Saturday, February 12, 2005

Student Gets Lesson About Discretion

Up in Swansea, Massachusetts, 16 year-old Chris Carreiro thought it would be a good idea to tell one his guidance councilors that another teacher was "being gay" about a week ago.

A former class president, Carreiro was given a day's suspension for the remark.

The student has returned to school, but is still upset about the punishment. He said that he was not referring to the teacher's sexuality, but was using the term "gay" as a synonym for "stupid."

The school's administration says that there was more to the story. Superintendent Stephen Flanagan said he wasn't suspended just for use of the word "gay," but that they can't elaborate further on the suspension because of confidentiality rules.

If nothing else, maybe the student got a lesson in why the use of slang can sometimes be hazardous in certain situations.

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