Pretty much.

So true. Most lawyers have always been the scum of the earth, since the beginning of time or life on this planet. I mean, look at the freak'en numbers. Out of the $500K, the lawyers get $220K. How sick is that?! Gack!

So basically the principal responsible for this gets another cushy job somewhere else and the taxpayers get stuck with a ridiculously overvalued bill. Typical.

Alot of u are so right the lawyer wlked away with the bulk of the money.I hope they split the money fairly atleast with them kids that ddid'nt sue,it's only fair they went through the same thing as did the others.This is sad u don't even kno how ur kids are being treated AT school. I think that lawyer should have not taken so much he cane WAY better than his defendents.(which they always do)The lawyer himself should be ashamed.And this is to Bill 3656789 this is NOT Mexico anymore so they have NO right to bre treated as if..sicko) And just like Nikolau20 said all races have bad in them.Theses are kids whom know no better,except that everybody is being treated better than them.So sad!! And shame on u lawyer ,yes u helped ,but u came out the WINNER!!!!!

These kids act like animals so the assistant principal chose to treat them as such. I think that the settlement award is absurd, the most these kids might have deserved is an apology and I am not even sure they deserved that. I am sure there was more involved in prompting this punishment than one kid spilling some water. The article is clearly leaving out some of the facts about what led to the punishment.

JS, tell us all what they're leaving out, since you obviously know something the rest of us don't.

The person who put this punishment out must be perfect. Only a perfect person wouldn't spill. NOT!!

lucky kids got payed for this? i ate off the gym floor couple times at lunch. no big deal as long as its dry food.

We probably don't know the entire story, BUT having to eat picnic style is worth $500,000. Is our government stupid. How much do you want to bet that the money goes to illegals who are the parents of these kids????? That would be a travesty. Eating on the floor with a mat might not have been fun if they were embarrassed, BUT is it really worth tax dollars/school money?????

Just ludicrous.

The gym floor most likely has tons of germs on it. Yuck man!

Imagine what the lawsuit would have been if they got sick or someone died. The lawsuit would've been in the millions.

PatriotJane - the only ludicrous thing happening here is your assumption that the famililes of these children are illegal because they are hispanic. Ignorance is bliss, right?

And the principle was transferred. He should have been fired. I don't care what the reason was, having children punished by eating off the floor is not acceptable.

And black people aren't racists.........

So easy to jump on the attorney. Only problem is that the parents of the kids agreed to pay him. In all likelihood the attorney took the case on a contingency basis. That means that if they don't win then the attorney gets nothing. The attorney also advanced court costs and all out of pocket expenses, in all likelihood. This is a common arrangement. It allows those who don't have money access to the legal system with qualified legal representation. The arrangement just as well could have been on an hourly basis with monthly billings required to be paid for representation to continue. Then, where would the parents and kids be. I suppose they could have represented themselves, but we all know how much they would have gotten then.

Sure, attorneys can make decent money taking cases on contingency fee basis. But, unless they win every case, they spend a lot of time working for nothing. In this case, the kids and parents ended up with $31,428 in their pockets, each, for 2 weeks of eating on the floor that was covered with clean tablecloth paper. If you figure that each lunch period was a half hour long, that a total of 5 hours of eating on the floor. That comes to $6,285.60 per hour. So, that's probably more than they would otherwise have made, all thanks to the greedy attorney.

The bigger question is why the heck that vice-principal is still employed?

Oh, and regarding the attorney, he didn't get all of that money either. He has to pay his staff, attorneys and paralegals and secretaries and also for witnesses, expert witnesses and everyone else he had lined up for trial. And, he spent a lot of time on the case. They don't get to settlement until it's about time to try the case.

This is what I don't get. The school pays out $575,000 plus an undisclosed settlement and their lawyer fees and the principle gets reassigned. Why isn't she paying the settlement. The tax payers in good faith hired her to do a job. Instead she is now principle at a HS. The problem isn't the tax payers. It's this woman and she seems to be smelling like a rose while you know who gets hosed.

The scum of the earth here was not the lawyer, that dubious distinction rest with the school administration and the school board. The assistant principal's transfer should have been to a jail cell. The celebrated hero here is the children's teacher. He/she knew he/she would be in trouble, telling the children to report their ordeal to their parents. This courageous person understood that their responsibilities included protecting their students, in addition to teaching them. Well done Mr. or Miss Teacher!!!! To quote an old adage: Ignorance is bliss. There are many ignorant comments here, e.g., "having to eat picnic style is worth $500,000." Everything cannot be measured in dollars and cents. The sooner we realize this, the better our country will be. Peace and love!!

Everybody involved gets tens of thousands for that? I'm in the wrong line of work, lol. The lawyer gets $220,000? Unreal. Most people work for a living. It amazes me what people will do. It amazes me the amount of money people get for minor nonsense. Ugh, what a waste of money.

They didn't eat off the floor, they ate off paper tray liners. BIG DEAL. If it was my kid I would ask why. If it was a stupid reason I would inquire about the details and go from there. Go through the proper procedure. Getting a lawyer involved would be the last thing I would think of.

Isn't America the greatest country in the world? No. It was once. It's slipping into irrelevance. This is an embarrassment. A daily occurance.

Having them eat off the floor while the other kids taunt them is humiliating. Think back to when you were a kid and how it would have made you feel. For kids, school is life and 2 weeks probably felt like forever to them. If you dropped a bunch of stuff at work and your boss made you eat your lunch on the floor would that be okay? Obviously not, and we as adults are much more mature emotionally/ psychologically so we'd be able deal with it better than a child. They deserve every penny (even the lawyer because they do have fees, court costs and salaries to pay).

There are racists in every ethnic group in the world, but SOMEBODY has to throw the race card every time.

Does appear this was involved, but central issue is treating the kids like animals.

The v. principal transferred?? The more news I hear about the disposition of educators in situations they should absolutely be fired but are only transferred............I call it the "catholic church solution". And the wording in the article suggests he decided to transfer.

They named the lawyer in the article, why not the administrator??

Why do we think throwing outrageous sums of money around is the answer. Maybe guilt?...because we have allowed the system to deteriorate.

Shame on Mr. Lawyer. Sounds like a pro-bono case to me....donate half to the education system or something.

"Board of Education approved the settlement but admitted no quilt." Not firing the V.P. is complicity.

Just had a 34 year old teacher arrested (again) for having sex with her 17 year old student here in SD.

I don't have all the answers to fixing our education system, but let's start by getting rid of the trash.

Unbelievable.

I cant believe how many people on here are defending this... These kids were forced to eat off of paper on the floor with other kids teasing them the whole time, and i promise the teasing didnt stop after the meal, nor after the term of punishment. We have some really sad and horrible people in this country. If you defend this type of action... your a sad and horrible person. This is the type of thing that really messes someone up psychologically.

