William Baughman of Scotts Ridge Wins Statewide Essay Contest

Congratulations to 8th grader William Baughman of Scotts Ridge Middle School School for winning the 18th annual Law Day essay contest held by the office of the state attorney general, George Jepsen.

The question was "Should students be suspended or expelled for comments or threats they make towards a teacher or school on Facebook?” and over Baughman won the contest out of 546 8th grade entries, Jepsen announced Monday.

Jepsen, himself a Ridgefielder, will present Baughman with a certificate at a May 19 ceremony at Scotts Ridge.

“I commend all the students who participated in this year’s contest. Excellent essays were contributed and our judges spent many hours reading the entries and evaluating the students’ arguments before making their choices,” Jepsen said.

Read Baughman's winning entry here in full:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” The first amendment to the Constitution of the United States clearly establishes the freedom of speech for all Americans. This is a freedom that this country was founded on, developed upon, and has remained an American staple for almost 250 years. No doubt we have the right to voice our opinions, but should there be boundaries on this freedom. Should there be a difference between what we can say and what we should say? Well, in the developing age we live in, we have become forced to doubt the foundation provided by our founding fathers due to the corruption advancing technology often causes.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011, 12:45 p.m.:  A 17-year old student casually approaches the campus of Millard South High School of Omaha Nebraska. The student enters the school and signs in to speak with Assistant Principal Vicki Kaspar. He enters her office and about four minutes pass. The student then reveals a Glock .40 weapon and shoots Kaspar in the torso about three or four times, inflicting mortal wounds. He proceeds to fire upon Principal Cutis Case with two to three shots in the lower abdomen. Before leaving the school, the student fires upon a custodian and a school nurse. Both are hit with shrapnel from the shots. The student quickly leaves the campus in a red Accord.

12:50 p.m.: The first 911 call is made by the school resource officer. The school security guard rushes to help the victims. Kaspar is found behind her desk bleeding profusely, begging, “Help me.” Kaspar will die of her wounds at 9 p.m. Case is found on the floor with serious injuries. Case will survive. The school is put into lockdown. The security guard describes the red Accord that the student escaped in to police.

1:35 p.m.: 911 receives a call reporting a suspicious red Accord seen in a parking lot located between 148th and D streets in Omaha. At the scene, police find the student dead behind the wheel due to a self inflicted gunshot wound. The car is still running. The student’s last words were those he posted on Facebook earlier that day. ““ur gomna here about the evil s--- I did but that f---- school drove me to this,'' he wrote. “I greatly affected the lives of families ruined but I'm sorry. goodbye.”  

The name of this student was Robert Butler Jr. He joins the long list of troubled students gone violent who have taken out their anger on their own teachers. However, Butler also joins the longer list of students who everyday make threats against their teachers and their schools on Facebook. These threats often go unnoticed and unpunished, and this is an absolute outrage. Threats against school employees by students should be handled no differently than threats made from one adult from the other. The United States has established laws against threats and murders (obviously) and even against cyber bullying. It is therefore outrageous and disconnected of State governments to have no laws against threats made against teachers by students. And it is not like these threats seldom occur. In the spring of 2010, threats were made against English teacher Kathy Bowen. Bowen felt so disturbed by the threats that she transferred schools and not long after retired from teaching completely. On January 8, 2011, 6 girls from Reno, Nevada were discovered to have organized an “Attack a Teacher Day” on Facebook. 100 of their friends accepted the invite to the attack which was to occur between 7a.m. and 9a.m. Thankfully, the proposed massacre was prevented and the girls are in custody. “School shootings really happen. That’s why we took it seriously,’’ said Dan Sadler, principal of Carson Middle School “It’s not OK, and it’s not funny in this day and age if you’re going to make a threat against a teacher.’’ Sadler hit it right on the nose.

 All states should have the power to take legal action in the case of student-teacher threats if necessary, and schools should always have the power to suspend or expel those students that make threats. There will always be conflicts between students and their teachers. There will always be conflicts between students and their teachers. But what is important is that all of these groups grow and change together and work with each other to insure a safe learning experience for the students, a safe teaching experience for the teachers, and an active parenting style for the parents. With a little more effort and understanding, Robert Butler Jr. might still be alive, those six girls might still be innocent, and Kathy Bowen might still be teaching. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s just going to take a little work to get there.