Riding a horse to school "equivalent of bringing in a loaded firearm to school" Teen is suspended

[The Straight Story]

By L. Finch, Globe Correspondent

Is there such a thing as too much spirit during a high school spirit week? School officials in Hamilton and Wenham seem to think so.

A senior at Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School was suspended for two days last week after the 17-year-old dressed as a knight and took a three-minute tour on his family’s horse around the school. A friend who dressed as a squire and led the horse by the reins was given a one-day suspension and two hours community service.

"They told my son it's the equivalent of bringing in a loaded firearm to school" Ron DePaolis, the teenager's father said today in a telephone interview. But he "brought the spirit up of the student body. The kids need that, a little boost in the morale."

DePaolis said his son, Dan, approached him earlier in the week for permission to ride Pierre, the family’s horse, around the school grounds to celebrate spirit week.

Thinking it was a clever idea, DePaolis and his wife, an equestrienne, accompanied their son on his early morning march around the school.


http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/11/by_l_finch_glob_7.html?p1=Upbox_links

[Lochloosa]

1. WTF.....is wrong with the people running our schools

[LWolf]

2. Expensive lawsuits.

It's possible that this would have been allowed in more controlled circumstances, if the family approached admins and got permission FIRST.

[WolverineDG]

8. From what?

kids jealous that they don't have a pony to ride to school?

:eyes:

dg

[sarge43]

11. If that horse kicked or bit a kid, sharks would gather and tear pieces out the school. n/t

[WolverineDG]

13. OMG, helicoptering!! Danger! Danger!

what if what if what if?????

The kids are more in danger from getting hit by cars than by a horse, yet no one is suspended for driving to school.

dg

[Ikonoklast]

21. They have PERMISSION to drive to school.

In my district, you need to register with, and have a parking pass issued by the school, or the student's car will be ticketed and towed as a trespass.

That kid asked NO ONE from the shool system to do what he did.

[MedicalAdmin]

28. Parking passes have nothing to do with driving

Statistically being around a car is the most dangerous thing most people do. Cars kill a lot of kids.

Having said that the kid was an experienced rider, accompanied by experience adult riders on a horse that was being led. No one was hurt..

Reality check. No one was hurt.

[Ikonoklast]

32. Reality check. He broke the rules.

The rules allow kids to drive to school.



And no one was hurt...this time. That was just by luck.


Experienced riders get hurt and/or killed all the time.


This could have gone bad in so many ways it's not funny, but let's hope it isn't one of your kids that gets hurt when a stunt like this goes wrong.

[proud2BlibKansan]

39. +1

[urgk]

45. How many kids have to be trampled by rampaging knights on horseback before the public takes notice?

To arms! To arms!

How many children will we send, trampled and bent, bleeding from spleen and from sinus, into the light? How many of our best and brightest will have, as their last memory of this good earth, the thunderous skull-punch of hooves dropped from the sky? How many must be within a few feet of the seething cauldron of girdled hate as they prepare to meet their maker?

Must one more rib be shattered!? Must more one more innocent, baby-sweet face look on in terror as yet another Cinnamon, or Buttercup, or Daisy or Lulabelle storm across campus, hell-bent on sating its literally unbridled fury. Will the bloodlust of these beasts forever be quenched by the lives of our most precious innocents?!?!

WE MUST ACT NOW!

(If, by now, you can't see the silliness of getting bent out of shape about horses, while teens drive cars, play football, eat junk food and engage in all of the other multitude of activities that are much, much more likely to hurt of kill them, I can only shake my head.)

[WI agent]

55. HAHA

This is one of the best posts I have seen in a long time. Thanks.

[eilen]

89. I can only shudder at the thought

of all the unauthorized possibly rabid and certainly bug ridden squirrels and rabbits trespassing on school property.... without a pass.

Horrors!

[blueamy66]

53. holy crap

I'm so glad I don't have kids...

We rode our horses to the local watering hole to pick up the dairy hands...

WTF has this world come to????

A stunt? This was a daily occurrence in the 80s. Broke the rules? I laugh.