If it was my kid I would ask why. If it was a stupid reason I would inquire about the details and go from there. Go through the proper procedure. Getting a lawyer involved would be the last thing I would think of.

C'mon man, they fired the teacher that objected. You would be through the roof if it was your kid. Any sane person would be. Your own flesh and blood eating off the floor with others of his ethnicity while the kids of the principles race eat at tables and laugh. I read in a different article that they tried to lie to the parents at first saying they didn't have enough chairs. Also kids that weren't even there when the triggering event took placed were punished for ten days. It was at least 16 kids so half didn't join the suit and 1 got paid separately. The lady should be fired. Maybe a firing and an apology would have worked and maybe they are paying to avoid firing her. When the parents first learned about it, the principle threatened the kids not to say anything so it took weeks, they weren't given good faith answers. They got the run around and only after the lawyers got involved the board came clean with the truth. Say what you want about lawyers but without them this lady would still be at that school untouched.

disappointed and ashamed, think about what you wrote for a moment. The kids ate off of paper tray liners. As I'm sure you're aware, paper tray liners are porous. If the HIV virus is able to pass through the latex of a condom, then wouldn't you agree that many other germs would be able to easily pass through something as porous as a thin sheet of paper? Now, remember, this was on the gym floor, where every child had walked. How many of these children had stepped in dog poop or bird poop or who knows what else that they tracked in? And this is where children are eating.

Finally, none of this is even the point. The issue really isn't where they ate, but rather the situation they were put in. These children, who at 5th grade is about 10 years old and definitely still children, were put out for ridicule for 2 weeks in an already racially charged climate. Instead of dealing with any discipline issues in a private and practical manner, the assistant principal instead chose to humiliate them. At this age, this will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

Rose Colored Glasses,

Ummm, no. I disagree. If it was over spilled water, yes, it would be ridiculous. If the act deserved the punishment, then too damn bad. You play you pay.

Adults in the work place get reprimanded. Verbal warning, written warning, and terminated if severe enough. In school, it's punishment. Detention, suspension, and expulsion if severe enough.

So, when I was in school, I would've definitely preffered eating off the TRAY LINERS that were on the floor than to stay after school in detention.

People say kids aren't disciplined enough, but, they want to sue everytime they get punished. Pick one. Where was the harm here? Kids need to be punished without the fear by staff of huge outrageous lawsuits. That's my thought.

Someones math isn't very good. Lawyers can charge up to 1/3 of a settlement. If you have a problem with lawyers, represent yourself in court and see how you fair.

Affirmative Action at work.

I don't think the problem was so much that they ate off of paper tray liners on the floor. Big deal. The problem is that they singled out the Hispanic kids for this, while allowing the black kids to eat at tables and taunt the Hispanic kids. This is not a case of improper punishment for eating off the floor, it is a case of black racism. And any money says the VP involved is black. Anybody know for sure?

Wow, people are going after the lawyer for this. What the hell did the lawyer do? The winner in all of this is the dumb arse vice principal. Nothing happened to him/her. Did the punishment fit the crime? Not sure for spilling water, and humiliated for two weeks straight. If the kids did do anything wrong, they surely didn't learn anything, but to sue. Also, was this on purpose of nbc news to portray this as a racial incident between blacks and hispanics or what?

Humility is a good thing.

I know, the moon could have crashed into the earth too and none of it would matter. Their could have been a roof collapse too. Maybe we should sue every building owner because maybe, just maybe the building could collapse and possibly injure my precious child. Cut it out man. Woulda coulda shoulda.

You know, maybe it wasn't the best judgement of the staff, so pay hundreds of thousands of dollars? Please. Just think about how much that would have benefit the school system. Now it goes into peoples pockets to buy Iphones and Nike's. Awesome.

case of improper punishment for eating off the floor

Ed, just in case you are a teacher, yes it is improper punishment to make kids eat off the floor. I would suggest detention or suspension of privileges(excluding the use of a table).

To answer your question read the article. Start......now!

JS in SD. Seriously, seek help. I hope you aren't pretending to be a conservative, libertarian, or supporting any ideal that is legal in the United Statess. Because nobody interested in anything legal in the US thinks the way you do.

@NARAIT: Maybe the lawyer walks away with a ton of money. But honestly, the kids will be left with plenty for what happened. The part you are not mentioning is that the lawsuit has had an effect on the school and the teacher is gone. Which is more important? A lot of money and the situation corrected, or just as much money as you can get by hiring a cheap lawyer and hoping for the best?

We all know the lawyer is in it for profit. But to profit, they have to win. In this case, they won, and the kids received plenty. Oh, and the problem of the teacher who did this is gone for good.

The attorneys were the only ones that made this situation right. Way to go! The payment to the lawyer was agreed upon in the settlement - no problem there - unless you dislike giving public money away for no reason.

Discrimination happens on all sides of the fences. The solution to stop loosing revenue due to poor decisions like this one would be for the government leaders to get educated, (instead of relying on or looking to their own laurels) or, hire qualified people instead of friends, family and politicians. What a racket; the racist keeps his job and moves to a secret location. Watch out kids! Watch out teachers that won't tolerate discrimination - your are in for a fight. Suggestion: keep your attorney's number in your cell phone.

School districts carry insurance for these sorts of cases. Oddly, it is often called "oops insurance."

Patrick, thanks for pointing that out. Somehow I missed that in the article, that the VP is black. That is surely why the VP was not fired for this.

School districts carry insurance for these sorts of cases

All that means is their premiums go up and over time they end up paying more than the pay out. You never hear about insurance companies going out of business. Even with the trillions of dollars in Japan the insurance companies aren't sweating it because they always get it back in the end. It's been working that way for thousands of years.

Ed at least it proves you have good instincts. I have trouble with the indented paragraphs too.

Not only were these childen treated ausively by the Principal but also by their Attorney.

Who deplorable of you to take the most money in this settlement from CHILDREN!

What a pig you are---yeah you worked hard, but then again aren't you required to take on one Pro Bono case per year. These were kids who were abused in a public setting and you fllowed suit and robbed them of their settlement. These are kids not corporate scums. Wouldn't say $50,000 cover your fee and the court fees?

He's a lousy attorney. He could have played this case for alot more. He could have taken the quick money because immagration were on the way.They could have each retained their own attorney and sued for alot more. Either way they received more than they deserved.

If you want to know what it wrong with this country, just look at this case. This is a perfect example.

Even after the lawyer took his cut, these kids still got more than most people make working full time for 52 weeks, for eating off a paper liner on the floor for 15 days. Okay, so they were humiliated, they were due an APOLOGY and the vice principal should have been fired. Case closed.

