Special-ed student records bullying, but is accused of felony wiretapping

[the_ultimate_evil]

April 12, 2014
A high school Sophomore, who has learning disabilities, could not get any help with the other kids that were allegedly bullying him. He decided to do things on his own so he made an audio recording of the bullying, but things ended up backfiring and he was threatened with felony wiretapping, according to AATTP on April 11, 2014.

After being threatened with the charges of wiretapping, school administrators agreed to reduce the unnamed boy's sentence, and on March 19, 2014, he was charged with disorderly conduct.

The incident happened at South Fayette High School in McDonald, PA.

Shea Love and her son testified in front of District Judge Maureen McGraw-Desmet that he had been repeatedly shoved, tripped, pushed, and more at the school. Love even testified that one student attempted to burn him with a cigarette lighter.

Her son was diagnosed with a comprehension delay disorder, ADHD, and an anxiety disorder. He has a school-approved personal iPad, and he used it to make a seven-minute recording during his math class that proved the bullying.

Love was extremely angered upon hearing it.

The audio file records a student saying, "'You should pull his pants down!' Another student replies, 'No, man. Imagine how bad that (c**t) smells! No one wants to smell that (t**t),'" as the teacher is helping the victim with a math problem, according to benswann.com. One bully even hit him over the head with a book, despite the teacher's previous reprimands.
A loud sound was heard on the recording and it was one student hitting Love's son over the head with a book. The teacher is heard yelling at him, and the student simply exclaims, "What? I was just trying to scare him!"

Laughter is then heard by a group of boys.

School officials had no problem with the bullied student actually reporting the incident, but saw the entire situation as an abuse of electronic devices. Principal Scott Milburn even told the student to erase the recording and then called the police to treat it as a crime and so that Love's son could be interrogated.

"I just think that it wasn't really right. Like, I'm getting prosecuted for trying to seek help...If I had known it was illegal, I wouldn't have done it," the 15-year-old student said.

Another court date is set for April 29, 2014, in Pittsburgh.

http://www.examiner.com/article/spe...bullying-but-is-accused-of-felony-wiretapping


Seriously what the **** is wrong with people.

 

[KevanG]

School refuses to help him, he takes matters into own hands to get irrefutable proof of it so they will do something and he gets charged for doing so. I'd see if I could sue the school for providing an unsafe environment.

 

[DeadPresident]

And then schools are surprised when kids snap and murder fellow students with automatic weapons.

 

[DarkSentinel]

Seriously.

 

[redhawk23]

This story is simply bizarre.

 

[terry78]

I suspect there's someone higher up that has a problem with the kid, my theory. It can't just be that cut and dry.

 

[Teelie]

I blame good old zero tolerance policy. This is a "crime" that might reflect badly on the school whereas who gives a **** about some special needs kid getting bullied.

 

[TheDreamMaster]

F**k the school system. What a bunch of backwards idiots. I hope this kid gets the help he needs.

 

[GENERAL RAAM582]

And then schools are surprised when kids snap and murder fellow students with automatic weapons.

Bingo.

 

[the_ultimate_evil]

I suspect there's someone higher up that has a problem with the kid, my theory. It can't just be that cut and dry.

Ok you could say that maybe in the school someone does, but the police charged him and a judge found him guilty I don't think the hate can go that high up

 

[Teelie]

It's because they have a zero tolerance policy. And a zero accountability (on the part of the administrative staff) one too.

 

[Flint Marko]

That's absolutely ridiculous. There's got to be more going on, I'm having a hard time believing this kid is being vilified for recording his own mistreatment.

 

[Superwoman Prime]

What.

The.

Hell?

 

[InJustice]

Absolutely disgusting. The kid records his own evidence to make sure that people believe him that bullying happens, and he gets punished instead. And then we're supposed to wonder why kids shoot up the schools like DeadPresident said.

**** the dumb as **** adults running the school system(s). They are the cancer that's perpetuating the bullying problem with their ass-backwards thinking.

 

[KevanG]

There needs to be a middle ground between zero tolerance and zero intelligence. Zero tolerance meaning you pull crap like beating on a special ed kid (or any kid) without provocation then take matters into your hand, if he's just getting a recording because you refuse to do anything with proof then charge him with a crime for doing so? hat's beyond stupid and the people in charge in this matter should be suspended.

 

[DarkSovereignty]

I would take my kid out of that school, this is disgusting.

 

[cryptic name]

There's an important lesson in this for kids; every figure of authority in your life is, at best, woefully incompetent.

