When students at Sherwood Middle School in Creighton, Missouri, pelted 8th-grader Andy Johnson with jelly to punish him for not participating in a library reading exercise, was it a creative alternative to detention or a violation of his civil rights?
School board members and officials disagree about the appropriateness of the punishment, suggested by Johnson’s classmates when English teacher Frank Fleming asked them to submit alternatives to detention or suspension for avoiding the reading program. Although Fleming told Johnson he didn’t really have to go through with it, the student’s mother signed a consent form, and he went to school April 23 prepared with goggles and a shower cap, the Associated Press reported June 28.
School Principal Daphne Thacker said she took pictures for the yearbook as laughing students threw jelly at Johnson, who was also amused. “It was real creative, not punishment of any sort. As a principal, I trust my teachers to do what’s best for the kids,” she said.
Some school board members and officials expressed concern about the incident, including board member Blanche Williams, who called it a violation of Johnson’s civil rights. Psychologist Sue Thompson said the student’s family should have stepped in, adding, “Anytime a child is put in a situation that is humiliating, whether they go along with it or not, the adult should step in and stop it.”
Posted July 1, 2002.