Instead we got a union employee who got transferred - no lesson learned there - he can get away with anything and still get paid by the taxpayers. Then we get some kids who have learned at a very early age that the only solution is to sue, sue, sue. Fast, easy money, but who cares - it's not YOUR money they are spending, right? This case now sets a precedent, so when your taxes go up a few dollars next time or your insurance premiums go up, thank a lawyer, a judge, and a jury for being so eager to throw money at a situation that did not warrant a financial settlement.

Abused? lol. Not quite. That is why kids have no respect for authority. They have no consequences. When they do, it's a pat day? Sad.

The kids punished were in the "bilingual class", that would most likely mean "English as a Second Language class"{ESL}. Fifth grade means they were in elementary school. It seems to me that the administrators or people in charge of changing the water bottles were not doing it and children were thirsty; what would you do? Change the water bottle. The bottle would pretty much outweigh a child in elementary school. To punish a child because they were thirsty? For a teacher, a teacher, to risk losing their job by encouraging them to complain/sue tells me that the way this punishment came down was way out of hand. The assistant principal 'fled' after the incident which also tells me he/she knew this action was wrong. To me it seems like the administrators were being abusive towards this group and not expecting them to react. They were not high school kids they were elementary school children. For those who say that punishment is meant to humiliate, really? Seek therapy. That is precisely would you do not do to a child. My hat goes off to the teacher who stood up for these children.

^ The above post by disappointed and ashamed is brought to you by completely unsupported opinion. And an inability to differentiate discipline from abuse.

sillyshrinks: Sorry, the attorney didn't take anything from the children. The children had nothing without the attorney. It was the attorney who got the money for the children. And, he did it knowing that there was a possibility that he would put in all the work and expenses and not get a dime out of it.

Oh, and while you're on you tirade, why don't you get upset with all the retailers and restaurants! $2.00 for a Happy Meal? Outrageous! It's for the children, after all. They should be willing to feed the children, after all we don't want food taken out of their mouths. So, maybe 2 cents or a nickel should be OK to charge. That way the kids can afford to eat. Or, how about the teachers? Teachers don't need $40-50-80,000.00, after all, it's for the children. The teachers should take less so that the schools can by more supplies, computers, better classrooms, etc. They should feel ashamed of themselves! And the idea that they would go on strike is unforgivable. It's despicable that they would force the children to go without education while they sit at home demanding more money.

So get off your high horse!

The gym floor most likely has tons of germs on it. Yuck man!

I am sure the tables were a bastion of cleanliness, correct?

linof, I don't think administrators are part of the teacher's union. The administrator got transferred instead of fired because he is black, and you can't fire black people, no matter how wrong they are, without being falsely accused of racism. The teacher was part of the union, and she was fired for telling the kids to go home and tell their mother. So there is no union protection there. White people can be fired, no problem.

disappointed and ashamed - kids have no respect for authority because they have no consequences? Perhaps they have no respect for authority because they are unjustly punished. All Hispanics (but not the blacks) in a class punished like this because one of them spilled water? Are you serious?

@ Snarkqueen

Of course this is what you get when you elect a fat pig tea partier as your governor. Schools that are failing faster than others of like size

Apparently you didn't read the article well enough to know that this incident took place in 2008 when the Governor was Jon Corzine a Democrat and former C.E.O of Goldman Sachs. I am guessing that you don't let facts get in the way of a stupid political rant any way

Tabasco Ed,

Read all of my posts bud, 1.29 specifically. I agree with you. Over spilled water would be ridiculous. I think there must be more to the story.

How often will this happen to this lawyer this may be the one and only time he makes anything like this. this is not an everyday event for a lawyer. Why do you think there are so many Ambulance chasers out there. They advertise on TV everyday. always hope that big one will walk thriught thr door.

I guess if we all can't become lawyers then we will just have to settle with whatever's left after they gouge us. Isn't there anyway to mandate what the lawyers can charge people? That lawyer fee seems unjust and totally lopsided. How is that legal, ethical or right? Too bad we can't get a lawyer to sue the other lawyers for robbing people. Of course, that would never happen since it would hurt their own self. Just thinking about the unfairness of lawyers and how they can get away with robbing people and how they seem to have all the control which leaves the customer at their mercy makes me sick at my stomach!!!! (and mad too)

"The vice principal has since transferred."

Hopefully to another career that does not involve human interaction. The idea of moving her to another school to emotionally abuse other children is a travesty for the school district. The same type of institutional reaction that had the Catholic Church moving abusive priests to new dioceses rather than throwing them out.

Robert Smith,

Comparing sexual abuse by priests to kids having to eat while sitting on the floor? Lol, come on man. Some of you are way out in left field. Shows one of the reasons why kids are so out of control. Can't punish them at all, ever, or you're abusing them. LOL.

You should actually take lessons in learning. Start with the difference between punishment and abuse. Its in the dictionary. And if you can read, you'll notice that the kids in school were abused, not punished.

Good luck re-learning the English language.

Thanks Derek. I will try extra hard just for you. Guess you don't know what "a play on words" is. Hey, I got ashamed correct. Do I get any credit for that?

apparently, some black people, like the vice principle of this school in particular, still think "separate tables" are fine for mexicans, but not for themselves.

Isn't it strange that in my elementary school we were never allowed to eat our lunches in the classrooms let alone near desks, it created too many janitorial issues, the classrooms were to remain clean. During My 6 years attending elementary school, myself and every other student sat on the floor in the hallways outside the classrooms to eat our bagged lunches. Its funny though, I didn't know it hurt me until I read this article...

You absolutely get credit for spelling. It is hard to look things up in the dictionary without knowing how.

But seriously, read the article. What happened to those kids is abuse. And that has nothing to do with a very valid point called, "Disciplining your child." Courts have cases all the time about the finer details of what that means. But what happened to those kids isn't on the line or debatable. It is abuse and the ruling is correct.

Where is Rev Jackson and Al Sharpton at now? I don't see an outrage over these little Mexican kids having to eat on the floor. President Obama himself would make a statement if, those kids were black. Hell he would send Eric Holder to the school lmao....

Sometimes there isn't more to the story. Sometimes the story is the story. The school agreed to pay. They also admitted that the original explanation was bogus. They also paid the fired teacher and reinstated him. I would surmise this principle has no tolerance for Hispanic kids. Most likely resents the fact they are taking resources and their parents might be illegals. I would guess the non- Hispanic kids aren't all angels either.

Derek,

I don't agree it was abuse. Like I said, if it was just about spilling water then excessive for sure. Letting other kids get away with heckling them, yes, that would be abusive. If they were separated because of race, yes, abuse.

My thoughts about discipline that I wrote in earlier posts kind of went off subject. I am encompassing child disciplining as a whole as opposed to this story specifically. It's hard to formulate an honest intelligent opinion without more details which we will probably never really now.