Your outlook is scary. Really scary.

[urgk]

57. I agree with your logic. 100%. Hooray for rationality. :) n/t

[WolverineDG]

75. it was worse at my school

oh the horrors I was exposed to!

Bird season: many boys would get up early to go hunting, not have time to take their guns home, & so would leave them in the gun racks inside the cabins of their trucks, which were parked in the campus parking lot. No one batted an eye.

FFA kids often had their animals on campus as well--bulls, goats, pigs, heifers, sheep. Don't recall anyone getting trampled in a stampede or parents freaking out over "what if" scenarios & threatening to sue.

Now, if they want to get this particular kid on disrupting school, I might go along with that. But riding a horse around the perimeter of the school grounds = bringing a loaded gun to school? FFS, no.

dg

[ieoeja]

60. I saw nothing in the link about the school having a rule against riding horses to school.

What I did find was this:

"But only minutes into the ride, the high school’s associate principal put a stop to the spectacle, suspending Dan on the spot, his father said."


If they did not have a previously published rule against riding horses to school, then the associate principal's action were unreasonable. For a reasonable response, put a period where the first comma is located and delete the rest of the sentence.

Instead, the associate principal goes straight to the death sentence for a mild violation. That is one very piss poor associate principal.

[urgk]

62. "But only minutes into the ride." Well put.

:) Just teasin'.

I knew what you meant. And I agree with you all the way. It's the kind of decision that the kids hear and use to decide that the guy has no sense whatsoever. Even if/when he makes a good call, the kids aren't going to give him credit.

[ieoeja]

65. My high school prinicipal's complaints were largely ignored for this kind of idiocy.

All of my friends' parents had the same rule when they were told one of us did something wrong: "the authority figure is always right, unless it is the high school principal".

Made the principal highly ineffective when it came to discipline. Last time he tried disciplining me, I laughed at him right in front of his office staff and walked away.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

66. "death sentence"

I find the over reaction her about the official's over reaction here just as silly.

The kid was suspended for 2 days. Big deal. He wasn't expelled, jailed or met with the business end of a buggy-whip. He wasn't even suspended a week.

I'm going to venture a guess here there is a rule about bringing pets to school. Maybe even a rule specifically about live-stock.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

73. dupe

[verges]

82. What rule do you think was actually broke?

I doubt that the school rulebook says a single thing about horses.

[Angry Dragon]

88. High school football coauses concussions

outlaw football, outlaw sports
makes as much sense

What rule was broken??

[lukasahero]

91. Are there really rules in place that say you can't ride a horse to school?

Just checking.

[MedicalAdmin]

25. Sorry. Sharks won't gather for a summary dismissal.

Had the school known about and agreed to beforehand to the horse and then a kid got hurt, then a case could be made. However with the school having no knowledge before the fact and having acted to secure the safety of their students they would get summary dismisal of any suit.

The school overracted. Lawsuits, despite media spin, are not that common and of those that do get filed, most are dismissed by the judge. Nationaly only about 3% of suits make it to a trail.

It's a pity that we put spineless idiots in charge of schools rather that leaders.

[DBoon]

34. "only about 3% of suits make it to a trail. "

I guess since we are talking about horses, it makes sense for the suit to "make it to a trail"

[TexasObserver]

51. Most suits are settled. That's not the same as being dismissed for cause by the judge.

If this incident led to a child being accidently injured, the school would have been sued and such suit would not be summarily dismissed by the judge (or even dismissed upon Motion for Summary Judgment), because the very presence of a horse on the school grounds suggests someone isn't performing their duty to make the school grounds safe.

The school is correctly concerned about litigation, but it is also correctly concerned about risk of injury to students. A horse is a danger in a strange environment among people who don't know how to behave around horses.

The school overreacted with its punishment, but not its concern about this very real danger.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

67. Even if they had no prior knowledge it still becomes their responsibility....

.... if they fail to put a stop to the action once it comes to their attention. In fact, it's still their problem even if the school DOESN'T see the action of the rider - see: failure to supervise and deep pockets.

