Philly teen bullied for t-shirt attends school that scans students, requires I.D.

Imagine your 16-year-old daughter heading to school on an autumn day and being criticized by her teacher for wearing a certain t-shirt.

What kind of school permits that sort of behavior?

By now many are aware of the plight of Samantha Pawlucy, the teen who showed up wearing a Romney-Ryan t-shirt for dress down day at Charles Carroll High School in Philadelphia. Pawlucy had a teacher, Lynette Gaymon, who apparently couldn’t take seeing one of her students in a t-shirt supporting Republicans.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported what sounds like a horror story based on the student's allegations:

Gaymon began making fun of her. An adult aide waved a marker as if to draw an "X" on the shirt, Pawlucy said…She also said Gaymon called the school "Democratic," and said Pawlucy's wearing of the Romney shirt was analogous to Gaymon, who is black, wearing a KKK shirt.

Gaymon must be history-challenged—the KKK was more aligned with Democrats.

When Pawlucy’s parents went to the school to file a complaint, students rallied behind the teacher:

Angered by a teenager's claims of being humiliated by a teacher over a Romney/Ryan T-shirt, students at Charles Carroll High School ignored warnings from administrators and shouted obscenities out school windows at the girl's parents Friday morning.

The teacher should not be an educator. Anyone familiar with high school students knows the best way to downplay something is to say nothing about it. The minute the teacher and aide remarked negatively about the t-shirt, those two government employees set up a child for being bullied.

The teacher and aide also shredded the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The school has nothing to brag about despite support for a Democrat president. In the student body, 89.7 percent are “economically disadvantaged.” Federal dollars presumably address that issue. Are those dollars in peril because of oppression of a civil right?

Enrollment is down this year. Reading, math and science scores are nothing to brag about.

There is a rigid security protocol at Charles Carroll:

Students will scan their ID card and proceed through the metal detector.  All persons entering Charles Carroll High School are required to submit to a metal detector scan and a personal search, if necessary, to ensure that weapons are not brought into the building.  Bags and parcels may also be searched by means of metal detecting devices, by hand or otherwise.

The school has 466 students.

Maybe the teacher could address the issue of requiring an I.D. for students to get an education. Dems usually take a dim view on requiring an I.D.

October is, incidentally, National Anti-Bullying Awareness Month.

If Samantha was my daughter, the school would have a lawsuit on its hands.

Philadelphia may just be an intellectually challenged city. After all, the New Black Panther Party showed up at a precinct in 2008 with weapons in hand in a demonstration of bias most of us haven't seen in a long time. President Barack Obama gave them a slap on the wrist.

Imagine the furor if the student had been wearing an Obama t-shirt and her teacher acted inappropriately.

(Commentary by Kay B. Day/Oct. 8, 2012)