@Nairat -- "Yep only winner here was the attorney who walks away with the bulk of the money...."

Without the attorney, you get ZILCH! At least now these children can use their money towards college.

Goes to show the lingering power of the school unions, because they would rather transfer the Vice-Principal to another district, where she'll do the same to other Hispanic or White kids. Why they would fire the teacher that encouraged the kids to tell their parents, is typical of what happens when heroes like: Whistleblowers speak up against abuse at all levels in our government and private sector. I guess Blacks aren't any better than Anglos and other races, eventhough they have experienced terrible things in their hsitory here and across the globe; when they get power and a Black-Bi-racial President in office. Little hope there with humans.

I don't understand the math, the kids split 280,000 (7 kids) that comes to $40K per kid, article said they will recieve $31K and change? The attorney grabbed 44% of the pie. Somebody should be after his a$$ for cheating these kids. The fired teacher got $75K how about her legal fees and job back? This story screwy you don't let this tyrant of a principal transfer, this kind of idiot gets terminated, with predujice for cause.

WTH! Really?! Give me a fricken break! This is TOTAL BS! I have a few questions to ask:

Why in the hell was the vice-principal allowed to transfer to another school? Tenure or union my ass!...he should have been TERMINATED immediately!

Why were all the kids punished for the act of a single child? Besides, punishing the kids over spilling water by making them sit on a filthy gym floor to eat, using a porous paper tray liner, is totaly unacceptable!

Did the school get the parents' permission to do this to these children? I seriously doubt it. If it were me, they damn well better notify me before making a decision like this concerning my child! I decide if, when, where, and how my child is to be disciplined. I would have said HELL NO, and immediately filed formal complaints against the vice-principle, school, and school board for even suggesting this unacceptable form of discipline. I also would have filed formal complaints against them for racial discrimination. I say the school and school board also, because the school is responsible for the acts of it's employees and the school board is responsible for the acts of it's schools.

Were the brats taunting these children also disciplined? After all, this is a form of bullying, and it's my understanding that schools have "no tolerance" policies regarding bullying.

Why in the hell was the children's teacher fired for encouraging the kids to tell their parents about this? Unlike the other gutless and spineless employees of the school, he was courageous enough to do the right thing! Furthermore, there is no way in hell I would have settled for only $75,000. Also, I would not have accepted any settlement that did not include getting my job back with full benefits from the original date of employment.

By agreeing to the terms of the settlement, the school board is (in a way) publicly admitting guilt. However, if it was my lawsuit, part of the terms of the settlement would have included verbal and written public acknowledgement of guilt. Of course neither the school officials or their lawyers could be reached for comment, because they know this was totally wrong!

The children's lawyer getting $220,000 of the settlement is a bunch of BS. He obviously has no conscious morals. Even if (as a previous commenter posted) the standard legal fee was 33% of the settlement, it would amount to $165,000, not $220,000. He should be ashamed of himself!

Unless they know something that isn't included in this particular article, some of the people posting comments here seem to be missing a few points. I agree that we are sometimes too litigious. However, as a parent, I might do the same thing these parents did (and more) just to send a clear message that disciplining my child in this manner will NOT be tolerated! I know many of you may think my comments may be extreme, but to hear of children being treated like this makes me mad as hell. I understand that kids today are no angels, but under no circumstances should this type of discipline ever be accepted.

BTW...I tried to correct any typos I might have made in my comment above, but was unable to edit my comment. I don't know why, but some of these websites have been acting really screwy today.

Q: What's black and brown and looks good on a lawyer?
A: A doberman.

Forget the attorney. You're missing the big picture here:

The vice principal has since transferred.

He should have been fired:

The children's teacher was fired after encouraging them to tell their parents about the punishment.

She should have been commended.

To denver bill 2: Great sense of humor - love it. And who said blacks are recists????

Denver Bill 2 - as funny as you are trying to make it, please don't do that to the Doberman. They are great dogs, and I wouldn't want to spoil their good nature with a bad chewie. :)

What about bedbugs? Then the lawyers could get annoyed and do something about the little creatures!

Borg-963071

Your hatred is toward the wrong person in this incident. Without the lawyer do you really think the kids and their parents would get very far?

@ theoneandonly; do I sense gender bias here?

The Vice Principal (Bad person) is "He".

The encouraging teacher (good person) is "She".

Yet the gender is never mentioned. I guess we all have our personal bigotries.

YEs PUNISHER THEY COULD HAVE GONE PUBLIC AND THE NEWS/Paper and Social media. And there are a handful of attorneys, yet only a minimal amount who would have taken that case, won it and taken minimal if any of the funds.

The report states that it was an accident. An accident is an accident, what was the vice principle thinking? Anyone can have an accident, and it it not a basis for that kind of punishment or humiliation. The 60 million penny question is, is this a military school were children get penalized for anything and everthing that to normal people would be considered an accident? This is just downright stupit, if we were to punish our children like that at home, it would be called child abuse, but since it was a vice principle, a public servant alias goverment worker, oh, unionized, and gets away with a tranfer! So I don't look at it as a black/hispanic issue because I'm hispanic, a natural born US citizen and that comment from some of you guys is an ignorat and stupit remark. The guy in my opinion is an a$$hole.

Without the lawyer do you really think the kids and their parents would get very far?

Of course not. The reason being that:

1. The courts wouldn't hear the case, because the parents aren't throwing their money down the lawyer hole. ie, no justice unless you have money.
2. The school's attorney on the other end instigates the system even worse so that the parents MUST pay an attorney to get any justice.

As I said, no excuse for attorneys. If it isn't the attorney on side A making it bad, it's the attorney on side B. I say shoot them both, then handle the whole thing in an informal way in front of a jury of our peers. But our system doesn't have anything like that, you have to pay for attorneys instead.

I find it very interesting that in school they can't/won't teach anything to students about how to do things in court to defend yourself or get justice. You literally have to, yet again, pay an attorney to teach such a class and you can only get that in advanced courses in college.

We can teach politics, government, even football, but nothing that will take away from attorney's jobs. Otherwise, it is 'giving legal advice' and an attorney will sue, yet again.

Lawyers must be slow today because they are all jumping in trying to justify this case. 500k for eating off paper. What a bunch of BS. These kids ever go on a picnic and eat off the ground,.

You would have to be crazy to even take a job in those schools. Now with the settlement, none of the kids can qualify for the free lunch and education paid for by the taxpayers.

Lawyer's staffs spend more time reviewing accident reports and these bs cases so they can con the parents into a quick score.

JS in SD as usual you are talking out of your ass. You insist that they must have done something worse because...well... you're a bigot and you think that they HAD to have done something worse to get such a punishment. You are just an angry bigoted jerk who is too full of hatred to know how to think logically and respond with even a semblance of intelligent to articles on people of a different race than you. As usual you have just shown you are ignorant and have nothing worthwhile to say on any subject. It's nice to see that someone out there can be...consistent... too bad ignorance and bigotry is all that you are consistent about.