I don't agree with the kid's suspension but there IS a reason pets are forbidden at school (without permission) and one of the main reasons for bans on pets IS liability.

[TexasObserver]

52. I think you mean attorneys would represent the injured.

That's what they're supposed to do. Injured people need an attorney, and the only ones who will provide the unmonied with counsel are the ones you label sharks. The sharks are the insurance company attorneys.

Hope this clears up your misapprehension.

[urgk]

58. Okay then...let's stop the kids from bringing lawyers to school.

They seem to be the inherent danger here.

[LWolf]

20. Ignorance is bliss.

Ignorance of horses and the potential for a train wreck, and ignorance of what school districts pay for insurance, and how those insurance companies regulate what can, and can't, happen on school grounds in order for them to remain insured and keep costs down.

"Those people," though, aren't ignorant of those things.

[WolverineDG]

23. I'm not the one equating a horse with a loaded gun

talk about ignorant.....

dg

[MedicalAdmin]

31. Ignorance is bliss, part 2

Sure they know about the costs associated with insurance etc, However those costs aren't affected by events that were unexpected or that could not be predicted.

They are worried about shit that has not and will not happen. Please stop spreading the right wing meme that lawyers just sit around looking for cases that wil be summarily dismissed. They don't . It's a right wing fallacy spread to rein in lawyers who ate our last best chance against corporations.

[Dappleganger]

22. Flying horse poop...

I swear that stuff can make your head asplode!

[Hassin Bin Sober]

72. Sure. What could POSSIBLY go wrong:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5pN5kR8vco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-o0-r5bClE

[HuckleB]

26. I don't buy it.

Suspensions are handed out far too freely, for anything and everything. It's become absolutely ludicrous.

[LWolf]

33. Schools have insurance. Insurance companies base rates in part

on what kinds of activities are allowed. Simple concept. Schools have budget issues. Schools are always trying to keep insurance costs, and lawsuits, down. Sometimes they go overboard when it comes to safety. Not in this particular instance, although the "loaded gun" reference is obviously stupid. Some states and districts regulate safety more rigidly than others. I think that depends on the local population, local costs for insurance, and the number of lawsuits that particular district has had to field. Safety protocols beyond legal requirements are decided at the district level and approved by elected board members.

Suspensions? I don't think the kids should have been suspended. The activity was rightly suspended. I think there might have been a way to support it if the parents had gone to the school first. Perhaps not during the before and after school traffic rush; perhaps with barriers up to prevent foot and car traffic from approaching until he was done.

"Suspensions are handed out far too freely" is a broad-brush statement that doesn't acknowledge how different schools can be from each other, but that's a different conversation.

That said, my principal brought his draft team to school and pulled a farm cart around the field last year. Students did not ride, for insurance purposes. They did, after he unhooked the team and put them back in his trailer, get to climb all over the rig. They do, on weekends in the fall, head a couple of miles down the road to the local pumpkin patch and ride in the rig there, where he loans his team out to pull wagons of people out to the pumpkin fields to pick pumpkins and back. That's on the farm's insurance, not the school's.

Our school IS rural; we don't have the traffic issues most schools have.

[Ikonoklast]

3. His family are idiots for going ahead with this.

No permission from school authorities to pull this stunt, and YES, people could have been hurt.

Ever see a spooked runaway horse? Like trying to stop a tornado.


Sometimes something as stupid as a shadow will set them off.

[eilen]

12. Not nearly as damaging as

an out of control car.

Most riding horses are fine around people. They are domesticated.

A couple years ago a boy in Tennessee rode his horse to school because the gas prices were too high to drive. No suspension there.

If only schools had livery stables.

Bringing a horse to school is nothing like bringing a gun.

[Ikonoklast]

19. As far as liability issues go, they view it as the same.

Anyone gets hurt, and the entire school district, and by extension every taxpayer, gets to pay for it.

Dogs are domesticated, too, but they still kill people on occasion.






And if that kid in Tennessee has the permission of the district to ride to school, then that's fine.

You cannot unilaterally do things on public property, no matter how good an idea you might think it is.

