Destroying microwave OK; recording it is not

If a classroom is unruly, you'd think school officials would welcome a student who documents this misbehavior so it can be reined in.

But not at Clayton Valley High School in Concord, California.

In one class, rowdy students placed Play-Doh in the microwave oven, which made the Play-Doh explode. When the room filled with smelly smoke, the teacher refused to air it out. Students also set the garbage can in the classroom on fire and smoked cigarettes during class.

Although this is a public school, this lack of order sounds straight out of the pages of a certain Catholic high school I once attended.

The teacher also reportedly ridiculed and humiliated students in front of the class.

Finally, when disorderly pupils showed up for class and began flipping the light switch off and on, one student made a video of the incident with her cell phone - so school officials could be apprised of the situation.

The result? Suspension. But the unruly students weren't the only ones who were suspended. In fact, some weren't punished at all. Rather, this suspension was imposed on the girl who recorded their behavior.

The school said recording this misconduct violated the school's "zero tolerance" policy against recording devices.

So I guess the school has no policy against wrecking a microwave by cooking Play-Doh, or against setting trash cans ablaze?

In fact, the school falsely accused the student who recorded the commotion of participating in it herself.

Now the school district has had to expunge the suspension from her record, because the school didn't even bother to follow due process.

Somebody also needs to tell the school that its website is busted too!

(Source: http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_12666605;
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_12674434)