[quote[Kennedy’s gonna slide right off into the water one of these days soon, man; good you got out already. ;)[/quote]
EVERYBODY got out. Last I knew, there was almost nobody left in the school. 
Um, maybe the Kiwi judge was bound by law to sentence them that way?
The assailants will be Megan listed for the rest of their lives, if there is such a law.
Not quite sure what you guys mean exactly Marley and Cosmo. Is this a referrence to anything recent? (I’ve been out, [wow!] 10 years now), or am I just being whooshed?
Anyway, I’ll certainly agree with the sentiment: “Ewwwwwwwwwwww” and " good you got out already."
What I meant was that in the last few years, the Kennedy population has been getting smaller and smaller- there are way fewer students than the other two schools, Mepham in particular. I think there was a plan to bus in some students from Roosevelt (since a school there was being closed) since there was space available. I think you can imagine how the parents of Kennedy students reacted to THAT idea.
Sorry for the delay in responding… that whole work thing, yanno…
Marley wrote:
Hell yeah. I figured there was probably at least one other Calhoun alum around here somewhere. Glad to finally meet ya. 
Why is that? I’ve been away for a while, I admit, so I don’t know recent developments. But back in my day, I know of 2 families that moved to South Merrick just so the kids could go to Kennedy. Something about it being the “academic” school in the district and it looking better on transcripts and college apps.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! I can just picture the look on some faces when that idea got proposed.
If that’s true (and I’m not saying it isn’t–I don’t know), wouldn’t it make more sense to send the Roosevelt kids to Calhoun since it’s right over the bridge instead of Kennedy which is about 5 miles farther away? Or is Calhoun still the magnet school for drama, cos, and mechanics, and the influx of students for that in district makes the bussing of Roosevelt kids to Calhoun impractical?
So this post doesn’t become a total hijack…
metroshane wrote:
saramamlana wrote:
I think this is a valid question. Hopefully one of the lawyer types can help out here.
Moe wrote:
Moe, you’re absolutely fucking right. And you said it better than I could.
Not bad for somebody from Kennedy.
I can picture it now at the meeting:
council spokesman: …and our final order of business today: in order to increase the student population at Kennedy, as well as promote its ethnic and socioeconomic diversity, we’ve decided to bus in students from a school that closed in Roosevelt.
(townsfolk go from stunned silence, to low murmurs, to angry outbursts “this is an outrage”… “I want to talk to the man in charge” … “Don’t tell me I can’t, I pay your salary”
council spokesman: (banging gavel) Please, please, we must have order.
(finally the room is silent. The council members look back and forth at each other, holding in their smiles. One guy signals with his hand “one, two, three”
everyone on the council: APRIL FOOLS!!!
Everyone has a big, hearty laugh.
Well, it is the academic school. 
About the boys having to register as sex offenders in their adulthood, IANAL, but I seriously doubt it. I would think that above all, unless they were tried as adults, their records will start from scratch once they turn 18.
I hope that something, whatever it is, can have an impact on the kids that did this so that they can truly appreciate the horrors they put these poor boys through.
IMHO, big muscles=small brain.
I don’t understand the violence, the “heat of the moment”, the hazing mind set – “it was done to us, so now it’s our turn”, the importance of “building character” if it leads to unchecked aggression in a youth who doesn’t want to appear “uncool” to his classmates.
It sickens me. The “golden years” of high school seem to be turning out criminals at an alarming rate! The punishments never fit the crime, even at that point. No wonder our society is truly messed up.
Sports=violence or so these events tell us. Why do we place such importance on this crap? It does nothing but let this crap go on and on, and on.
To hijack my own thread:
I’m studying to be a teacher & am doing this semester’s observation hours at Calhoun. Yes, it’s still the magnet school for drama, at least. The other stuff, I dunno.
There have been a lot of letters to the editor at Newsday about this. In one printed today, someone said they were angered by the fact that as soon as parents of the victims found out, they called their lawyers instead of sitting down with their children to console and take care of them. What can I say, LI is sick with affluenza (I got that word from today’s article about large homes).
I reeeally hope my own high school is looking into the sports teams to see what’s going on.
[joining the hijacks]
Eddie Murphy was from Roosevelt. Imagine him in the Bellmore-Merrick school system? :eek:
Debbie Gibson went to Calhoun I believe. And now she’s Deborah Gibson. (ooooooooh!)
[/hijack]
Were I a New Zealand judge (case specific), I would violate all sentencing guidelines to ensure that they left my coutroom in shackles. Appeals be damned, I’d make sure they were looking at hard time after facing my bench.
And without it?
I too have never understood the emphasis placed on sports in public schools. It’s a major distraction from what the kids should be concentrating on, which is acquiring the basic minimum of knowledge a person needs to function as a productive citizen.
Hate to stereotype, but in my high school, it seemed like the sports programs only existed to provide some kind of activity for the certain percentage of students who would otherwise have no interest in attending school. Now, I know there’s plenty of intelligent and responsible kids out there who also play sports, but I didn’t see many at my own school.
Then again, I’m slightly biased, since I derive a great deal of cynical amusement whenever I watch a sports program on TV and witness grown people act like mindless imbeciles, screaming at their respective teams and getting into fistfights over sports history, all the while drinking 7 dollar beers and sitting uncomfortably in astronomically priced seats. There’s obviously a group dynamic at work and a feeling of “belonging” that attracts these people, but it doesn’t really excuse the silliness, unless you buy what some sociologists say: that sporting events help people unleash aggressiveness that would otherwise be unleashed in more harmful and damaging ways.
Yep. I buy that. The University of Maryland College Park Campus is about 10 minutes down the road from me, and every year all those fuckers use the college football season as an excuse to riot and damage people’s property. In an ideal world the police would turn the fire hoses on them, teargas them into submission, maybe club a few and then arrest the whole stinking crowd, but since the rioters are a bunch of spoiled upper-class kids, they usually get a free pass. Meanwhile, two minutes down the street in the majority-black and poor town of Riverdale, a black guy drinking a beer on the street is subject to arrest and probably a ass-kicking from the cops if he complains.
Sorry for the rambling post…just a bunch of observations on how sports-related violence is tolerated in the good ole USA.
Bloody Hell, Keith Berry!
Hammit all to Dell! How are we supposed to keep up this sort of perfectly good rant when you come in here spewing such utterly reasonable observations?!?
HOW DARE YOU!!!
I graduated from Calhoun in 2000. It’s still the magnet school for drama (go On Tour!), as well as ALL the Special Ed programs.
Not sure why. If Kennedy was ever really the academic school (as opposed to just having a self-inflated reputation), that’s probably not true now. Last I knew, Calhoun’s scores on tests were as good or better.
Deborah (whatever) Gibson did indeed go to Calhoun. Amy Fisher went to Kennedy. And now these kids at Mepham. BMCHSD has produced some REAL winners…
How are you finding the school, Cosmopolitan? That reminds me, I think it’s the only school in the district that’s wheelchair accessible.
High school sports aren’t necessarily a total waste, but I’ll put in a vote for “overrated.” Our district always paid FAR more attention to the very shitty football teams than any other activities, like the drama program or the art program.
Keith Berry RAWKS!!
Two birds with one stone… a compliment and a sig line! Go me!