Busting someone for smoking behind the school is usually a sweet moment for the principal. Unless, of course, the person being busted is the principal, and it’s a student who busted her. Which is exactly what happened when Eliazar Velasquez caught principal Elaine Almagno smoking outside of their Providence, Rhode Island high school. And Velasquez just happened to have a camera with him, so he caught the proverbial, uh, smoking gun – a picture of Almagno smoking outside the school.
Not only is smoking on school grounds against school policy, but Rhode Island law makes it illegal to smoke anywhere within 25 feet of a school building.
Oops.
Eliazar Velasquez then posted the photos of the principal breaking the law on his website, and even made flyers which he passed out at school, with the website address.
For his troubles, Almagno suspended Velasquez, explaining to the school district that he had “disrupted the learning environment at the school by posting the photos on the Internet.” Some accounts state that she threatened him with a defamation action as well, although of course there would be no substance to such an action.
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As we’ve said again and again, you never know into what kind of trouble you can get by posting photos on the Internet!
Update: The Providence school superintendent has said that Velasquez’ suspension has been reversed, and that principal Almagno has apologized to Velasquez over the school’s public address system. No word on whether she will be suspended or otherwise sanctioned for both breaking the law and abusing her position.
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Just wanted to say hello all. This is my first post.
I hope to learn a lot here.
Maybe something really good will come out of this and the principal will recognize her addiction and do something about it.
Seems to me a zero tolerance rule applies to everyone
regardless of age or position.
After all, as the old adage states,”What is good for the goose, is good for the gander.”
This is a great example of the kinds of things students learn in school that are not taught in classes and do not appear in textbooks.
Welp, 1st its perfectly legal to take picture “in public”,such as outside. 2nd, if you can get a picture “in public” of someone breaking the law, thats a real bonus. At that point the educator should have been punished,but after carrying as far as it went, the educator should have been fired. The flyers were a bit over the edge, but still. Myself, in Velasquez’s shoes, I probably would have kept it quiet,and used to pictures to blackmail the principal for priviledges and grades. But that just me. ;)
(see how I am!)
Uh, handing out flyers is going too far? What do you think the Framers were referring to when they wrote the First Amendment? The earliest newspaper publishers were basically a bunch of guys in white wigs handing out flyers.
Um, nybbles, note that the student was suspended for disrupting “the learning environment at the school by posting the photos on the Internet.â€?, not for distributing the flyers.
Under schools ‘zzero-tolerance’ policies, shouldn’t the prnicipal have been fired immediately? (sic)
OK, I play devil’s advocate… The student handing out flyers… that’s going too far. If he told students by word-of-mouth or handwrote out pieces of paper to other students saying check out this site, then it wouldn’t have “distrubted the learning process.” Flyers on the other hand are obviously meant to “disrupt”. However, don’t get me wrong, they have similar laws where I’m from, and the principal did break the law and “should” be punished for that. The student, however, needs to learn the appropriate way to “report” wrong doings. I would have to agree with the above commenter, he WAS being a smart alec and should have been punished for “creating disturbance” (maybe not suspension, maybe a couple hours of detention), but not because he got the principal in trouble…. //end rant
Another example of Nazi and Soviet ideas running rampant in Western Democracies. The Middle is lost. The USSR won the Cold War with its protocols intact.
If the kid is nothing special… and personally, I think it *is* smart to smack down those in power when you catch them doing wrong, any disagreement? … then the ‘Principal’ in this case really *is* special. So special I hope there are no more like her out there. I wouldn’t hire her as a housemaid.
Maybe the kid was a smart a$$..but she still brok e law..it should apply to all..abuse of power is untolerable regardless.those with wise comments about lawmakers need to wake up..things & times have changed.although I dont always agree.Schools should be smoke free for those attending, or at least a designaed area like when I was in school in NYS..yest janitors & such smoked freely in building. Should the student posted the web photos maybe not.. but its def one way to get attention!
The principal made an error, and panicted some. The student is just a smart ALEC kid; nothing special.
This would never have been in the news at all if it wasn’t for Velasquez?s inteligence and the ACLU. Velasquez? was smart enough to go to the ACLU and they did their job wonderfully. How many times have students tried this, been punished, and it ended there? Have you seen the pictures? One omnipotent educator down, 100’s more to go, let’s get them.
And just think, no one outside of Rhode Island would probably know about Almagno?s indiscretion if they taught common sense in schools. Hopefully voters will remember to get rid of lawmakers who wasted everyone’s time and money passing ridiculous laws instead of doing something worthwhile.
Another example of abuse of power. The school board would be well within their purview to suspend this individual without pay pending a full review of the incident.
The principal “should have” had a good laugh with the students and recognized the hypocrisy of her addiction. WHAT I WONDER IS—with such a deviation on such a minor incident, what kind of person/principal could she be otherwise?? Things don’t happen in isolation, but I don’t want to paint with a broad brush either. My best “guess”–She’s probably incompetent on a number of measures.
And just think, no one outside of Rhode Island would probably know about Almagno’s indiscretion if she hadn’t acted so vindictively. She might regret this for quite a while, like while trying to rebuild the students respect, or when applying for a job at another school down the track.