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Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Mardela Middle & High
On 4/15/2010 I Susan Hastings received a phone call from Ms DJ about my son Scott stealing a pizza from the lunch room and I responded I will be right there. So my husband and I went right away when I got to the school we found Scott very upset in hallway we went in to a meeting with Ms DJ the sheriff bowers, Scott myself and his father. Ms DJ told us that Scott went threw the lunch line and got a pizza and and was being charged with theft. Scott said he went threw the lunch line and and got a pizza and realized he forgot his lunch money so he went to ask a friend for some money and went back with the pizza in his hand and handed the lunch money to the lady and the sheriff tapped him on the shoulder and told Scott he was being charged with theft. Because two minutes had past before he went back to pay for the pizza is the answer my husband and got from Ms DJ and the Sheriff.But Scott never left the lunch room and if I'm looking at this wrong please help me understand how do you steal something that you go back and pay for .
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43 comments:
That is so dumb. Way to go Mardela... you don't have anything better to do than harass your students. Someone should go steal all the pizza.
Are you kidding me? That is ridiculous. Did they decide to punish him anyway?
They are way out of line if you ask me. They need to concentrate on real crime. Absurd.
Excuse me, I have been to Mardela for lunch and you have to pass by the cashier before you exit. When did the young man realized he did not have the money? Logic would inply it happened when he went to pay, and I am sure the cashier would have let him go and get the money. If he got the pizza and left the line before the cashier with the pizza then that explains the problem. Perhaps, he took the pizza heard from friends that someone told on him, and then decided to do damage control and go back to pay. If he did the same thing in a store or public lunch line I am sure he would be in trouble as well. Not a huge deal, but a life lesson. Parents don't always assume authorities are out to get you child, and as Judge Judy says "if their lips are moving then they are lying".
8:33 Great comment...NOT. You get a single presentation - from one of the parents (now there's an objective presentation for you) - and you side with the parent. Really helps to realize that there are two sides to every story, and with only one version, from a parent protecting her precious baby, I'd say it's real hard to figure out who the villain is.
He probably went back to pay for it after he realized he had been caught. Rationally, why would you walk away without telling someone in charge, i.e. cashier, what was going on? Bottom line he took the food out of the line without telling someone so they have to assume it is theft. With 300+ kids roaming around in a chaotic lunch room you don't exactly have all day to conduct an investigation into what someones true intent was.
Maybe he realized he forgot his money and was to embarrassed to say something so thought he had enough time to borrow the money and get back in line before it was his turn. Duh! people!
If the schools monitored the stealing in the cafeteria closely for one day, you would all be surprised how many steal. It happens daily. I would like to see the response from the school though before anyone makes an argument for, or against this particular case.
8:57 you make me laugh. You state that they do not have the time to look into the students TRUE INTENT. The funny thing is that the crime of theft is a TRUE INTENT crime. You need to establish probable cause that the student had the INTENT to permanently deprive the owner. With that being said, we have only heard one side of this incident.
Sheriff and the Great Pizza Caper! Total Eastern Shore BS. You people need to get a life.
The cafeteria people at Mardela are absolutely ridiculous! My son is also a student at this school. I send money every month to apply to his lunch account. Last week, he was 60 cents short of being able to purchase a platter. He was embarassed, belittled and humiliated in front of other students by the lunch staff and almost refused lunch, just because he'd forgotten to ask me to send more money on his lunch account. He is 11 years old, 11 yr old boys forget things...hello!! I could see if I was behind paying for his lunches, or not paying for them at all...but that is NOT the case. He told me there was a girl the previous week that was denied lunch because she didn't have any money in her lunch account! Thankfully, a parent who happened to be in the cafeteria at lunch time that day gave her $2.50 so she wouldn't have to go hungry that afternoon. Treatment of our kids like this over lunch money is completely unnecessary!
Bennett does not even have enough food for all the kids.....
You know if they monitored the bathrooms where the kids go get high like they are doing the cafeteria they would have plenty of kids to charge with crimes. To me this problem is minor and could be worked out without charging him with theft. I guess this is easier to take care of than the drug problem.
