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by Marc A. on 06:40 PM May 9th, 2006 EST (#1)
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I just emailed the author of the article about this. She wrote the following back, with permission to post. She also said if they find out the girl was not suspended, they will report it. Don't know yet whether that means they'll mention the gender inequity. We'll have to see. Marc
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The story never said the girl wasn't suspended. It said we did not know if what, if any, punishment the young lady received.
We told our readers as much as we knew at the time about if or how the girlfriend was punished. The article addressed that, briefly, saying:
"School officials are prohibited from releasing information on whether the girlfriend was punished." Therefore, we have no official word about whether she was suspended or what punishment, if any, she received.
Thousands of kids are suspended every year in this county. The reason we even know that Ryan Biggar has been suspended or have records about his case is because of the lawsuit, which is a public record and which was filed by him and his mother. They put that information out there. The case filings include supporting information, including Ryan's suspension notice, a handwritten statement to his assistant principal about the incident and other descriptions of what transpired in this case as described in the lawsuit.
I would love to know what happened with the girlfriend too, but we have no public records to support any punishment she received nor any confirmation from the girl or her parents. Be sure, we are working to find out what happened to her. Also note that the point of the story wasn't to bring attention to an equity-in-punishment issue, but that a child and parent disagreed with HIS punishment so much that the family decided to sue the school district. That's the news of the day and needed to be printed as news as soon as possible, which was Saturday's paper.
Rest assured that we will bring forward any further revelations about this as soon as we can.
Thanks for reading the story and thanks for reading The News & Observer. -cg
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by n.j. on 07:49 PM May 9th, 2006 EST (#2)
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Thanks for the info, Marc A.
I almost submitted this one, but as of now it's totally unclear what the reasons for the different treatment are.
The suggestive title of the story on this site, without evidence backing it, is not a good thing. Let's not shoot from the hip, guys.
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by Thundercloud on 01:22 PM May 10th, 2006 EST (#3)
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Yeah, but let's face it, will any of us here be surprised if the GIRL is NOT held accountable?
I won't be. Because it is the rule not the exception, these days. Boy and girl do something wrong together, boy gets busted, girl gets sympathy and therapy.
No slack, man. No slack.
Thundercloud.
"Hoka hey!"
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by n.j. on 05:40 PM May 10th, 2006 EST (#5)
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I agree it is very suspicious, but the reply does contain a believable reason. What I wonder is if the girl didn't need a permit to stay away from school and if so, why.
I maintain my opinion that one should be more careful and try to apply some journalistic standards. Even if we miss a story or two with that, it creates a much better image for neutral readers.
Even faced with the many facts I could read here, I try to stay as neutral as possible.
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Dittohd writes "