didnt know Christian
Stanfield, were on hand for a celebratory gathering Tuesday evening at
Bubbas Burgers in South Fayette Township.
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They were celebrating the dismissal of charges against the 15-year-old
South Fayette High School sophomore, who was found guilty of the summary
offense of disorderly conduct by District Judge Maureen McGraw-Desmet
March 19.
.
snip
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It was announced Tuesday the charges against Stanfield of which he was
convicted in magisterial court are being dropped by the Allegheny County
District Attorneys office. He had appealed the conviction and was expected
to go before an Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Judge April 29. That
hearing will no longer happen.
.
snip
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Justin Steele, attorney for Stanfield, said it was not Stanfields intent
to get the other students or the teacher in trouble.
.
He said, I just wanted the bullying to stop, Steele said. This kid is the
nicest kid youd ever want to meet.
.
I got word today that the charges are going to be dismissed, Love said
Tuesday. It was the best news weve had in a long time. This is the first
day I felt like I could really smile and mean it.
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No one in our office who was authorized to give advice on wiretap issues
or school conduct issues was ever contacted in this matter, Mike Manko, a
spokesman for Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.,
said in a statement. We have made multiple attempts to contact the officer
who wrote the citation. Those attempts have been unsuccessful. It is our
intention to withdraw the citation on April 29 because we do not believe
his conduct rises to the level of a citation.
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Although the district attorneys office did not approve of the initial
charge against Stanfield, it became involved because the citation was
appealed to the Court of Common Pleas.
.
snip
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Dr. Bille Rondinelli, school district superintendent, said, This is a
student matter which precludes the district from discussing it. This is
not something that can and should be discussed in media.
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The school district does have an anti-bullying policy.
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Steele responded to the school districts news release, which stated: The
South Fayette Township School District wishes to address recent reports in
the local and national media concerning a student of the South Fayette
Township School District. It is to be noted that certain information being
disseminated by the media is inaccurate and/or incomplete. The school
district is legally precluded from commenting specifically in regard to
these reports as the issue involves a confidential student matter.
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Steele said, Its good they made a statement. Im not sure of what they mean
by inaccurate reports. I think were all in agreement this wasnt handled
appropriately.
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Kurta and McGraw-Desmet declined to comment.
.
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The complete article may be read at the URL above.
.
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Change.org petition and commentary
https://www.change.org/petitions/pennsylvania-governor-and-pennsylvania-
state-house-and-pennsylvania-state-senate-fire-principal-scott-milburn
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A shorter URL for the above link:
.
http://tinyurl.com/pdwb2wf
Petitioning Pennsylvania Governor 2
Fire Principal Scott Milburn!
Petition by
Adryenn Ashley
Reno, NV
Principal Scott Millburn Had Special Ed Child Prosecuted For Recording
Being Bullied. The bullies have STILL not been punished.
.
We need an exception to your wiretapping laws for self defense. This whole
situation is crazy. We have children committing suicide because of
bullying, and now, the VICTIM is the one who is being convicted while the
bullies walk free from charges.
.
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More on Net-Gold Regarding this case.
Teen Who Was Reported to the Police and Fined $25 for
Secretly Filming His Bullies Sues School Staff Who Handed Him In
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Net-Gold/conversations/messages/42993
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South Fayette Mother Wants Case Against Bullied Son to be Dropped
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Net-Gold/conversations/messages/42994
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Exclusive: Special Ed. Student Records Audio Proof of Bullying, Threatened
With Charges of Felony Wiretapping
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Net-Gold/conversations/messages/42995
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Incident Transforms Bullied South Fayette Student
By Adam Brandolph
Published: Wednesday, April 16, 2014, 1:54 p.m.
Updated 7 hours ago
Trib Live News
http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/5959296-74/
district-conduct-fayette#axzz2zBm5lGTI
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A shorter URL for the above link:
.
http://tinyurl.com/nl7qpdf
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A South Fayette teenager's decision to record a bullying incident with his
iPad has changed everything for the quiet, reserved boy, his mother said.
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For starters, her son, Christian Stanfield, 15, a sophomore at South
Fayette High School, ate in the lunchroom for the first time on Wednesday,
and he plans to use the ordeal to work on changing state law to allow
victims to obtain proof of their torment without fear of retribution.
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I have literally watched him come out of his shell, said Christian's
mother, Shea Love, 40. He has a hard time speaking up for himself, but
he's looking at this as a fight for other people, not for himself.
.
Common Pleas Judge Robert C. Gallo signed an order Thursday, earlier than
expected, withdrawing a disorderly conduct charge against Stanfield for
recording his classmates' taunts on Feb. 11. Originally, prosecutors said
they planned to withdraw the charge April 29.
.
snip
.
The case drew outrage from parents and former victims of bullying, with
phone calls and email messages of support pouring in from as far as
California, said Jonathan Steele, Stanfield's attorney.
.
Steele commended the district attorney's decision.
.
I think someone more removed from the situation had a chance to look at
the facts, look at the law, and determine this was not an appropriate look
at the law, he said.