8:57...you're an idiot, and have obviously NOT been in Mardela at lunch time. There are NOT 300+ kids roaming in the cafeteria at once, the separate the grade levels. These are CHILDREN we are talking about, and KIDS should NOT be harrassed over lunch money.
Rules are rules if they let someone go for $.60 then not let someone go for $1.00 they are then accused of discrimination. They may have a program like in elementary school where if they don't have money they will give them peanut butter sandwich.
My son also goes there and there is one kid who every day doesn't have lunch and eats from the kids at his table.
They do separate by grade level that is true because I know my son only eats with 6th graders.
That is ridiculous! However it is a prime example of the schools reaction to violent threats to the student body and possible innocent mistakes some children make.
The schools are part of the problem these days. My daughter has been getting beat on since a few weeks into the school year. She has complained to the teacher and the principal. I have talked with the teacher and the principal as well as sent in a letter to the school about the issue. I found out recently the same kid is beating on at least 5 other children. However he has never been suspended, never had in school suspension and is still hitting and knocking other children to the ground.
When I told my daughter from now on if he puts his hands on you, you knock the living crap out of him. She told me "Mommy I can't do that Ms. ______ says if I hit him back then I will be in big trouble". What the heck? It is okay for this boy to bully numerous students, but it is not okay for one of his victims to defend themselves? I told her to do what she needs to do and if they tell her she is in trouble call me. Did I mention she is 7, 71lbs and 43" tall and the boy hitting on her is roughly 7/8, 110lbs, 48" tall? It's ridiculous.
The schools talk about the parents not controling their children, yet the schools do not protect our children, unless of course you are the child causing the problems. From now on I will just call the police and have the boy arrested, after all a 7 year old can be arrested in Maryland.
He should have told the cashier he had to get money and LEFT the lunch there until he came back. This is like me going to McDonlads for a happy meal and picking it up and walking over to the table. What are they going to think?
Now as for a child that has no money and is DENIED food is not acceptable.
Lady I am not buying your son's story. He took the pizza with out telling the person in charge what he was doing. He Stole momma because you didn't make sure he had his lunch money. Is he old enough to remember he needs lunch money. Stop wiping his butt and let him be responsible for his actions even if it means he has to learn a lesson because of this.
Here's my dumb logic. Stealing=bad, hungry kid=bad, hungry kid+trying to learn=real bad so let put this all together. those who support mardela having the kid formally charged might have a difficult time following the math here but i'll try anyway. The kid's obviously hungry as he's in the lunch line. I'm gonna lean out on this, but based on the fact that the parent took the time to vent on such a public resource vs within a social clique makes me believe that the child isn't normally a source of problematic behavior. Most parents with kids that are trouble don't go out of their way to draw attention to yet another incident involving their child. The last variable in this equation is that fact that, for what ever reason, the kid went back and paid. That shows remorse / regret something "criminals" needing formal charges don't have. so when you add the variables and divide by the crime you get the fact that the situation is so petty that the administration needs to rethink their tactics. i wonder if any member of the mardela administration has ever had an item in their shopping cart that the over looked and forgot to pay for. I don't in any way support stealing, but i support a kid having food to eat. Sure there could have been a little more communication between the kid and the lunch staff but at a maximum an escort by the deputy to the principal's office and a meeting with the parents is all needed. There are more important things going on within the local school systems that need to be addressed than a "stolen" slice of pizza. Pizza thieves strike fear in us all [just a little sarcasm ;-) ]
10:08...you're an idiot too! It's NOT an issue of "letting them go" it WILL get paid! These are CHILDREN and the finances of their lunch account should be handled with the parents/guardians NOT the kids and certainly not to humiliate them in front of the other students. All they needed to do is send a note, email or call home to the parent saying, you owe us money or send money on your child's lunch account!
9:47 AM Wow, name calling, are you in one of those lower grade levels at the school? While I have not been in Mardela's cafeteria I was placing what I thought was a conservative number on the amount of children in the cafeteria. Regardless of the number of students, I am sure it is crowded, loud and chaotic like every other lunch room with students in it.
Who ever said he was harassed over lunch money?