The reason people sue schools and other large institution is to get their attention. This was an act of aggression against Hyspanic children by a Black VP who had no fear of retribution. The children were humiliated, threatened and abused. If anyone treated my child like this they would be wearing an Ass Hat for the rest of their short life. The Lawyer paid the bills for four years and is getting repaid. Unfortunately the VP whom should have been protecting the children was the Bullying abuser and should be exposed. The idea of a law suit is to wake up the perpetrator so they take steps to ensure this does not happen again. Rarely works with Public Schools.

sillyshrinks

You are right, but it still would have taken lawyers. My point was don't kill the messenger, but blame should be pointed towards the vice principal. I'm all for discipline, but publicly humiliating 5th graders and allowing other kids to taunt them in the process? A bit discriminatory don't you think?

@KenR-2238364

As you read please free to substitute personal pronouns to satisfy your political correctness.

That was not discipline. You are seriously deranged if you think the reason this country is in the toilet is because of children not being 'disciplined' this way and 'Zero accountability' in impoverished schools. People like you are funny because you rant and rave about injustice and then the minute YOU are affected, you call a....lawyer.

Sonny, find a floor that has a lot of foot traffic, then set there and eat your lunch that's on paper liners, with no tray, ON that floor for fifteen days, then come back here and tell all of us how yummy it was, ok?

Sonnyjc9 I'm all for punishing kids in school that deserve it. But if this was my kid being forced to do this then some teacher or principal will find out what it means to be humiliated in public. Since when is spilling a jug of water and punishable offense?

The one with zero accountability is the admins who get to skate to another location. This country is in bad shape because morons like yourself that confuse facts and common sense with fantasy

Sonny, I'm all for holding people accountable - but punishing an entire class of hispanic kids for spilling some water by making them eat off the floor for weeks in front of black students and publically humiliating them is about $500,000 too far. It appears to be racially charged, especially given the fact that when a teacher encouraged the students to tell their parents about the punishment, she was FIRED.

When a principal fires a teacher for telling kids to talk to their parents about what's going on at school... that's a pretty damn good sign that the principal knew what he was doing was way out of line.

I'm not disagreeing that the VP went over the line, but was it really worth half a million dollars? Cmon, suspension, firing, but not 500K.

The discipline was wrong in this case, but the system is broke! Those kids don't deserve $31,000 each for it, and the lawyer certainly doesn't deserve $220,000!

I'm sure you can find millions of people who would gladly eat off a dirty floor for 2 weeks if given $31,000! Litigation in this country is just absurd!!!

Hey Only in America,

I work in construction. You should see where I have to eat sometimes and I'm not in trouble. Eating on a floor is not as bad as you think.

frank - it's not the eating on the floor per se, it was that it was done to a specific group of students based on their race, and that the other kids of the class were permitted to eat at desks and taunted the kids on the floor.

And the offense - spilling water - is not something that should be punished. the kids spill water, you ask them to clean it up, and move on. you don't punish an entire group of students over it.

When I first saw the headline, I thought maybe the students were being punished for starting a food fight and it seemed pretty reasonable. But the only "punishment" needed for spilling some water is to clean it up. Who hasn't spilled something at some point in their life? And even if it was done on purpose (and I'm not saying it was), why would you punish everyone else of the same race. Obviously wrong.

On the other side of the story, I'm not sure why this was worth half a million dollars. Especially when the wrongdoer isn't the one who has to pay. It's a public school, so the taxpayers pay and then the kids are the ones that pay the real price, as in fewer teachers, books and other educational aids.

The lawyers really ought to donate their portion of this to a different public school. At least then kids will get something out of it.

Only in America,

Sonny, find a floor that has a lot of foot traffic, then set there and eat your lunch that's on paper liners, with no tray, ON that floor for fifteen days, then come back here and tell all of us how yummy it was, ok?

"Not that which goes into the mouth that makes a man unclean, but that which comes out of the mouth, this makes him unclean."

oninamerica; I say to hell with the paper liner, make him lap it up like the dog he is.

We, adults, often say our children can't think farther than they can see. Looking at the comments here, is there any wonder why that is so???? Go back and read some of your comments. Yes, the money came from the tax payers. This tells tax payers to be more diligent when electing your school boards. Electing your school boards should be more about ability than personality. If the assistant principal had been sent to jail, where he belonged, there probably would not (my guessing) have been a law suit. The school board chose to waste your money, not the lawyer. By the way: there was no need for any punishment of any sort for this incident!! The children was putting the water jugs into the dispensers, at the behest of the school, a job they probably had no business doing. The only recourse the parents had was to sue. I don't know what value you put on your rights, but from my point of view the amount should have been $500 million. When idiots are concerned, you have to be firm in sending them the correct message. Many of the comedic commentators here will not feed their dogs of the floor without a bowl!! You figure it!!!!

Charles, I agree with you, except I don't believe the school board was elected based on personality. They were most likely elected based solely on political party. In a city like Camden, I'll bet every single one of them is a Democrat, and they were elected based on that fact. And I'll bet they all get re-elected for the same reason, those who choose to run for re-election. The taxpayers will learn nothing from this.

Sonny, find a floor that has a lot of foot traffic

Please spare us.

During my military career, I have eaten on surfaces that would make your skin crawl. Eaten with hands so dirty I forgot what skin color I was.

Yet here I am, no worse for wear. Guess you never seen kids not wash their nasty hands before eating, or never witnessed a child eating food off the floor after they dropped it. Perhaps you have seen a child let a dog lick their ice cream cone.

How about we survey all those kids at that school that actually washed their hands after picking their noses, scratching their asses or hugging their friends before they eat at school every day.

Maybe the attorneys for the plaintiffs took it on a contingency basis?

Most cases of this type are 1/3 to the attorney(s) if settled before trial, and 40% if settled at trial. This case went to trial, so that means the attorney received $200,000. The 'extra' $20,000? Maybe an investigator? Court costs the attorney paid, rather than the plaintiffs? Transcription fees? Translator fees?

Several years ago, I had to sue my own insurance company for an auto accident caused by a third party. The case was settled before trial, but the attorney got 1/3 for taking the case on contingency. If no settlement, or if I had lost the court case, 1/3 of the settlement before trial, or 40% after trial of nothing is nothing. And there were several costs the attorney had to pay nonetheless, including an investigator who tried to track down the perpetrator of the accident.

And since it was a civil trial, the only ones who got proceeds were the ones who sued the school district. The others didn't sue, so they didn't get any of the money. Similar to the lottery - if you don't play, you can't win.

The attorney got half the money because he knew how to get the kids the other half. If not for the attorney they would not have gotten squat!! Everyone hates attorneys until they have a need for one. Freakin' hypocrites!!!

