[starang21]

Originally posted by IowaHawkeye
So I guess what you were trying to say is that Glenbrook North is the 342nd best public high school in the country (here's the list)

Here's the latest on the situation from the chicago suntimes:


31 Glenbrook seniors expelled in hazing
May 27, 2003

BY MAUREEN O'DONNELL Staff Reporter Advertisement

For hours, school board members played and replayed videotape of the shots seen around the world.

They scrutinized footage of a notorious May 4 hazing where senior girls pummeled junior girls.

By 1:15 a.m. Monday, the end of their almost 10-hour-long meeting, they had voted 5-0 to expel 31 seniors from Glenbrook North High School--28 girls and three boys--and doled out individual punishments.

"They agreed that the board would assign [each of the 31 students] a certain number of hours of community service and a certain number of hours of counseling,'' said Anthony Scariano, an attorney for Northfield Township High School District 225. "Some students got as many as 60 hours of community service. Some got as many as 10.''

Of the 31 students, 28 have signed agreements with the school not to fight disciplinary action. They'll be allowed to get their diplomas once they complete coursework and counseling and perform community service, Scariano said.

Asked if the three who chose not to sign waivers will get diplomas, Scariano said: "I don't know how you graduate if you don't complete required courses.''

However, a source close to the school board said those three students could also earn diplomas if they complete their coursework.

The expulsions are not "a logical resolution or a fair one,'' said Dolores Ayala, an attorney for senior Liat Gendelman, who did not sign a waiver. She filed suit in federal court challenging her suspension in the matter.

Liat helped the junior girls who were subjected to the hazing, Ayala said. "Not only was Liat not violent, but she [offered] assistance and consolation to them, helped them wipe off their faces with towels, things like that,'' her lawyer said.

The Cook County state's attorney's office charged 15 seniors--12 girls and three boys--with battery in the incident at Chipilly Woods near Northbrook, where six junior girls were injured. Liat was not among them.

Prosecutors are better equipped to assess culpability than school officials, Ayala said, and "if they thought Liat had committed an assault and battery, they would have charged her.'' Liat's federal suit is before Judge Charles Kocoras.

"I don't think this board has jurisdiction over an event that happened off campus,'' said George Grumley, an attorney for a student who signed a waiver.

"I don't think it's fair, either,'' Grumley said. "They appear not to have taken into consideration the widely varying degrees of culpability among the children. Some of the children, from the tapes I saw, were way out of line, hitting and pummeling the younger girls, and others were comforting the girls.''

There's plenty of blame to go around because the school, police and parents knew hazing had gone on before, Grumley said.

Scariano retorted: "For an hour and a half, feces, coffee grounds, whipping cream, syrup, dirt, fish, cleaning supplies were dumped on kids who were beaten up and terrorized. Where is the responsibility?''

A source close to the school board said parents of 20 junior girls involved have been told the district plans to suspend them, but will immediately rescind the move if they agree to counseling and a promise not to break school rules. About 14 juniors signed the agreement, the source said.

School Supt. Dave Hales said in a statement the 31 seniors are barred from school grounds through June 2004, including graduation and graduation night activities.

Two board members did not participate in the vote.

so they still get their diplomas this year and they just get to miss out on the festivities? or am i reading this wrong?