On the way to third hour, a student wanted to sign up for SFS. So he quickly signed the paper near the door to my third hour. The teacher inquisitively asked what he was signing, but not wishing to talk to this teacher about the group, I just gave a meaningless answer, "Just a thing." Later that hour, a girl approached and said that she had been ill Friday. She asked me if she could have one of the fliers. The school had told me that I couldn't distribute anything unless I was registered, but this was different. She was ASKING me for one, and it was a private transfer. I handed it to her, and the teacher swooped in. He tore it from her clutches, ripped it to pieces, and yelled that I was not to distribute those fliers. It was as if he was practicing for this moment--he wanted to send me to the office. So he asked how many I had, and I told him the truth (about 40). He asked to see them, and I said no, in a polite-ish fashion "Oh... they're in my bag..." because I didn't want him destroying any more of them. He told me to go down to the office.
At the office, I met with the Head of Discipline. He asked what the problem was, and I said that my teacher massively overreacted based on personal opinion. He read the flier aloud in a monotone voice, seeming rather amused by it. He then told me that I wasn't supposed to distribute fliers, and I explained that it was a private transfer, and that she had asked me for them. I compared it to a birthday party invitation, and he looked rather stumped. He said I would be called back to the office after they checked the rules. I ended up
spending the rest of class in the office, with a spartan head looming over me. They also called in my co-founder, and told her about the situation. She wasn't even involved. I was called back near the end of the day, and met with the principal. She told me that while I
WAS allowed to distribute a flyer in a personal transaction when a student asks for one, I couldn't do it in class. Because it was a distraction--and class was for learning. They really fell back on 'It's a distraction!' to justify rash teacher action. I asked if I could do it in the hallways, and she said that even that was likely to bleed over into the next teacher's class, but if I was sure it wouldn't I could. She said she would meet with me again, tomorrow. It's ridiculous to send students to the office four times because they 'distracted' another student who asked them a question for 20 seconds. It's obvious discrimination, and they are trying to justify it. My mother--a lawyer--is coming to the school tomorrow for a meeting. She's very upset with the way this has been handled.