As for "sharing" with the kids that didn't participate in the lawsuit ... WHY!? They did NOTHING to deserve a portion of the proceeds. If they (or their parents) were too ignorant to participate, then that ignorance should not be rewarded. Plain and simple!

At a minimum, research your attorney in Martindale Hubbell. Then read the fine print before you sign an attorney's contingency fee contract; you'll notice that in addition to the large % that the attorney will get for any settlement or judgment, the expenses (copies, phone charges, postage, etc., over which you have little or no control) will come out of your pocket.

I took my own case to court, filed my own complaints--there were five defendants--and filed all of my own motions... Having an attorney would have made it less stressful, and I was told by legal aid not to settle when I did, to fight on, and I would have had I not gotten tired. Outside of that, I settled a case that 95% of lawyers lose. The defendants' behavior was blatant. It was just a matter of how much. I have a difficult time understanding how lawyers can spend three years in law school only to spend their careers chasing ambulances, and then taking 1/3 of the money from settlements that grandma could have won on her own. One other thing, though, the justice system has a good ol' boys network operating within it . At least here, the judges and lawyers will cut deals and if you aren't represented, they will take advantage.

Whether the attorney had a contractual entitlement of 40% or not, I would like to konw what the hourly rate breakdown was for said attorney. If this case was a large, complex case that lasted for many months (and was his sole case at the time) then I can let it go. But it likely did not require huge amounts of time or legal manpower. So again, let's look at what this pay was in terms of hours worked.

Hell, I'm a doctor with 9 years of college education, I work in private practice, and I still don't make a 6-figure salary after 9 years in practice. This lawyer made $220,000 for ONE settlement. Wow, I mean just, wow. ( I could bitch about the money, but really, I love my job, I love my patients, and I have the contentment of knowing that I make ALL of my money legitimately and altruistically.)

Mike,

Thank you for finally explaining how this works. If they could have paid the attorny up front they would have retained more of the judgement. The attorny puts out all his time and money and if he loses he is just out, so sad to bad. Lets see how many of you would do your jobs for free and if you didnt do it well enough you dont get paid and even have to pay for all your supplies out of your own pockets. Getting mad at the lawyer is just being ignorant of how these situations work.

You guys are so pathetic. African Americans aren't prejudiced right, sure they are. What do you think would happen if the black children were the ones eating of the floor? Seems to me like you all make preconceived notions that Hispanic kids aren't Americans, they are. There are Hispanic Americans just like there are African Americans, just people wish to alienate and pick on a race, while justifying their self righteousness as "God Fearing people", but inwardly are ravening wolves.

Everyone hates attorneys until they have a need for one. Freakin' hypocrites!!!

Nope. I just hate them, period. I hate them before, during, and after any trial or court case. I hate what they charge, I hate what they do, I hate the destruction that they cause through screwing up the entire legal system to their benefit.

I hate that you can't get any real justice unless you pour your money down the lawyer hole. I hate that they system and the attorneys work all together to get maximum money by screwing the people. I hate that attorneys are actually the CAUSE of most legal problems requiring people to be screwed to use so much money. If they are not the CAUSE, they are ALWAYS the instigators to make the situation even worse, requiring more money. 100% of the time.

Lets see how many of you would do your jobs for free and if you didnt do it well enough you dont get paid and even have to pay for all your supplies out of your own pockets.

Hey silly.... it's called being a business owner. I do it all the time in my business, and there are times when I can't get the job done. That's why attorneys pick and choose which jobs they will instigate and make worse. They choose the sure things.

Why would a plumber choose a job he can't do? Why would I pay a plumber to fix my sink and have him walk away without having it fixed?

Sorry, your argument doesn't justify the damage attorneys do to people and society. As it stands, I wouldn't hand a bucket of water to an attorney that's on fire.

If this case was a large, complex case that lasted for many months (and was his sole case at the time) then I can let it go.

Nope. If this case lasted four years and took 100% of his time, then it is justified. But I have yet to see a single job, except perhaps the guy that puts out the oil well fires, that justifies paying him nearly a quarter of a million dollars.

As it stands, this job likely took about 4 hours average a week in filling out paperwork, then waiting for the courts to get off their butt and request more paper work.

As it stands, if he got $50/hr. He would have to work this job 100% of the time, full time, for 8 hours a day, every weekday, for two years straight, in order to make this wage.

Because immagration was comming and he had to act quick.

Maybe the attorneys for the plaintiffs took it on a contingency basis?

Gee, ya think? all the parents are most likely on some sort of subsistence payment so the chance of paying this vulture $200 an hour is slim.

What would they get if they went to a park and ate off the ground?

Now they should expeal all the little monsters who taunted them and let the parents teach them at home.

Nothing but a payday for the welfare class. The kids won't see a dime of the settlement.

Ok, this Lawyer worked on this case for four years without any pay. Got that? This Lawyer paid all court costs and the salaries of all office staff . Paid the overhead for his office. No money for four years.

Raise your hand if you would be willing to take that on? Bunch of Hyspanic Kids in ESL class in 5th grade means they hadn't been here long. Big risk.

Gun obsessed much?

Nope. You?

True, more whitemen have committed acts of mass murder, sorta...if you don't count the mass genocide that has been going on in African Countries because of civil wars and such for the last 50+ years. Now if you mean just in the US, it less to do with the color of one's skin (because to say otherwise is racist) and more to do with the human condition. To say someone acts, based on the color of their skin, is to say they have no control based on the color of their skin, which would mean they are less than human and cannot control their behavior. That is a copout, just like not all blackmen hangout on highway overpasses in Florida eating the faces off white people.

"The vice principal has transferred". Incredibly they are still employed by the wonderful system that gave us the imbeciles of "Jersey Shore". And the story doesn't say if the person was male or female. If male, he would be lucky not to be picking his teeth up off the same gym floor.

A wonderful system loaded with a bunch of students that would be better served working in a facorty. the kids are the losers that hate each other and the state pays? Better yet, just close the school down so the kids can get a head start on their drug dealing business.

Learn how to spell.

If a child sued everytime another one taunted him we'd have 50 million lawsuits a year.

"If a child sued everytime another one taunted him we'd have 50 million lawsuits a year."

Not for long.

I bet the child might have more than spilled water. Maybe he threw it? Maybe there was a food fight. 7 kids does not add up to an entire class. Maybe someone should be asking some eye witnesses what happened. Non partial eye witnesses.

If the story was even true, maybe they should have got some Happy meal gift certificates OR health food. Eating on the floor. A lot of kids even WANT to do that.

And I'll bet yours do all the time.

"Privatedancer"!!!! Now that looks interesting. Think I've seen that in a movie somewhere.

