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Jewish kid kicked off Anderson HS robotics team for making anti-Semetic joke

Beau Vine

By Beau Vine
in Daily Texan

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Chopper

Chopper 17429

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Posted
19 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

First, the attorney is an agent of the family, so I'm comfortable with my original phrasing. And I'm not sure that second part is entirely true. While the school district will be able to answer and flesh out its defense before the court (and ultimately a jury if it gets that far), I don't think the district gets to make everything public. We'll get a general denial filed in court. Everything else will happen behind the scenes or will be filed under seal.  

You're assuming the kid made many off-color comments in class and that those were intentionally left out of the pleading while one statement was included. Not only does this seem unlikely but it's counter to what the principal of the school allegedly said.

Quote

According to the litigation, Anderson Principal Sammi Harrison said that because there had been only one incident, J.M. would be permitted to participate at an upcoming international competition and rejoin the team.

The reason I made the distinction that it's the lawyer who brings the proceeding is that the lawyer has a responsibility to the Court and must refrain from knowingly misrepresenting the facts.

Also I would love to see how you would justify the teacher's attempt to destroy the kid's reputation by writing a letter to the national robotics group. Is that in AISD's disciplinary procedures somewhere?

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Wrencher wrote a letter to a national organization attempting to blackball J.M. from robotics competitions forever.

In conclusion, this transgression must not stand for it is not kosher.

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DanRydell

DanRydell 799

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51 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

First, the attorney is an agent of the family, so I'm comfortable with my original phrasing. And I'm not sure that second part is entirely true. While the school district will be able to answer and flesh out its defense before the court (and ultimately a jury if it gets that far), I don't think the district gets to make everything public. We'll get a general denial filed in court. Everything else will happen behind the scenes or will be filed under seal.  

It's federal, so it won't be a general denial, but even with a specific denial, you're right that the District's answer isn't going to reveal much.

While FERPA rights don't disappear just because you initiate a lawsuit, the MSJ and response probably won't be filed under seal.

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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We talk about robotics.  Properties of robotics.  I guess you could consider it a social situation.   At the end of the year, we have a big banquet at the Hilton.  

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Dahobbs

Dahobbs 18195

Posted
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16 minutes ago, Chopper said:

You're assuming the kid made many off-color comments in class and that those were intentionally left out of the pleading while one statement was included. Not only does this seem unlikely but it's counter to what the principal of the school allegedly said.

The reason I made the distinction that it's the lawyer who brings the proceeding is that the lawyer has a responsibility to the Court and must refrain from knowingly misrepresenting the facts.

Also I would love to see how you would justify the teacher's attempt to destroy the kid's reputation by writing a letter to the national robotics group. Is that in AISD's disciplinary procedures somewhere?

In conclusion, this transgression must not stand for it is not kosher.

I'm a lawyer, I know how the game is played. I'm not suggesting that the family's petition is an outright fabrication, but that there is almost certainly more to the story that would place the teacher in a much better light/the kid in a worse one. I don't know that I've attempted to justify the alleged actions of the teacher. I'm just saying that the story as presented doesn't make a lot of sense. Why would the teacher seek such draconian punishment over a single comment, apparently made to no one in particular? Why would the other students ostracize him rather than support him? Why would the teacher threaten to resign if the student came back? None of these things make sense in the narrative presented by the family, which strongly suggests to me that there is a lot not covered in the petition. This isn't surprising. A lawyer's job is be a zealous advocate for his/her client; putting all the worse stuff about your client/case in your petition is seldom within that playbook. 

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Dahobbs

Dahobbs 18195

Posted
Posted (edited)
25 minutes ago, DanRydell said:

It's federal, so it won't be a general denial, but even with a specific denial, you're right that the District's answer isn't going to reveal much.

While FERPA rights don't disappear just because you initiate a lawsuit, the MSJ and response probably won't be filed under seal.

Ah, for some reason I missed the detail that it was filed in federal court. Thanks for correcting me. Please change all instances of "petition" to "complaint" in my previous posts.   

Edited by Dahobbs
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SwanderedTalent

SwanderedTalent 5761

Posted
Posted

A Jewish guy calls his grandmother to get directions to her new apartment. "I live in number 415, dear," she tells him. "There's an intercom on the front door, press the buzzer for 415 with your elbow and I'll buzz you in. Then go down the hall, take a left, and the elevators are on your right. Press the button with your elbow, then get in and press the '4' with your elbow. When you get off on the fourth floor, come down to 415 and ring the doorbell with your elbow."

"Gram, OK, I get it, but why do I gotta push all the buttons with my elbow?" he asks.

"What, you're going to come empty handed?"

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DalTxHornFan

DalTxHornFan 3130

Posted
Posted

Just read the complaint on PACER.  This isn't just some cut and paste ambulance chaser complaint.  Looks like the family has hired a lawyer that really knows his shit when it comes to federal education law.  Will the facts bear out the allegations in the complaint?  That's what the adversarial process is designed to ferret out.

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31996

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, Chopper said:

You are missing the point. The argument is the punishment doesn't fit the crime, that similar verbal transgressions aren't similarly penalized, and that being self deprecating about something you're doing is in no way similar to calling someone a nigger. 

Are you jewish? If so I'm confused how it would be possible to grow up almost wholly unaware of antisemitism if you've learned anything about WWII or even Nixon. I forget at what age I became aware of it but I was very young.

As an adult I lived in Slovakia for a short time and learned there are still people in the world who believe jews have horns growing on top of their head.

