Principal, teacher say JROTC student lied about a Muslim student.

madfloridian

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Tue Sep-01-09 07:51 PM
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Principal, teacher say JROTC student lied about a Muslim student.

In the original article about this incident which is posted below, it made it sound like the Muslim girl refused to stand for the pledge to the flag. It got people in an outrage. The girl in JROTC, who is planning on enlisting next year made insults about people and their skin color and terrorism.

The principal suspended the JROTC girl for 5 days, then lowered it to 3...even though she had lied.

From the St. Pete Times:

Officials: Girl Lied About Muslim Not Standing For Pledge

SPRING HILL — The JROTC member at Springstead High School who said she confronted a Muslim student last week because the girl did not stand for the Pledge of Allegiance fabricated that part of the story, school officials said Monday. Heather Lawrence, a 16-year-old junior at the school, has said she was walking by another homeroom Wednesday morning when she saw a girl with the traditional Muslim head scarf sitting during the pledge. Later, Lawrence said she confronted the girl, told her she should stand during the pledge and, according to her own account and a school report, said, "Take that thing off your head and act like you're proud to be an American."

A teacher witnessed the confrontation and Lawrence was suspended for five days for violating the district's policy against bullying and harassment. The suspension has since been reduced to three days.

However it did not happen that way.

But Lawrence could not have seen what she said she saw, Springstead principal Susan Duval said Monday.

"This girl lied," Duval said. "I have confirmed with the homeroom teacher the young lady stood for the pledge."

The girl and her parents also insist she was standing, Duval said.

The Muslim family is hesitant to talk to the media. The girl wearing the hijab was apparently caught off guard in the hallway when the girl made the comments to her. She kept walking. The article says she was reading an article with comments on line and crying.

Ahmed Bedier, president of the Human Rights Council and a personal friend of the family, relayed a comment to the Times.

The story is troublesome because it has stoked negative feelings toward Muslims among some Americans, Bedier said.

"There are some very known anti-Muslim blogs and Web sites and they're taking up this cause of Heather Lawrence," he said. This girl got caught bullying someone else, and to deflect it she's making it about patriotism and the flag.

Here is the original article, one of many making the girl from JROTC practically seem a hero, and making the principal look bad for suspending here. Note the comments the girl made about the Muslim girl and people in the Middle East in general.

Flap over flag, hijab leads to suspension of Hernando student

This is one of the nicer articles.

Heather Lawrence, 16, was suspended from Springstead High School after telling a Muslim student to stand up during the Pledge of Allegiance.

A few bells later, Lawrence was on her way to English class when she saw the girl wearing a hijab in the hallway. Lawrence confronted her. She told her she should stand for the pledge. And, according to Lawrence's own account and a school referral on the incident, said, "Take that thing off your head and act like you're proud to be an American."

A teacher overheard the encounter. Now Lawrence is serving a five-day, out-of-school suspension, and her parents are considering legal action.

"You have someone in the States who is able to enjoy our educational and health care systems, yet it's okay for them to be disrespectful, and it's not okay for my daughter to speak her mind," said Mark Lawrence, Heather's father. "That's her First Amendment right. That's her freedom of speech."

The principal and teacher were angry about it from the start when the teacher overheard what this girl was saying about Muslims in general.

Springstead principal Susan Duval said school officials stand behind the punishment. Heather Lawrence violated the district's policy against bullying and harassment, Duval said. She was disciplined not for telling the girl to stand, but for her other comments — comments that Duval called atrocious.

"It makes me ill," she said. "That is not what this school is about. These students should feel safe and secure here. We may have differences of opinion, but no student should have to tolerate harassment."

After the incident, Lawrence was asked by a school staffer why she confronted the girl. "She began to rant that she was enlisting and was going to Iraq and that basically because the girl looks Middle Eastern, that makes her an enemy because all Iraqis are Middle Eastern," according to the referral signed by assistant principal Stephen Crognale. Lawrence denies she said that or feels that way.

"Terrorists, regardless of who they are, what color they are, are the enemy," she said.

Principal, teacher say JROTC student lied about a Muslim student.

Cheers to the Lawrences