Petition to NOT expel 9 Sterling/CTC students

What happened to common sense! Their lives do not deserve being ruined over this. Just typical kid stunt and no harm intended toward anyone!

I agree expulsion is excessive. However, there are a lot of comments about these kids being good kids or gifted kids and that is why they should not be expelled. I think they should have the same consequences as any other middle schooler who makes the same mistake regardless of which school they attend.

Destroying kids future is a path to make them criminals.

It’s definitely not right to threaten your teacher. I hope these young children could take this as a lesson. I also ask the court to give them a chance to learn. Thank you!

Please give them another chance to build up their matual personality.

While at least a couple of the contributors to that group chat went WAY beyond the bounds of good judgment... and while no teacher working to educate our children should ever receive that kind of attention... expelling these children certainly seems excessive. Perhaps more importantly, it’s not well supported by the District’s written policy either. The section of GCSD’s Student Behavior Code which addresses expulsion in relation to this type of conduct outlines activities “which pose a direct and serious threat to the safety of themselves or others in the school”. The police and probably most observers with knowledge of the full text exchange would agree that this is not an honest characterization of what occurred. My condolences to the teacher and the students and the staff and the families involved in this unfortunate confluence of modern times and adolescent judgement.

These kids deserve a gifted education, a mistake by 13 year olds shouldn't deprove them of going to a school they've attended for years. A lesson should be taught but expulsion is unnecessary.

t makes no sense to deprive these young people of their education and disrupt their participation in educational and social opportunities

They are children, not criminals.

They deserve better

I believe they should be disciplined but not expelled

I believe it will be a great learning experience for these kids if they are given a second chance.

This could have been any of our children. We have all discussed the dangers of inappropriate joking and comments online. What they have been through is enough. They have learned their lesson. They do not deserve to have their futures forever changed because of a stupid 13 year old mistake.

Having been a high school student in a similarly small giftes program, I have seen firsthand how expelling a large group of students shakes the connections between remaining classmates and their peers as well as the school itself. I hope the school board considers the impact, not just on the students themselves, but also on the school as a whole, when weighing this heavy matter.

Be reasonable

My career has been spent with gifted middle schoolers. They are a unique bunch of kids who will contribute much to our society. These days many of them live in a real-time cyber community that is much like the “1984”we read about as kids...someone watches every move. Yesteryear, kids would fork your lawn or TP your house. When they got caught they paid penance, mow Mr. Smith’s lawn all summer, trim the bushes, carry the groceries, babysit the toddlers. While we adults understand the significance oof their words and the relationship to acts of violence, these kids don’t . Can’t we find a more constructive punishment that does not blemish the academic record? Is there not a more appropriate way of making something good come from this. Can a creative method of compensation be found?

As a longtime educator, I feel the punishment is excessive.

Don't rob these kids of there education! Yes they shouldn't done what they did. They need counseling and education not expulsion.

The kids have learnt their lesson. They should not be expelled.

Students should stay.