[leveymg]

30. You've never been on a horse, have you?

No, most horses are calmer than your pet Labrador Retriever. Some dogs are very dangerous, most aren't - same thing goes for horses.

[Ikonoklast]

35. My family used to own and race horses.

My sisters in-laws still harness race a couple or three.


Been around horses a fair amount of my life.

Kicked once or twice, and got bit once, but those were mostly my fault.

Still hurt, though.



Yeah, I know nothing about horses.

[leveymg]

36. As you know, Thoroughbred and Standardbred race horses are generally much more hyper

and more difficult to control than someone's pet school horse. Although I have no way to know what kind of horse the kid brought to campus, I do know that a horse that's being led is very unlikely to get away. It happens at the track, but not very often.

Sorry about that. My bad.

[Ikonoklast]

41. My grandfather had a Thbred named "Black Jack".

He was the very devil.

But, if you knew that, and didn't startle him, he was a pretty good boy, and easily handled.

If he got spooked, grooms went a flyin'.

Looks were definitely deceiving.

[leveymg]

47. I almost died on a horse that I was cantering in a field - he lurched sideways and took off,

with me dangling by the stirrups underneath his belly as he galloped toward the outside rail. If he had tried to jump, well, let's say I don't want to exercise my imagination. The horse stopped on its own just shy of the fence.

Yes, I'm familiar with spooked horses, too. O8) :dem:

[Ginto]

70. I bet they've never seen the damage a runaway Toyota can do too. nt

[slackmaster]

80. I think some people need to lighten up

:eyes:

[Buns_of_Fire]

4. Four words for the associate principal:

Have you considered decaf?

Asshole. (Okay, that's five words.)

[WolverineDG]

5. Unless there is something missing from this story

just :wtf: drugs are the administrators of this school on? Suspending a kid for riding a horse to school?

dg

[Zephie]

6. Time to make myself unpopular: The school overreacted

Not that they weren't wrong for not getting permission first. Still, calling it equivalent to a loaded firearm is insane.

[Buns_of_Fire]

10. Apparently, they have a zero-tolerance policy for loaded horses.

Had I done something like this in high school (not too likely in Ft. Lauderdale), I'm sure the administrators would have put a quick stop to it.

But I truly doubt I would have earned a suspension.

[Mad_Dem_X]

14. +1

They should have gotten permission first, but to equate a horse with a loaded gun is just...:crazy:

[rucky]

7. Getting suspended just made him more legendary.

Everyone at his school will talk about this for years.

[petronius]

64. God point - that did improve the prank a little bit

I agree with the school that the student should have gotten permission, and there are possible consequences that should have been considered. However, the 'gun' comment and the sizable suspension make me think that the school fell into a very widespread error of thinking every bad thing is equally bad, and everything out of the order must be smashed down with a sledgehammer. Not all rules violations are the end of the world, but people often act as if everything is huge (not just talking about schools, here)...

[End Of The Road]

9. This is horseshit!

Unless there was a policy banning animals from school grounds, how can they suspend the kid? And he was accompanied by adults!

How was this action going to hurt someone? Loaded firearm my ass.

[eilen]

15. They really overreacted to this.

How can anyone take the school administrations seriously when they freak out over everything? It seems they like to screw teenagers over any chance they get.

My son's friend was very annoyed with some attendance office staff --regarding some idiotic rules the school has-- and made a statement (not offensive) but in an irritated voice. Both ladies wrote him up for "being insubordinate" because of his tone of voice. He was suspended for 4 days.

[TheCowsCameHome]

16. But it's OK to have an ass in the school.

Go figure.

[Incognitus Czar]

17. A horse is always loaded.

A horse is always loaded, you just gotta find the trigger!

But really though, a loaded gun is not equivalent to a horse. The school officials must be either really safety conscious or think horses can massacre a school full of kids.

On the other hand, the parents who allowed said kid to ride to school on a horse is also pretty stupid.

[TlalocW]

18. They're right.. there's so many shootings at the schools

The Mennonite kids attend in my home state of Kansas where you see the parking lot of the high schools filled with both cars and horses and often buggies.