 

[DeadPresident]

Absolutely disgusting. The kid records his own evidence to make sure that people believe him that bullying happens, and he gets punished instead. And then we're supposed to wonder why kids shoot up the schools like DeadPresident said.

**** the dumb as **** adults running the school system(s). They are the cancer that's perpetuating the bullying problem with their ass-backwards thinking.

As bigoted as this sounds I really feel like a lot of people in the school system over a particular age don't have any sort of comprehension on how to deal with and regulate adolescents. I know from my experiences in high school most teachers/principals have the "they're just kids being kids" view, and that's really a recipe for maladapted youths.

On a side note, is being charged with/convicted of a felony permanently attached to someone's record in the States?

 

[InJustice]

As bigoted as this sounds I really feel like a lot of people in the school system over a particular age don't have any sort of comprehension on how to deal with and regulate adolescents. I know from my experiences in high school most teachers/principals have the "they're just kids being kids" view, and that's really a recipe for maladapted youths.

On a side note, is being charged with/convicted of a felony permanently attached to someone's record in the States?

I don't think it's bigoted at all. From my experiences, adults are motivated to take bullying seriously, yet paradoxically, it's not taken seriously at all. Mainly because they lack the skills to communicate and regulate adolescents, as well as lacking the foresight that a bullying situation could lead to something huge. The problem starts and ends with the people in positions of authority. As long as they think that it's "just kids being kids, they'll get over it," they're continuing the cycle that has been continued from the past few decades.

 

[mrvlknight21]

School refuses to help him, he takes matters into own hands to get irrefutable proof of it so they will do something and he gets charged for doing so. I'd see if I could sue the school for providing an unsafe environment.

Absolutely.

And then schools are surprised when kids snap and murder fellow students with automatic weapons.

Although THAT has never happened, I understand your point and agree.

 

[DeadPresident]

I don't think it's bigoted at all. From my experiences, adults are motivated to take bullying seriously, yet paradoxically, it's not taken seriously at all. Mainly because they lack the skills to communicate and regulate adolescents, as well as lacking the foresight that a bullying situation could lead to something huge. The problem starts and ends with the people in positions of authority. As long as they think that it's "just kids being kids, they'll get over it," they're continuing the cycle that has been continued from the past few decades.

Yeah, I meant bigoted more in the sense that I'm being a bit of an agist. I sincerely do believe that most people over the age of 50 involved in education have no grasp of what it is like to be a child between the ages of 6-18 in a school.

The age disparity between students and teachers is a large contributor to why the people entrusted with the education and protection of minors are so out of their depth.

Absolutely.



Although THAT has never happened, I understand your point and agree.

One of the guns Klebold used in the Columbine shooting was a TEC-9...I was under the impression that was a machine pistol capable of automatic fire, I may be wrong though.

You're right in general though, the majority of shootings don't have kids running around with light machine guns or anything. I still feel a lot of what is publicly available state-side is quite insane though, automatic or not.

Edit: I'm wrong, the particular model Klebold used wasn't automatic so I concede your point about the automatic weapons, my bad.

 

[terry78]

Once you hit a certain age you don't really relate to the kids anymore, even if you think you do. I'm 36 and while I can say what they should've done, I probably am even more outta touch than I think.

 

[DeadPresident]

Once you hit a certain age you don't really relate to the kids anymore, even if you think you do. I'm 36 and while I can say what they should've done, I probably am even more outta touch than I think.

Perhaps...but if you were a teacher at pretty much any middle/ high school and you knew certain cliques existed amongst students, and there were loner looking kids being victimized by the popular ankle biters I doubt you'd turn a blind eye to it?

The problem I have with a lot of the situations where kids end up perpetrating violent crimes at school is that a lot of people; fellow students, teachers, the parents, other family members are privy to the signs that this kid may be at risk but there's little to no intervention.

If I think about high school I could name probably 3-4 candidates of kids who were verbally and emotionally abused by fellow students and in each case teachers were aware of at least one incident concerning these kids, but none of the interventions taken were solid enough to prevent further incidents. That I feel is a massive failure on the part of teachers and global education systems at large, and not something I think a younger generation (I include you in that) would turn a blind eye to.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

What a load of crap

 

[TheBat812]

I blame good old zero tolerance policy. This is a "crime" that might reflect badly on the school whereas who gives a **** about some special needs kid getting bullied.

It's horrible that a little thing called context seems unimportant in these instances.