We teach kids that honesty is the best policy, but at one Virginia Beach middle school it might be better to keep the truth to yourself.

Last Thursday at Bayside Middle School, sixth grader Adrionna Harris came to the aide of a classmate who was cutting his arm. She faces expulsion for taking a razor from the student, throwing it away and convincing him what he was doing wasn't right. She thought she was doing the right thing, so on Friday she told the school administration what happened. The way school officials responded led to this question: was the school's zero tolerance policy taken too far?

Instead of getting praise from the school administration, Adrionna got a 10 day suspension with recommendation for expulsion. The interesting thing - the only reason Adrionna got suspended was because she admitted what happened. The alleged weapon was thrown away, and it was her word alone that led to her suspension.

"I was shocked and surprised. I was very shocked that a student would get suspended for saving another child," said Rachael Harris, Adrionna's mother. "The school system over-reached absolutely."

The school's own details of the event state Adrionna reported the student had a razor blade. She admitted taking it from the student then throwing the blade away.

"I took the razor blade, and then I threw it away immediately ... I didn't carry it around the school ... I didn't use it against anyone ... I threw it away," she told 10 On Your Side.

"I felt she did the right thing," said Rachael Harris. "Under the circumstances, she thought he would bleed out, as he was cutting himself, and there was no teacher in sight. It was a 911 situation, and there wasn't time to find a teacher."

We asked Adrionna, if she would do the same thing again, knowing she would get suspended for holding the blade.

"Even if I got in trouble, it didn't matter because I was helping him ... I would do it again even if I got suspended, yes," she said.

Most frustrating to the Harris family is they feel like they were ignored - none of their calls were returned about the incident until 10 On Your Side got involved. WAVY.com made calls and went to the school. We called school board members, who didn't want to comment, but calls finally came in to the Harris family.

"It is amazing. They are listening to us now ... she should be back in school tomorrow and that would be fair," said Rachael Harris.

Wednesday night, Virginia Beach City Public Schools agreed to do something that makes the Harris family really happy - they've moved Adrionna's suspension hearing, which was supposed to be in ten days, to Thursday.

The Harris family hopes after the hearing, where everything is explained again, that Adrionna will be allowed back to class on Friday or at the latest Monday.

Sad to hear.

However, many of us can make a change.

Bayside Middle School
965 Newtown Rd
Virginia Beach, VA 23462
Principal Dr. Paula Johnson
(757) 648-4400


E-Mail Contacts
School Office: bayms@vbschools.com
WebMaster: pafriedm@vbschools.com


Superintendent 757.263.1007

Dr. Paula Johnson, so it takes an advanced indoctrination to be so stupid. And we wonder why our kids are so maladjusted.

These schools have lost the true sense of the schooling system and are now bordering on stupidity. Do these people's brain even function?

my opinion? liberal takeover...

No, it wasn't meant to. The supposed education system of these united States was hijacked way back in the 1850s. It has gotten progressively worse as time has passed as it was meant to.

The whole system is based on turning out perfect little citizens that obey "authority" and with enough training to do production with the "brighter" ones being able to do the paperwork. A perfect society.

Here is a real eye opener to one unfamiliar with the dumbing down of the country.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZJoCfgAEuE

at school a principal is the prosecutor, jury, and judge...suspension are served before one has the chance to take it to the school board and get it overturned...and that is one of the biggest abuse of power today in the US...

Crys876

What a beautiful young lady.

This song is just for you, Darlin'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXjVd0TeOX0

This is the type of garbage people must endure as a result of media fueled hysteria. Reminds me of the grade school boy who faced expulsion for biting his sandwich "into the shape of a gun". What next? A student who was shot will be expelled under zero tolerance policies for carrying a bullet around the school?

Hey, teacher, leave them kids alone!

Make your voices heard.

Call, fax and email them to put the kid back in school and fire the principal.

I can't do it alone.

Institutionalization is not education, it's programming and control under the title of Common Core!



The libs destroyed healthcare and now the old guard RINOs will finally destroy education

Actually suspension isn't abuse, it's a blessing. I believe all parents should insist that all their children be expelled, permanently. Then the education could begin.

And then the schools could go away, the Boards of Education could go away, the State Departments of Education could go away, the federal Department of Education could be disbanded. Property taxes could be abolished, federal taxes could be abolished and we would have truly educated children in a free country.

they are training kids to be passive at an early age, to not question authority... part of the slow process of the future police state...

Sorry can't do that to the kid, I love freedom. But now the principle, would love to have that tyrant subject to the full force of law, not just firing but totally relieved of all property, homeless on the street.

Oh, education has been progressively destroyed for more than a century and a half.