TlalocW

[MichellesBFF]

24. Something local to me

Northern NY state, a kid rode his bike to his middle school with his mom, the school admins had a fit and I confiscated his bicycle. Students weren't allowed to walk or bike to school there, but they've since changed their policy.

[eilen]

90. Wow, what town was this? I live in upstate NY nt

[leveymg]

27. OMG. People can drown in an inch of water - ban water bottles in schools!

Shoe laces and belts can kill - ban those, too. Let's just stick the kids in straight-jackets and padded rooms for 16 years. That'll prepare them for the real world.

[donco6]

29. Ah - the school basher is back to business after hiatus.

Lovely.

[newfie11]

37. Unbelievable!!

That horse was totally unmoved by the traffic or kids walking by. There was no danger. Plus he had a person leading the horse. This has no comparison to bringing a loaded gun to school. Unbelievable.

I have 4 horses and been around horses my entire 63 years. This is bullshit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stupid city slickers.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

77. I suppose some could say stupid hillbillies should leave their horse back on the ranch by .

It's not like the city slickers drove their bus over his ranch. :)

[newfie11]

92. I believe it says on there that this is a horse community

If one has a horse I don't believe that automatically makes them hillbillies. Actually it's my understanding hillbillies had mules.Ya know the LONG EARED kind.

[proud2BlibKansan]

38. Inside the building? Or outside?

[dgibby]

46. Funny you should ask that.

When my sister and I were in school(back in the dark ages), some of the boys put a horse in the girls' bathroom as a prank. The horse was unharmed(confused,but unharmed), and the boys were punished, but not suspended or expelled.

My mother did get suspended for 5 days for horse racing during lunch. Evidently it had rained, the road was muddy, and the teacher got a mouth full of mud as the kids race by. She was NOT amused!

[WolverineDG]

78. In my junior year, someone drove a motorcycle down the main mall

inside the school as an end of year prank. Everyone knew who did it & nothing happened to the kid. Why? Because the admin (wisely) decided that making a big deal out of it would only encourage copy-cats.

dg

[Odin2005]

40. The dumb is strong with these school admins.

[Ganja Ninja]

42. I use to work as a bartender when a customer tried to bring a horse into the bar.

Not a good idea. That's all you need is for a horse to go berserk and start kicking and stomping the patrons.

[FailureToCommunicate]

44. Why the long face?

(Sorry, couldn't help it)

[FailureToCommunicate]

43. "Hellllllo Willlbur. Tell the schoolll follks I woullldn't hurt nobody.

Though I'm not surprised at their lack of judgement: Scott Brown won those towns by a big margin...

Horsefeathers

[TexasObserver]

48. I love horses, but this was a bad idea.

The horse could easily get spooked and accidently hurt itself, its rider, or anyone in the area.

The horse could lose its footing on concrete paths or sidewalks, hurting itself or others.

There are always people who think they have to pet or otherwise physically engage strange horses.

Horses are large, powerful, not particularly bright animals who scare easily in strange circumstances. I love horses, but I love them enough to know not to take them in circumstances which could prove dangerous to them or others around them. Horses instinctly kick to warn away those who stand too near their rear or flank. Some kid getting kicked in the mid region or head is a real possibility in a crowded, unstructured, strange environment.

Well meaning kid. Parents should have thought this out. School officials overreacted with punishment.

[Blue_Tires]

59. we have horseback cops on the streets here at the oceanfront

one night while the rider was off and standing next to the horse, the cell phone on his hip vibrated, and the horse craned his neck around and tried to bite the cop's phone -- except it missed and bit the thick part of his belt... Luckily a couple other cops were able to calm the horse down quickly so he would let go of the belt...

[TexasObserver]

86. That's an example of a horse biting at a horse fly or other insect.

He heard the vibration, which probably sounded like a buzzing insect, and bit for it.

If you've ever been bitten by a horse fly, you know why the horse would act preemptively. They're huge blood suckers.