We were 13-14 years old.  I might should have said "practical anti-Semitism," as in how or why to ridicule Jews, as opposed to historical anti-Semitism.  

While we were aware of the Holocaust, we were not broadly aware that the Nazis carried to an extreme a sentiment shared by large chunks of the world for centuries.  We mostly thought it was their own fucked up  deal.

Nor were we aware of the "moneychangers" stereotype or "blood libel' or any of the ostensible reasons for disliking Jews.  About all we knew was they followed a different religion, like the Catholics, until Shylock required the longer-term perspective.

We sure as fuck didn't know about Nixon''s detailed personal history at that point.

They do tend to ration detailed knowledge of certain world events to youngsters.

No not Jewish.

Edited by TwiceHorn
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UDontKnow

UDontKnow 10559

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Posted
7 hours ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

I have to believe that there is something else causing this teacher to have animosity toward the student because his reaction is so over the top

That may be, but the punishment certainly didn't fit the crime.

This kid should try comedy. Chances are he'd be good at it. Otherwise, he could probably do well picking up coins.

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ChickenSandwich

ChickenSandwich 9922

Posted
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1 hour ago, Dahobbs said:

I'm a lawyer, I know how the game is played. I'm not suggesting that the family's petition is an outright fabrication, but that there is almost certainly more to the story that would place the teacher in a much better light/the kid in a worse one. I don't know that I've attempted to justify the alleged actions of the teacher. I'm just saying that the story as presented doesn't make a lot of sense. Why would the teacher seek such draconian punishment over a single comment, apparently made to no one in particular? Why would the other students ostracize him rather than support him? Why would the teacher threaten to resign if the student came back? None of these things make sense in the narrative presented by the family, which strongly suggests to me that there is a lot not covered in the petition. This isn't surprising. A lawyer's job is be a zealous advocate for his/her client; putting all the worse stuff about your client/case in your petition is seldom within that playbook. 

Uhhh. See Oberlin College, or the Mizzou...”We need some muscle over here” professor etc. 

the fact he is a teacher makes the stated facts MORE believable. 

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wd40

wd40 1976

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, DanRydell said:

It's federal, so it won't be a general denial, but even with a specific denial, you're right that the District's answer isn't going to reveal much.

While FERPA rights don't disappear just because you initiate a lawsuit, the MSJ and response probably won't be filed under seal.

gentlemen and/or possible ladies, can we please give this discussion the seriousness it deserves?  

I believe the clinical term is panniculus.

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 55834

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Uhhh. See Oberlin College, or the Mizzou...”We need some muscle over here” professor etc. 
the fact he is a teacher makes the stated facts MORE believable. 
To be accurate, the Oberlin bunch were all administrators, who are typically professors who have had the common sense node of their brains removed.
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mchookem

mchookem 16733

Posted
Posted

so...my niece knows them both (student and teacher). she wasn't there but her take (pardon teenage parlance and stream of consciousness):

" mr wrencher really enforces like... acceptance and equality and apparently the joke was anti-semitic so mr wrencher kicked him off and then the kids parents were like wtf we're jewish chill and mr wrencher was like no omfg it's either me or him. the story is accurate haha. everyone thinks it's so stupid it's equivalent to a black person saying the n word. like he's reclaiming the term bruh, chill "

it does seem like that's the story

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DalTxHornFan

DalTxHornFan 3130

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, mchookem said:

so...my niece knows them both (student and teacher). she wasn't there but her take (pardon teenage parlance and stream of consciousness):

" mr wrencher really enforces like... acceptance and equality and apparently the joke was anti-semitic so mr wrencher kicked him off and then the kids parents were like wtf we're jewish chill and mr wrencher was like no omfg it's either me or him. the story is accurate haha. everyone thinks it's so stupid it's equivalent to a black person saying the n word. like he's reclaiming the term bruh, chill "

it does seem like that's the story

What a dumb fuck.  AISD will hire some high-powered outside counsel and then write a couple of big checks to make it all go away.  Then they will have to deal with Mr. Wrencher and the teacher's union related to his employment situation.  So much stupid here, but par for the course.

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conVINCEd

conVINCEd 21477

Posted
Posted (edited)
15 minutes ago, mchookem said:

so...my niece knows them both (student and teacher). she wasn't there but her take (pardon teenage parlance and stream of consciousness):

" mr wrencher really enforces like... acceptance and equality and apparently the joke was anti-semitic so mr wrencher kicked him off and then the kids parents were like wtf we're jewish chill and mr wrencher was like no omfg it's either me or him. the story is accurate haha. everyone thinks it's so stupid it's equivalent to a black person saying the n word. like he's reclaiming the term bruh, chill "

it does seem like that's the story

 

Edited by conVINCEd
Fail. Ban user.
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DalTxHornFan

DalTxHornFan 3130

Posted
Posted

Wrencher is apparently no stranger to the courtroom.  Also 3 wives and four kids as best as I can tell, which is nice.

https://cases.justia.com/texas/third-court-of-appeals/2017-03-15-00438-cv.pdf?ts=1497615264

https://casetext.com/case/wrencher-v-wrencher-1

http://www.search.txcourts.gov/Case.aspx?cn=09-0231&coa=cossup

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Auto Driller

Auto Driller 2563

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So if self deprecating humor is part of Jewish culture (it is, right?) then isn’t Mr. Wrencher denying the student’s identity? Is this cultural appropriation? Which is the more significant crime? The PC crowd needs to release a list of offenses and rank them to that we know who to rule for in these situations.

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