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Steele said he believes he now has an even stronger case when he files a
complaint with the U.S. Department of Education. Given that the district
was previously relying on the magistrate's conviction as a strength for
their position, I think this only strengthens our claim, he said.
.
snip
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Claudio Cerullo, president and founder of Teach Anti-Bullying Inc., a
Philadelphia-based nonprofit, said he suspects the district was trying to
protect itself by having Stanfield delete the recording.
.
In my humble opinion, the district was just covering their behinds,
Cerullo said. To say the kid did something illegal is just ludicrous.
.
snip
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She and her son plan to petition the state Legislature to include a
whistle-blower clause in the wiretapping law, she said.
.
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Kevin Goodman
High School Student Allegedly Punished for Recording Bullies:
Why It's Wrong
Posted: 04/14/2014 3:59 pm EDT
Updated: 04/16/2014 5:59 pm EDT
Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-goodman/
high-school-student-alleg_b_5148530.html
.
A shorter URL for the above link:
.
http://tinyurl.com/nze2nd5
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The incident, according to Jones, occurred on February 11th at South
Fayette High School in McDonald, Pennsylvania. The 15-year-old student had
sought to demonstrate to his mother that he wasn't exaggerating claims of
being bullied. The recording he made allegedly captured a student shouting
out to another student to "pull his pants down." The other student replied
"No, man. Imagine how bad that cunt smells!" The incident took place while
the teacher was helping the student with a math problem. The teacher
responded to the occurrence by instructing students not to talk unless it
pertained to math. After which there was supposedly a loud bang, the
teacher then yelled, and a student responded, "I was just trying to scare
him!" The abused student reported that the loud bang was a book being
slammed on his desk.
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But there's a problem with the above account: the evidence for it was
destroyed. The school's principal, Scott Milburn, allegedly ordered the
student to erase the recording after threatening him with felony
wiretapping because it occurred in a place where a "reasonable expectation
of privacy" existed. The principal then called local police; the officer
that arrived agreed with Milburn that felony wiretapping had occurred. On
March 19th, local magistrate Maureen McGraw-Desmet found the student
guilty of disorderly conduct because the recording served "no legitimate
purpose." Presumably, the recording had not been entered as evidence
because it was destroyed.
.
Whether or not illegal wiretapping had occurred, Principal Milburn is
wrong to have ordered the student to erase the recording -- if he did
indeed do so. If illegal wiretapping had occurred then Milburn effectively
tampered with evidence by ordering a subordinate student to erase it. But
it's far from clear that a classroom in a public school enjoys a
reasonable expectation of privacy and such an expectation is required for
wiretapping to be illegal in Pennsylvania. Wiretapping aside, Principal
Milburn may have ordered the destruction of valid evidence proving
intimidation and an inadequate response by the school towards it.
.
Indeed, the response of the school's administration from Jones' account
appears more like an attempt to thwart accountability. And it seems that
neither the police officer that arrived at the school to confront the
student nor the trial judge were impartial but rather biased towards
Principal Milburn's position.
.
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The Way To Fight Bullies Is To Fight Adults Who Support Them
Democratic Underground
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024834590
.
With bullying, youre facing basically the same problem you have when it
comes to rape culture. Everyone flaps their gums about how bad rape is,
but when the rubber hits the road, a whole bunch of people side with
rapists against rape victims. With this incident, you even see the same
logic that rape and domestic violence victims often hear, that speaking
out against abuse somehow deprives their assailant of his privacy.
.
Beyond that, the problem with bullying is that adults look the other way
for exactly the same reasons kids do: They dont like the victim, they find
the whole process amusing or even what the victim deserves, they think the
victim is whiny, etc. As long as adults feel this way, bullies will feel
free to do their thing, safe in the knowledge that the adults are on their
side. To fix bullying, we need to shift some of the efforts away from
sending a message to kids that bullying is bad and start really tackling
the culture of the adults who tolerate or even encourage it.
.
.
Criminal Justice
DA will drop case against teen convicted for recording his classmates
bullying him
Posted Apr 17, 2014 12:19 PM CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss
ABA Journal
American Bar Association
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/da_will_drop_case_against_
teen_convicted_for_recording_his_classmates_bully/
.
A shorter URL for the above link:
.
http://tinyurl.com/k3uvwvf
.
.
According to the Volokh Conspiracy, the conviction apparently stemmed from
testimony by a police officer who said a disorderly conduct conviction was
justified because the recording was illegal and it is offensive to commit
any kind of crime. The law punishes physically offensive conduct.
.
The blog disagreed with the cops interpretation and also said there was
likely no underlying crime of illegal recording. Pennsylvania law makes it
a crime to record conversations only when there is a reasonable
expectation of privacy.
.
.
The complete articles may be read at the URLs provided for each.
.
.
WEBBIB1314
.
.
Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
[log in to unmask]
http://workface.com/e/daviddillard
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Wellness Tourism: Bibliographic and Webliographic Essay
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