[ladjf]

49. America is giving me a permanent headache. But, I'm not ready to

leave yet. I keep hoping that we will come out of this craziness. nt

[lonestarnot]

50. Some ignoranus pug must be in charge.

[blueamy66]

54. Attorneys are the downfall of our country

Jeez

[Hassin Bin Sober]

68. Thanks for the right-wing bullshit.

I happen to like them. Of course, when you have had to use an attorney, as have I, to get answers out of the hospital that killed your father, YOUR outlook might change.

[blueamy66]

85. Oh please...

my parents are dead too. Save your knee-jerk reaction.....attorneys are the bane of our existence...they're not gonna bring back our parents...but will get a tidy sum trying

[uppityperson]

76. unrealistic fears are the downfall of our country

broadbrushing any job category due to the behavior of some who are unethical is bigotry.

[blueamy66]

83. whatever

so I'm a bigot


If I see one more commcercial for an "attorney's" office" and "let's sue the shit outta somebody" I may just puke...

[Stuckinthebush]

56. OK, parents...let's get this straight

If your child wants to do something at school, have her/him get approval from the administration first.

That will take care of a lot of problems.

[northernlights]

61. as a lifelong horseowner, they should have gotten permission first

It's that simple.

Horses are, by virtue of their size and the fact that they have their own minds, potentially quite dangerous. Unlike a car, they are not always under the control of their rider or handler(s)...no matter how talented, well-trained or experienced those riders and/or handlers are.

They can crack your skull open going for a fly. If you get tangled up in the reins or lead-shank you can be seriously, seriously injured. If a horse gets spooked and panics (and there is no such thing as a bomb-proof horse) somebody can be trampled and/or dragged, and seriously injured or killed.

Non-horse people aren't always aware of some of the things that can cause a horse to panic. And some people get phenomenally stupid around horses, do stupid things and set them off. Sometimes on purpose because they think it's funny to watch people and horses getting injured in the ensuing panic. My sister has a permanently injured hand thanks to a trucker blowing his giant horn as he drove by. He thought getting her bucked off was funny. 30 or so years post accident she ended up with ann embolism in that hand that no surgeon wanted to touch.

Maybe the school was harsh in its response as a deterrent to future "make their own rules" types?

[One_Life_To_Give]

63. And when Mom and Dad out riding stop to watch the field hockey game

Maybe growing up in an area where people frequently rode horseback through historic parts of town. And the only time I recall someone riding their horse to then middle school. People were more concerned that it wasn't fair to leave a horse hitched all day.

In three minutes it's hard to believe that he did anything more than a non stop walk around the school and left. Not exactly the kind of activity that goes beyond a mounted police officer taking a walk around the school or the local 4H students parading past the school on the public roadway. What is next armed security at the Topsfield Fair to protect the kids from some rogue horse?

[xor]

69. Hardly unreasonable on the school's part

Imagine if that horse got spooked or something. This is hardly comparable to the stupid suspensions we often times see. Also, I'm sure if he brought a load firearm to school, he would have been gone for much longer than a couple days.


On second thought... (and reviewing the video) Damn knee-jerking...
I was thinking of a horse running through the school... I dunno, I get why the administration would have wanted that approved because of what could have happened if ufo flew over the school and spooked the horse, but it doesn't really seem necessary to suspend.

[Jefferson23]

71. The kid rides a horse to school and it's the equivalent of bringing a firearm? The horse's name is

Trigger?

Oh my, he and his Mom marched around the school....how threatening!

[Fla_Democrat]

74. Either I don't know enough about horses

or they don't know enough about firearms.


:smoke:

[slackmaster]

81. A horse is kind of like a big friendly dog that doesn't eat meat

And is smarter than some people who work at schools.

[slackmaster]

79. Wow, what kind of asshole school employee would say such a stupid thing?

:argh:

[CanonRay]

84. That just about figures.

[OnlinePoker]

87. In the end, nobody got hurt, he had a good time...

...and he has a story he can tell for the rest of his life.

[Old Troop]

93. What's weird is that Hamilton is MA's equivalent of "horse country"