He stole pizza and was caught, bottom line. Apply a little common sense, pal.
My son goes to Delmar. He also has a lunch account which I put money on when needed. I usually send $200 at a time to his account. When he gets down low or even in the negative, they send a letter home. He has NEVER been refused a meal! Nor would I expect him to be. Delmar Shool District is the best!!!!!
10:22 I agree. Be accountable for your own actions. Teach your children to be accountable for thier's and to make the right decisions.
Just because he was charged doesn't mean he'll be convicted. I'm sure this will all be worked out.
10:26 point being that the rule is no money on account no lunch. Or they need to have a rule that limits say anything under a certain $ amount. If the cafeteria workers use their discreation that is when issues arrive. This is probably the same kid who vandalized the church in athol (same name anyway). This time he got caught red handed and needs to own up to it. If he had honestly said hold up I don't have enough money they would have let me gone and got more from a friend, but he chose to sneak out without paying, got caught, and then tried to pay. Prior ladies in there have even paid for lunches so kids can eat. I would like to hear the schools version.
10:43-I agree. This is the way it's done at most other schools. When the lunch account is low or in the negative, a note goes home...but the kids are not refused lunch or embarassed because it's not there at the time. School cafeteria managers/workers need to take some responsibility for this and do their jobs and keep better record keeping before things escalate to an incident such as this.
Maybe I should press charges on Mardela for keeping the $5.00 that I paid for my daughter to go on a field trip that they denied her of because the teacher could not find her permission slip. I made a copy of the original check, took it to the school and asked for the money back. This was two months ago. They had that permission slip. I sent it back with the check. Yes it is only five bucks. I have decided to just let it go. Adults make mistakes, kids make bigger ones.
close all the cafeterias and let parents pack their kids a lunch
Off topic, but Delmar School District is best??? Puh-leeeze!! Not when they force a uniform dress policy without input because the kids can't dress themselves and the parents can't be bothered with making them. They'd rather force a policy on the kids (bet the teachers, administrators, etc. don't have to follow the same policy) than do their jobs and enforce what was already on the books. My daughter was a student there at the time, and at no time did we ever get any survey, poll, etc. The notifications, ballots, surveys, or whatever only went to people they knew would be likely to support it and DID NOT go to everyone. Would love to see a full and honest accounting of parental input on that one.
really mardela? a $1.50 slice of pizza. it doesn't even cost that much for an entire pizza, especially the cheap a$$ pizza you guys have. what are they going to charge him with? theft under $2.00? if it taught this kid anything it taught him to steal something bigger and better if he's just gonna get caught anyway. you guys suck.
You don't go THROUGH a store and leave (passing right by the cashier)with the merchandise and then realize oops, I forgot to pay, let me take the merchandise to see if I can borrow enough to pay for it.
Come on, how stupid are you? Your kid tried to steal it and got caught. Punish him, not the ones that caught him. Discipline your child and stop blaming the system.
2:04 PM How stupid are you. You don't know this kid tried to steal the pizza. I can see this happening to a number of kids. This is the stupidest thing I have heard a school doing.
Stop blaming the system you say. The system doesn't work. The good kids are who they go after for stupid crap like this because they are scared of the bad kids. Good kids get punished all the time. Good kids aren't given the benefit of the doubt. You wouldn't believe what the bad kids get away with and it is far BIGGER than a piece of crappy pizza. School should be ashamed of themselves.
Take up for your son. Don't let them get away with this.
@10:58am
Um excuse me but a school here in salisbury when a child owes more than a couple of dollars they do not get the pleasure of getting a peanut butter sandwich!!! They get only a CHEESE SANDWICH and a milk!!! Only for the lunch ladies at the end of the shift to throw away the extra nuggets pizza or what ever is on the menu for that day. Why do a child like that!! It is not their fault!!! They act like the food is theirs
This is really ridiculous but beleive me I have been throught a lot more then this with putting my 2 kids thought high school on the eastern shore , So fight go to the school board and keep going to you cant get any higher. It started when Bennett wanted my son in 10th grade to snitch other students out for puttin a duck in a locker they knew my son didnt do it but they suspended him for 5 days for not tellin I went right to the school board and we won his suspensen was removed even after he had 5 days off. Its like they make the kids they everyime my daughter will look wrong she was in trouble will the school or the bus , But I damanded to see the camara or what ever it was they were blaming her or him for and I was always right and they were always wrong. Im not saying my kids are angels but when I know they are right I will fight for them to the end and thats what you need to do with this ..
