I can't address each individual point you made but I'll try to address the gist of it. You seem to think that others and the school are being harsh on this girl. As a teacher, I am telling you that any other response than rejection from the prom would not be appropriate.

This is not a small child, she's an older teen. She knows and understands the rules. When rules are explained, as they most assuredly were, it was up to this teenager to abide by them or make alternate plans. Let's be clear here, it's not her show. It's the school's affair. There simply is no other response to give to this girl other than the ones that she was given: go home & change, or just leave. Refunds cannot be given because her seating was already paid for by the school.

When you cater or bend too much with children who have simply a bad attitude or even a serious behavioral disorder, you get nothing but trouble in return. No child has ever learned correct behavior from NOT experiencing logical consequences. Logical consequences are something that every parent, teacher and school official should ensure that students expect and receive for poor conduct. Personally, I think this girl learned an invaluable lesson on prom night. Kudos to school staff!

"Disturbing?" Spoken like someone who has never taught students with behavioral problems. Do you even have children? I mean that. How can one parent without directly telling the child at some point what is and isn't tolerated, no discussion?

Just a reminder: The school is not a therapeutic setting. It's educational. I would suggest Rupert that you do a Google search under educational interventions for students with behavioral problems. Most likely you will find "structured environment", "consistent and logical consequences" as recommendations. Cajoling, wheedling to a student who is being confrontational or manipulative is effective. Clear, calm repetition of rules and then follow through with the consequence. Anything else blurs the situation and gives the student the idea that they can get around the rules, prolonging the incident.

I meant to say,

"Cajoling, wheedling to a student who is being confrontational or manipulative ISN'T effective."

Rupert_c is not a teacher. If he were, he would know why the school staff acted as they did and why "conflict resolution" is a ridiculous idea in the middle of class. Can you imagine telling your principal, "I didn't get to complete the chapter we needed to go over for testing because I felt I had to do a conflict resolution session?" Absurd.

You are not a teacher or parent, correct? That's the problem. You don't know how to deal with children, young or older. I am a parent, and more importantly a special ed teacher and I have taught students with EBD. Clear setting of expectations and logical consequences are MANDATORY. I can't say that this girl has an EBD, but her reaction at the prom, which led to her arrest, suggests a problem. As for conflict resolution at the prom, it's absurd. The rules are the rules. Follow them or don't, your choice, but you have to accept the consequences. What is the conflict there? What's left to resolve? Any answers?

WV has some very particular demographics. As others have pointed out it is very blue-collor, low-income, low-education and overwhelmingly white. While these people may reside in other states, they do not dominate the population the way they seem to do in WV and perhaps Kentucky. Obama, OTOH, will put many other southern states with large AA populations into play by sheer force of getting out the vote. As we have seen in the past primaries and caucuses, Obama can win in states with higher income, better-educated white voters. Frankly, I think the democratic party should focus on generating new voters and young voters since these will be the voters for decades to come.

I have no problem with extracting & storing DNA for all people arrested for violent crimes. It should also be true for people arrested on breaking & entering charges. Often, theft and rape go hand in hand. As for the naysayers, if you have done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear. I'd volunteer my DNA just to help create a "sibling" DNA database. I've never been arrested for any type of crime and neither have my family members, but it's a start. I believe that BTK was arrested partly due to his daughter medical DNA obtained from her college's clinic...and she was fine with it.

The problem is mindset. They sit up there in nearly-forgotten communities and b*tch and moan about their jobs or lack thereof and then vote on guns and abortion. I understand that, I really do. The problem is that there aren't 3 or 4 parties out there to choose from, just 2. That means that whether you know it or like it you are voting on a platform of issues because these candidates are the only ones that have a chance to move up through the ranks of their respective parties.

That means in realistic terms that when you vote Republican, you vote for a platform that doesn't really care about the fact that you've lost your good-wage job and another is not on the horizon. Anyone who sits around complaining about what has happened to their way of life (be it steel or coal or farming) and doesn't clue into how that process occurs is short-sighted and a little ignorant. That is probably why I have little hope for this consituency in the fall.

NARAL will lose NO support whatsoever. They are a PAC and work to promote their agenda. They endorsed Obama, whether because they like him better or because of timing, it doesn't matter. They chose him and highlighted the key difference between Obama & McCain. A job well done. Frankly, it looks to me like they wanted to boost Obama by bulding his bonafides with activist women stinging from Clinton's apparent loss. JMO