Urinating in Class - Teacher Absolved

Michael Patterson, 14, a student at C. M. Goethe Middle School in Sacramento City, was suspended for 5 days for urinating in class. He claims that his teacher Peter Stanzler refused to allow him to leave the class, threatening him with suspension. According to Patterson the teacher told him to take an empty bottle and relieve himself in a corner of the classroom. The teacher was put on paid leave and will be reassigned to another school. An investigation of the whole incident was promised by school officials.

At the conclusion of the investigation the officials "found that the teacher did not instruct, direct or encourage the student to do anything inappropriate. The teacher did not threaten the student with suspension or discipline." The prepared statement also added:

"As a normal rule, in order to maximize instruction, students are not allowed to leave class during the first and last 10 minutes of the period. The passing period between classes is four minutes. At the beginning of class, the teacher was interrupted by a student’s request to use the restroom. The teacher told the student to wait until class settled down so that instruction could begin. Less than five minutes into the class period, the student urinated into a bottle and discarded it in a trash can. Shocked at the student’s actions, the teacher told the student to dispose of the bottle in the restroom and wash his hands.

The boy's mother, Kelly Jacko, said she was not satisfied with the outcome.

"If this case is so cut and dry, why is the teacher being disciplined?" said Kelly Jacko, adding that other students have confirmed her son's story. "There are so many loopholes.''

She also questioned why the teacher did not report the incident, to administrators. The school only learned of the matter when Jacko complained to Principal, Harriet Young. Kelly Jacko wants the district to fire Stanzler. Betty Williams, President of the Sacramento NAACP said she supported Kelly Jacko's efforts to have her son suspension lifted and issued the following statement:

“We believe this young man should never have been placed in this situation to begin with,” said Betty Williams, Sacramento NAACP President. “It is the responsibility of the teacher--as the authority figure in the classroom--to exercise proper judgment. It is our belief that had the teacher properly maintained control of the classroom, Mr. Patterson would not have had to make the decision he did.” The Sacramento NAACP supports the contention that Mr. Patterson made every effort to express to Science Teacher, Peter Stanzler, his need to use the restroom, and that Mr. Stanzler should have exercised his discretion in considering Mr. Patterson’s continued pleas. Additionally, Mr. Stanzler, by providing tacit approval for Mr. Patterson’s actions, promoted and encouraged an environment in that classroom that placed Mr. Patterson in a difficult situation.

Student Forced to Urinate in Class

Michael Patterson, 14, was told by his teacher Peter Stanzler, to go and urinate in an empty bottle in the corner of the classroom. This was after the boy had repeatedly asked the teacher for a pass to go and use the bathroom. As if this was not bad enough the boy was later suspended by school officials for "relieving himself in the classroom, which caused a school disruption." The teacher was placed on paid leave and will be transferred to a different school.

"I can't believe they don't believe me," student Michael Patterson said in a telephone interview after he was given the five-day suspension. "I have no reason to lie. What I said happened, happened."

Michael Patterson attends Goethe Middle School in Sacramento, California. The boy's mother, Kelly Jacko, and the local chapter of the NAACP are demanding that the district fire the teacher at Charles M. Goethe Middle School if he does not resign. The boy is black, and Kelly Jacko, his mother, said the teacher is white.

"That man owes us an apology," said Jacko said. "I don't think he should teach. He had to know this was not appropriate behavior."

There were 31 students who heard Michael relieve himself in the corner of the classroom using an empty Gatorade bottle. When he was finished, Michael said, his teacher told him to go to the restroom to wash his hands and dispose of the bottle. "It was really, really embarrassing," Michael said. "It's still embarrassing."

Peter Stanzler, the teacher involved, reached by telephone late Monday, said that news accounts of the incident have been one-sided, but that he was advised by his principal and union not to discuss it. "I can confirm one thing," he said. "It was not a race issue whatsoever."

Michael's mother Kelly Jacko said she didn't know what recourse she had to protest the suspension, which begins Tuesday. "I don't know what it is I can do," she said. "I'm kind of caught off guard."

Bob Woolmer was Drugged

A post mortem performed on Bob Woolmer, the Pakistani cricket coach who was murdered in Jamaica on March 18th, revealed that he was drugged before being strangled. A toxicology report identified a drug in his system that was meant to incapacitate him.

"Those tests will show there was a drug in his system that would have incapacitated Mr Woolmer," Panorama's Adam Parsons says.

"It now seems certain that as he was being strangled, he'd already been rendered helpless - leaving him unable to fight back.

"The specific details of that poison are now very likely to offer a significant lead to finding his murderer."

The specific drug was not identified pending a complete report to be released by the Jamaican authorities. In the meantime his body has been released and was flown to South Africa where he resided with his wife, Gill and his two children Russell and Dale. Mark Shields, the Deputy Police Commissioner in Jamaica plans to fly to South Africa to update the family on the investigation. The funeral will be a private family ceremony.

The Criminal Kiss

Both Shilpa Shetty and Richard Gere violated Section 294 of the Indian Penal Code according to warrants issued by a court in Jaipur, signed by judge Dinesh Gupta. The pertinent section of the IPC reads:

Whoever to the annoyance of others does any obscene act in any public place or sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place will be punished with imprisonment of up to three months or fined.

IBN TV takes a look at the reaction in India

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Richard Gere finally responded to the incident and blamed the entire episode on a "small right-wing conservative political party" who are the "moral police" in India.

Anderson Cooper 360 takes a look at the case against Gere and Shetty and discusses the implications with TIME magazine correspondent Bobby Ghosh of India.
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Warrants issued for Shetty and Gere

An Indian court issued arrest warrants for both Shilpa Shetty and Richard Gere. The warrants were issued in the north-western city of Jaipur after a local citizen filed a complaint charging that the public display of affection offended local sensibilities. Judge Dinesh Gupta issued the warrants after viewing a video clip of the incident. According to the judge, the kiss was “highly sexually erotic” and violated India's strict public obscenity laws.

The warrants issued because of a kiss at a public event promoting AIDS awareness, claimed that the pair “transgressed all limits of vulgarity”. A spokesman for Shilpa Shetty, Dale Bhagwagar, said the actress was upset by the news:

“She does hurt, she does feel low. She feels she is being constantly targeted, but anyone who knows her well knows she can’t be put down.

“Shilpa wishes that people would focus on the real issue , Aids awareness, and not three pecks on her cheek,” he said, adding that she had not yet received any court summons.

Shilpa, who is on a pilgrimage in the south of India, has been hounded by reporters anxious for a response from her. She had to scold them asking if such questions were appropriate in a temple. A police official in Jaipur said that if found guilty of the charges both Shetty and Gere could be sent to prison for six years. In response Shetty's spokesman said it was amateur and frivolous on the part of a government official to state that someone can get jailed for pecks on the cheeks.

"If that is the case, more than half the country will have to be jailed"

In case you missed it, here is the incident that got both Gere and Shetty in trouble;

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