So 6:56, how long would you keep feeding the "extra" food to the kids with a negative balance? Til they got up to $5 in the hole? $10, $20? Then the kid transfers to another school and the school is stuck with the bill. The word gets out that you can still get lunch with no money on your account and pretty soon no one is payin for a lunch.
To the dude with the 7 year old getting bullied, have you fille out a green bullying form available in the office (if you are in Wicomico county) others should have something similar since it has to be reported to the state.
@8:06pm
I am not saying to keep feeding them for free. But at the same time if when they send the letter home stating the child owes lunch money and the child comes to school the next day and still no money. Then I do think a personal phone call to the parents need to be made to the parents to see if they are even aware of the letter before giving the child a cheese sandwich. I am not talking about a high school!! This is an elementary school I am talking about!! With prek and kindergarten, 1st and second graders!!! I just dont think its right to see a six year old so extremely upset because they have to eat a cheese sandwich!!!
In a parallel universe:
I go to WAWA and I'm hungry. I have money in my pocket, but I am not interested in spending it right now. I get a sandwich and walk past the cashier, go out of the store, sit on the curb and begin to eat. As I am eating a store employee comes out and points me out to an officer who begins to walk toward me. I go back in the store and pay a cashier who has no idea what is going on for the sandwich. Is is stealing? BTY - WAWA has video.
Duh - YES
This is BS. This was an honest mistake. Theft? What a joke? But then again it is the wonderful staff at Mardela and our wonderful Wicomico County deputies. My child had an overdue library book will they be charged with theft? What happened with the cafeteria employee who got caught smoking pot at school a few weeks ago? Maybe the school should be more interested in interactions between the deputy and the teenage girls at after school events.Very unprofessional! I wish you the best of luck, but look who you're dealing with.
this is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of!!! Sherriff "FAT***" needs to go be a mall cop! So when you steal something you have to actually leave the premisis right? He never left the school! I have a young child in Wicomico County schools and she has had money left on her account that I have yet to see so that means that they have stolen from me and they should be charged with theft!! As for the cafeteria lady she should be charged with accessory to a crime..she's the one who let him walk away with the pizza knowing he did not pay for it. It is a shame that the cop has nothing else to do but work at a school and watch children maybe he should get a career in childcare..but not where my children are!! If this bull crap charge is upheld I think alot of people will, if they have not already, lose their faith in the school system and our law enforcement. Let's pay more attention to the people who are sexually abusing our children and selling crack on Church Street then who stole a $3.00 piece of pizza!!!
Wow,I can't beleive this. My child had a pen stolen at school. Do you think the "Deputy" would investigate this crime? This really is BS!!!!!
Im a student at Mardela and not only is this BS, So is the way they treat him. They give him absolute no respect and are always trying to find the littlest thing to get him with and no one will listen or believe him because of his past and thats not right!
P. Banddet
Well I know they have him on camera doing this. So Cameras don’t lie. He had the money in his pocket, so his grandmother is wrong he was not going to get his money from a friend. I believe he is the same boy who got in trouble and recently off probation for vandalizing a church...correct me if I am wrong. He is old enough to know what he is doing. STEALING IS WRONG, IT IS AGAINST THE LAW!!!... So get over it. If he walked in my business, walked out with a sandwich, did not pay for it & started eating it...what is that called? STEALING! He should pay the consequences.
this is so ridiculous, and as a junior at mmhs i would know. ever since we have gotten new administration the school has gotten way outta hand. charging and suspending students for every little thing.what ever happen to us being a "Public School". this incident right here is just another outrage and accusation.Scott does not deserve to be charged.
My children also go to Mardela. They have told me many times that the cafeteria ladies are mean and rude.
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