[Carolyn Duncan]

I must preface this post with a few comments; when I was learning to read I was handed "Common Sense" by Thomas Payne and that my friends is something everyone should read,though not necessarily as a learning to read book. The same person who taught me to read using this pamphlet is a police officer. My high school admin, with the exception of my government teacher, very much disliked me because I knew not only my rights but theirs as well and I pushed the limit everyday staying within my legal rights. I was seen as a tyrant who encouraged the other students and a "distraction to the learning process" a phrase which in our student handbook means a suspendable offense.
I grew up in Va with very southern family members, except my father who is an Ohio native. Carrying a gun in the south is very common, and so is an unloaded gun.You see we have a lock law in Va thats basically states guns must be kept unloaded and with a lock when not in use, while this is one of those unenforced laws it does still exist.
Now then,at my high school in Williamsburg,Va there were MANY arguments about these rights violations based on different events. As for the AIM deal, if it is a computer in a classroom it would make sense that it might not be as private as you might like. It is another thing if it is a computer in your room. There are government programs that scan every sent email in the country for certain key words and phrases, ie the words bomb, drugs, president, house, white, you get the idea. While not exactly very high on the ethics side of life it is our "homeland security" at work. So what if I sent an email about the president of my company wanting me to plan a bomb party at his newly painted white house where we drug the old carpeting out to the street... you get the point. I get put on an FBI list and watched more closely. I have done nothing wrong and yet I am being silently persecuted, singled out for no reason. You see where I may have a problem with this?
Another issue of searches on school grounds. My high school openly stated that once you enter school property you no longer have any rights. As far as vehicles on school property (including the parking lot), if there is nothing in plain sight from the windows they cannot look in your car, NO MATTER WHAT, without the owner's permission. Basically, students if you are driving a car with your parent's name on the title you DO NOT have permission to grant a search. Lockers and their enclosed articles are subject to search at anytime for any reason. Bottom line don't use it if you don't need it. My school tried to force us to use lockers by banning backpacks and jackets in classrooms. I only signed for school text books my first semester of high school. Often times you can get the exact text book from a library and never have to carry it around school. Leave the checked out book at home and borrow a book in school from a teacher or something to the likes. I carried a writing utensil and a note book only for years. We had a problem of bomb threats one year and so we were forced to walk through metal detectors everyday because of it. When you walk through a metal detector you have to put your bag on the table,therefore making it fair game for search as it is no longer a part of your person. Thus making anything found admissible and detainable. Even if you are 18 cigarettes can be taken away and you can get in trouble for them- just make sure you don't have a lighter too. I would intentionally wear plenty of metal on my belts, shoes, jewelry,etc and refuse to be pat down or searched by a male teacher. No offense but it worked, it got the teachers and admin as aggravated with me as the students were with them. We were also allegedly limited by a dress code which was never strictly enforced. So everyday I would make a VERY detailed list of violators and infractions then personally delivered the list to make sure the admin received copies. They claimed that all the staff didn't have the resources to catch everyone so single me decided to help them out. I mean come on how hard is it for a teacher to look at the students walking in the door to class?
As far as the school that suspended students for their hair color-just after that aired on MTV my high school attempted to do the same. So the entire student body, parents approved colored their hair and maintained that we couldn't concentrate on our studies because the color of the teacher's hair was distracting so we either wanted new staff, new hair color, or get rid of the rule. These are only a few of the reasons that the entire staff of my high school stood up and cheered when I accepted my diploma- as I broke graduation ceremony rules about not altering my hat or robe. So what if I folded up the corners of my hat and wrote on it, and ok maybe the robotics pins on a sash across my robe was a little much. But hey, I called it my robotics honor cord.