PatriotJane, it wasn't the entire class that was punished, just the Hispanic ones.

The fact that someone up above stated that the kids could or could not be illegals.....If they were in the 5th grade and ESL class, they were more than likely illegals. If they'd been born in the US, they would have had more English language learning than not.

This is the way the illegal aliens get their "dreams". It happens in worker's comp all the time. They come here, to the US, take a job, get hurt the first day or so, then file for worker's compensation, and they are NOT denied. Then they move on to another farm in another state and do it all over again under a different name and another stolen or made up SSN and they don't have to work. I learned this from working for TPA companies over the last 40 years.

And the reason the teacher was fired for advising the students to tell their parents?

Except that kids routinely cite that bullying and harassment comes from online and digital sources more than anywhere else (I work in urban public schools-Pittsburgh, kids say this ALL the time that school while not perfect is safer than online...) Okay, so maybe the teacher won't be able to harass you, but kids certainly will. And will be more brutal about it. DOn't forget that parents harass kids too. Remember Megan Meier? She was bullied by a MOTHER on Myspace and killed herself. KIds do not have the cognitively ability to understand long-term. We can say "it gets better" but that does not address that bully's parents are often the source of the bullying, by teaching those terrible behaviors and avoiding etiquette. Online work also leads to feeling isolated, as there is no physical safe space. So sure, you might think coddling them into a digital world is preventing it, but I think the statistics, the suicides of children younger and younger speak far differently.

Another note: the children did go to a teacher that encouraged them to sue. It isn't like no one at that school cared. Administrators are paid big bucks, but have the enviable job of doing noting and getting paid 100,000+ (kind of like CEOs..)

And nobody else babysitting your kids. This will never fly, because the truth is most parents don't even want to spend time with their kids. Their favorite time of day is when the kids are at school being somebody elses problem!

Children can not get harassed on cyber school. It is way different than social networks and online chat rooms. When the children log into there classroom they cannot even speak to each other unless the teacher turns on the chat box, and as long as they are in there classroom link the teacher is there. If a child does something wrong or says something wrong the are automatically blocked from the classrooms chat, also alot of children that attend cyber school like it better, because they can't go to a public school without someone harassing them or bullying them.

Learning facts is only part of what kids go to school to learn. They also go to school to reinforce the acceptable social behavior that they started to learn at home. Isolating a kid physically and letting them learn online is only going to hinder that social development. Then when the kids go out into the adult world be it to college, or the workforce, they won't be prepared for the social aspect of the relationships they're going to develop.

I've personally seen a few examples of this to a lesser extent that would be better described as culture shock. Some kids that came from private schools where all the students were well behaved and studied hard transferred into the public high school I attended. Putting these students in groups was a joke, and tended to lead to freak outs when one of the slackers was included and "didn't do their fair share of the work".

It'd be nice if I could choose to exclude everyone I didn't like from my life. Sadly, I have to work with them, and I have to maintain a high level of professionalism around them. I learned how to interact with those I don't care for in school, along with reading, writing, math, geography, history, etc.. Guess which skill I use the most...

My children attend Cyber School they like it very much they learn at there own pace and are not forced to move on if they can not understand the curriculum. The Cyber school my children attend also holds get togethers for the children about twice a month so the children can get to know each other. My children also have friends and go places with them and do things with them. So if you encourage your children to go out and do things with other children they are not losing the social aspect of life. They refuse to go back to school because of all the bullying that happens. I ask my boys every year if they would like to go back to public school and they tell me no.

BONES81

Excuse Me! Who did we say is the Governor of this State??????

Excuse me! Who did we say is the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education? Oh yeah, that would be Chris Cerf, whose previous jobs included Associate Counsel to President Clinton and law clerk for Sandra Day O'Conner.

It happend in 2008 and the govener of New Jersy was a democrat: Jon Corzine former CEO of Goldman Sachs and of MF Global.

I believe he is also being investigated for fraud while with MF Global and is a President Obama supporter.

Guys didn't you get the memo? Politicans are only blamed when they belong to the other political party.

sorry but god did not make them. it appears you failed school.

It happend in 2008 and the govener of New Jersy was a democrat: Jon Corzine former CEO of Goldman Sachs and of MF Global.

I believe he is also being investigated for fraud while with MF Global and is a President Obama supporter.

And the settlement was approved under Chrisite. The lawyer was probably a friend of his and donated to the Republican party.

"DEMOCRATIC", this is close to your answer. The Vice Principal is Democrat (political party affiliation) not democratic (an adjective describing advocating or upholding democracy, the principle of political or social equality for all). The Vice Prinicpal clearly demonstrated that he/she is not democratic, but is most likely a Democrat, all of whom are never responsible for their misdoings and are always forgiven for any transgressions. But they also do not have compassion, understanding, or forgiveness for anyone who disagrees with their perspective, on anything.

Wow Ken,

Nice broad brush there. You say all Democrats?

It appears to me that very few people have "compassion, understanding, or forgiveness for anyone who disagrees with their perspective, on anything."

Have you read any of these comment boards lately?

Republican, Democrat, Independent... It doesn't matter. Everyone is spewing bile and rhetoric. Hell, your post is just as lacking in compassion, understanding and forgiveness as any other.

Hambone, you enlighten me. I totally agree with your perspective and your post.

But (you just knew this was coming, didn't you), as a consertive "middle of the roader" who does not like our party political system, I find I disagree with the liberal (Democrat) pont of view most often. And, I think we all need to eliminate double standards whenever possible.

Ken,

Agreed. And I'm pretty moderate myself.

I am tired of the hypocrisy from both sides but find I fear the ideas of the far right much more than those of the left.

usually the percentaage is agreed up front and includes any fees. so if the suit wasnt successful, there wouldnt be any fees

One of our discipline administrators is black. She lets the black children just come to her office and roam around. They basically can walk out of class whenever they want. It's problematic because she sets a very highly obvious standard. A white and an Asian girl skipped class (they had a sub, thought they could go to art room instead) and when they were caught, they were suspended a week and two weeks of lunch detention. They fought back saying that two of the black girls just roam around school all day and the discipline admin lets them. The admin's response is that they come from different situation (bad home life, neighborhood) so they get treated differently. I think both groups should be disciplined equally and it will only get harder as they get older.

Tracy, do you really think you let your former employer 'know there was a price for their actions' or do you think you scammed taxpayers, who have no control over any of this, out of money for you and your lawyer?

So someone should be fired for speaking up when they see wrong, and then have to worry about feeding their family and keeping a roof overhead? I would not feel a moment of guilt for winning a lawsuit and getting compensation because I would hope the angry taxpayers rectify the situation so that it does not happen again. The only problem is the offending people usually get off scot free personally, such as the principal in this case. They got re-assigned but the poor teacher was fired in 2008. $75k is peanuts if the teacher was out of work for a while. I also imagine the $75k is the gross amount awarded and not what they ended up with. In a down economy, losing one's job can be tragic to the whole family.

