NYC Middle Schooler Alexa Gonzalez Arrested, Handcuffed... for Doodling!

By: Edecio Martinez
Topics: Daily Blotter

(IStockPhoto)

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) New York City middle school student Alexa Gonzalez was arrested, not for selling dope... not for threatening classmates... but for doodling.

Come again?

The 12-year-old scribbled "Lex was here 2/1/10" on her desk last Monday, with a marker. She also wrote "I love my friends Abby and Faith." The girl says the doodles could have been erased, according to the New York Daily News.

But instead, Alexa was handcuffed, and taken to the police station, where she spent several hours before being released, according to her mother.

Education department spokesman David Cantor said the incident shouldn't have happened, and that common sense should prevail.

Last month, the New York Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit alleging more than 20 instances of wrongful arrests and assaults by school safety officers.

Alexa Gonzalez has been assigned eight hours of community service, a book report, and an essay on what she's learned from the experience.

Just don't doodle it on the desk.

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by CarlosE_Cardenas April 3, 2010 2:05 PM EDT: Fire PRINCIPAL, Marilyn Grant. Suspend the police officers who arrested Alexa Gonzalez. Why? To send a clear message to other administrators that this behavior is not tolerated against our children. It is likely her actions where racially motivated. Racially motivated minds will resort to extreme consequences against a minority. I wonder if the principal would have used the same judgment if it were an upper class Caucasian from Forest Hills who wrote on a desk. I don't think so. The same goes for the cops...I'm pretty sure they would have used better judgment when they got to the school if the girl were a preppy blond from Forest Hills. This principal should fired and barred from working in education.; Reply to this comment


by cidaia February 10, 2010 12:46 AM EST: I thought schools didn't have enough money. Does anyone know how much money gets spent every year cleaning up graffiti?; Reply to this comment


by SharonMcEachern February 9, 2010 1:58 PM EST: American Statesman Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) said: "It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense."

It seems that educators -- both teachers and school principals -- have declared a moratorium on common sense! And then they lay the blame on "Our policy" or some no-tolerance rule --absent any interpretation, discernment or common sense. Ethic Soup blog has posted the code of ethics for school administrators. I wonder how many principals have actually read it:

http://www.ethicsoup.com/school-administrators-code-of-ethics.html

In addition to young Alexa Gonzalez experience, just the week prior there was 9-year-old Patrick Timoney's threatened suspension over a two-inch Lego toy gun:

http://www.ethicsoup.com/2010/02/bully-school-principal-threatens-suspension-of-boy-over-2inch-lego-toy-gun.html

And just before that a whole California school district removed Merriam-Webster dictionaries from schools' shelves because of the entry 'oral sex':

http://www.ethicsoup.com/2010/02/words-oral-sex-cause-dictionary-to-be-banned-in-california-schoool-district.html

But, perhaps worse, is the recent finding that a cop tasered minority and special needs kids in class 'demonstrations' while the school principal and teachers looked on:

http://www.ethicsoup.com/2010/01/special-needs-kids-tasered-by-cop-in-class-demos-not-once-not-twice-but-three-different-times.html; Reply to this comment


by babooph February 9, 2010 7:39 AM EST: Although I am on soc sec,this "New world order" could have them come & get me soon-I also wrote on my desk once...with the "Patriot act" no trial or lawyer would be needed to lock me up for life...; Reply to this comment


by aubfmet February 9, 2010 7:37 AM EST: One grafitti artist nipped in the bud. A million more to go.; Reply to this comment

by cidaia February 8, 2010 8:44 PM EST

Writing on a desk with a marker isn't "doodling". It's vandalism.

Does she need to be arrested? No, because apparently most parents see nothing wrong with their little 'darlings' trashing public property.

So how bout this: make Alexa The Victim-Vandal spend a weekend or two removing graffiti from desks. Would that be enough to teach the little brat not to write on other peoples' furniture?

Or should we just start monitoring her behavior, and paying her ten bucks a week for every week she does NOT tag anything?