Angry taxpayers will not rectify this situation. In a city like Camden, the school board was elected for being Democrats, and they will be re-elected. The taxpayers in places like this will not vote for Republicans, no matter how just; they will vote for Democrats, no matter how unjust. And if it costs them half a million in a settlement, they deserve it, for electing and re-electing these people.

Now that is the fault of the Prez too? Or are you just a little racist?

The point is, these parents will most likely spend the money on themselves, rather than save it for their children's college education. How much do you want to bet OdumbodaPrez is right?

Why? Because that's what you would do?

Tabasco Ed, I think there are laws regarding money that children make. It goes back to when Jackie Coogan (I think) was a child actor and his parents spent all of his money. The money the children make should be placed in a trust fund for when they are of legal age or for college education (wishful thinking here). The only money that the parents would be allowed would be for expenses for the kids, not a car. They could go to jail if they use the money for a shiny, new car as OdumbodaPrez claims.

One kid spills water and 7 get punished -- we're not being told the whole story here!

And a vice principal transfers but the teacher who did nothing wrong gets fired? Nothing about that seems fair, kind of like the kids punishment.

@CME, you really think this is in response to a single incident? I think there is way more to this story than the writer revealed. After all, it might not have made print if the entire story was told. There may not be the desired perception of controversy to warrant printing. No0 sensationalism, no story! That simple.

Actually, 15 kids got punished.

However, there is something wrong with punishing children for having an accident. There is something wrong when the person administering the punishment is obviously not qualified to make this type of decision, and instead makes decisions involving children based on his own obviously deep-seated issues.

Tracy, you're the one who brought the Governor into this.

YOu should read some earlier posts. I just clarified who was govenor at the time.

As you said, the only ones connecting this to either gov are other posters. How is that MSNBC's fault?

Well said. (I am not a lawyer or in any way connected to a lawyer.)

Let's leave money out of this. Most attorney's I've encountered have a low moral fiber, no scruples and are some of the most narcissistic people I've encountered. I have no respect for them.

I'm sure there are some good ones out there that stand for the common good, but I'll bet the farm they are few and far between.

Funny how every one slams the lawyers-yet the minute they would find themselves in a situation where they have to be competently represented in front of a judge&jury they'd be on the phone calling one.

I would never lump all lawyers together, or say that all lawsuits are bad things. But, there was no financial harm to the kids or parents in this case. I think all the teachers and administrators that were involved in this should have been fired. And, I think they are the ones who should have had to pay out on any lawsuit involving the kids. It never helps to take money away from education.

I think if anyone has a lawsuit, it's the whistleblower teacher who lost his job. Hopefully, some school with ethics will snatch him up.

Katy M, perhaps that's what the parents asked for. If it were me, I would have demaned the firing of the VP and reinstatement of the teacher. If the school board refused, then I would sue. Perhaps that's what happened. The article doesn't really say, does it?

What's with all the lawyer bashing? The bigger problem is cops and prosecutors. They don't give a hoot what the truth is, they only care about getting convictions. Their job performance is judged by their superiors based on conviction percentage, not just outcome percentage, and they are ALL corrupt! Lawyers are just the flip side of this coin. It is the lawyer's job to get his client off. It should be the cops' and prosecutors' jobs to do truth and justice, not to be concerned about convictions regardless of truth. They are the true evil ones.

Wolfe -

I was thninking that there would be a whole lot more water on that gym floor after this setllement . . .

Most people posting above miss the main point:

"ALL" Hispanics were punish for a minor accident that ocurred to one of them.

This to serve as amusement for "ALL" Black students who were seated.

This is an education official promoting dangerous race warfere at best. Worst.... public humiliating kids who dont understand the reason for being punished due to an insignificant incident.

The fact that taxpayers support education (as they should) does not absoleve state authorities for the poor judgement shown when thay hired a Principal's Assistant who is clearly a psyco.

Furthermore, they fired the only treacher who showed good ethics and compasion by encouraging the victims to report to their parents, as it should always be the case with verbal, psycological or physical abuse.

Those "inferring" other facts are being held from public knowledge, is pure speculation, in any case, those "hidden" facts just reafirm the school is at fault, as the settlement itself proves.

Posters forget we are talking about kids.... Probably because these postings come from other kids themselves

BRAVO HAV-01!!! Well put. I wish the school would have admitted their faults. I also wish that they would showed us a picture of the VP/ name the VP in question who moved on to a new school. Give the people a heads up on who is new in the neighborhood. Not even a SLAP on the wrist. What is wrong with our education system??? Our children are our future!! What are we teaching them? This is truly a sad event that happened, not even the money can make up for the psychological abuse.

Are you kidding me, people actually sue, and win, over something like this. How many times did we eat in the gymnasium on the floor, it was no big deal we didn't feel like we were being scared for life! It seems that something is missing with this story - if they spilled some water big deal, that should not even raised an eyebrow. The Vice Principal should be investigated and if found his treatment or actions toward any student, white, hispanic, African American, Asian or anything is not the same them he should be let go. I see no problem with the teacher telling the students to tell their parents about their punishment, this is not an unusal request. However, if she "encouraged" them to seek legal council then perhaps she too was out of line. Bottom line, it is coming out of the tax payers pocket and ridiculous lawsuits like this is just why most of our pockets are empty!

apparently you've never been to camden. it's a run down, gangsta, thugs, druggies, abandoned buildings, crackheads, kids w/no parents, no hope & no future kind of place. and the schools pretty much run the same way. corrupt & incompetent leaders who don't care about lawsuits because the money doesn't come out of their pocket and they aren't held responsible. They keep the 6 figure salary. Only the kids suffer. But, no, you would not eat off the floors of any school in camden. i gaurantee it.

Those children aren't poor enough..the lawyer gets half??? How does he justify $220K how many hours did he actually put in or did a paralegal do most of the footwork. It really disgusts me it should have been a pro bono or least a modest fee. This country needs fewer lawyers and more doctors!!!

"Punks"?! They were 5th graders, and one child spilled water as he tried to lift a jug onto a cooler - an accident while trying to do something good.

So we reward them for something benign as having to eat on the floor? Perfect solution. An example of why lawsuits are at a ridiculously high level.

Col

Would it be ok to have your child punished by eating on the floor when it was an accident?

Star-please. You probably are in favor of not keeping score in little league and snacks for everyone win or lose. If it was my tot, suck it up. I don't believe they will be damaged goods. But, when they get into trouble in the future we'll look back on this as the turning point in their lives....please, stop coddling the punks...

You're comparing winning or losing in a little league baseball game to humiliating a child. That's apples and oranges, no comparison at all.

Good post!