Reply to this comment


by cidaia February 10, 2010 12:44 AM EST: Defending vandalism is "common sense"?

by KidsRpeople2 February 8, 2010 5:03 PM EST

South Carolina State Senator Jake Knotts recently introduced legislation to provide IMMUNITY to protect school employees who use physical/corporal punishment on children from crinimal/civil charges, coming after a Bishopville, SC Kindergarten Teacher was arrested in 12/09 and charged with 16 counts of slapping and threatening students that if they told anyone she would report their families to CPS who would take them away from their families and for rubbing hand sanitizer in mouths of several 5 and 6 year old kindergarten children at school!

Our 3 children attend schools in an Unresponsive Paddling School District in TN. We made a written/verbal presentation in April 2008 during ?National Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness Month? to demand they Prohibit Physical Punishment of Children in our Schools, they IGNORED US! Our children must overhear classmates being threatened/hit with WOODEN PADDLES just outside class for minor infractions. TN State Law does NOT require Parental Consent or Notification for children to be physically punished at school.

It is a "dirty little secret" that children continue to be struck with wooden boards for School "Discipline" purposes in 20 PREDOMINANTLY SOUTHERN states, while in stark contrast it is Illegal for school employees to practice physical/corporal punishment on children in schools in 30 states! It is a dangerous practice that puts school districts at risk for lawsuits from paddling injuries, is not evidence based and puts the U.S. at odds with over 100 countries that have banned it.

Recently a New Mexico student suffered deep bruising injuries from paddling at school and the Coach who paddled the student allegedly said, "If you're tough enough to talk back to teachers, then you're tough enough to take swats"! News video and graphic color photos of the students injuries are available online. The student's mother signed a consent form, but is furious that her child was injured from excessive paddling, 3 swats with a wooden paddle. She stated that she may sue the school district.

Our nation's most trusted Children's Health/Education Organizations have issued Statements OPPOSING PHYSICAL/CORPORAL PUNISHMENT OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS including American Medical Assn (AMA), American Academy of Pediatricians, American Assn of Family Physicians, National Education Assn (NEA), National PTA, NAACP, Prevent Child Abuse America.

3 Multi-Million Dollar College Football Coaches were recently FIRED for ABUSING STUDENT ATHLETES!

The Cost to Abolish Physical/Corporal Punishment of ALL Children in ALL SCHOOLS is $0!

Reply to this comment


by omded February 8, 2010 7:21 PM EST: Any teacher or "school official" who physically assaults one of my kids (and I don't care if they call it "corporal punishment") will either face assault charges and lose their teaching credential, or will face me personally. If they can beat my kid, or stuff hand sanitizer in his mouth, they can take a beating from me, or taste my preferred brand of hand sanitizer themselves!


by ffoulkes-2009 February 9, 2010 4:52 AM EST: I feel corporal punishment should be used in schools, but should be limited to a last resort prior to expulsion, witnessed by another teacher, parentally approved, and strictly monitored for abuse. If abuse does occur (bruising, hitting the wrong place, slapping, etc.), then criminal prosecution of the teacher involved should be pursued.


by bfg1118 February 8, 2010 4:28 PM EST: It's good to know that our educational system is cracking down on our problem students. Not the ones bringing contraband into the schools, but the ones who draw on their desks. Once again, we as a country are enforcing corporal punishment for the wrong things.

An arrest? Really New York?! I loved to draw in school...and I admit I did the occasional desk artwork. I never got more than a stern warning from teachers, and this was only 10-12 years ago. This should never have left the classroom; give the girl a warning, at the worst detention where she cleans the desks in the room, depending on what she wrote.; Reply to this comment


by Zann-Zel February 8, 2010 3:24 PM EST: New Yorks seems to have gone off their rocker lately! It takes handcuffs and police to keep a kid from writing on their desk? Next some mom & dad will be calling 911 cuz their 2 year old wrote on the wall with crayons! : (; Reply to this comment