<p>Ga. Student Suspended for Threatening Song
May 09 10:52 AM US/Eastern
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SUWANEE, Ga.</p>
<p>A high school student was suspended for five days after singing a spoof of “On Top of Ol’ Smokey” that includes lyrics about shooting a teacher.</p>
<p>Beth Ann Cox, 16, a junior at Peachtree Ridge High School, said she had been humming the song during German class but denied singing loudly or directing the lyrics at her teacher, Phil Carroll.</p>
<p>“I’d had a song stuck in my head all day, like the tune of it,” she said. “This kid in front of me asked me about the song. So I told him the words. I didn’t say them loudly.”</p>
<p>The song includes the lyrics: “On top of Ol’ Smokey, all covered with blood, I shot my poor teacher with a .44 slug.”</p>
<p>Administrators pulled Cox out of class later Friday and asked why she had threatened her teacher. She was suspended Monday.</p>
<p>Cox has had differences with the teacher in the past, said her mother, Suzanne Cox.</p>
<p>“We feel that Dr. Carroll has some kind of a vendetta out for our daughter. And he used this to take a stand against her,” Suzanne Cox said.</p>
<p>Sloan Roach, spokeswoman for the school district, about 30 miles northeast of Atlanta, said the suspension was “appropriate disciplinary action” for disrupting class.</p>
<p>Well, in this post-Columbine world, there are some things you should be smarter than to joke about. It’s like joking about having a bomb while you are going through security at the airport. Not smart.</p>
<p>We have a local school district trying to suspend an elementary school student for an entire year…for possession of a squirt gun he brought to school as an assignment to be put into a time capsule! Another child of 6 or 7 was suspended for wearing his fireman costume on halloween since it included a plastic fire axe. Years ago, my son was reprimanded for being in possession of a (gasp) screwdriver with interchangable bits which he needed to assemble his science project. I’m all for “zero tolerance” with regard to actual weapons or threats, but childrens songs and toys? Sheesh! Is there no common sense?!</p>
<p>Beth Ann Cox, 16, a junior at Peachtree Ridge High School, said she had been humming the song during German class but denied singing loudly or directing the lyrics at her teacher, Phil Carroll.</p>
<p>“I’d had a song stuck in my head all day, like the tune of it,” she said. “This kid in front of me asked me about the song. So I told him the words. I didn’t say them loudly.”</p>
<p>Riiiiight. She was singing in class loud enough for other students to hear, and then she said threatening words loud enough for the teacher to hear.</p>
<p>And her mom thinks the teacher is out to get her! Seems to me that the student could have benefited long ago from having parents who held her responsible for her behavior.</p>
<p>I agree, the student needs to be responsible for her behavior. I happen to know several teachers at this high school…and I believe that if threats are being made or implied, it needs to be stopped sooner rather than later. </p>
<p>And those words are certainly threatening. Do you honestly think this student could come up with those words, sing them loudly enough IN CLASS for others to hear and then CLAIM INNOCENCE when called on it?</p>
She didn’t come up with the words. A version of those words has floated around every elementary playground since …since…well, at least since I was there. </p>
<p>I do agree with what I believe is your larger point. I’m not buying the innocent act either. She was being a smarta#@ and thought the fact it was a playground song would give her a “get out of jail free” card. BTW, The singing of the lyrics “I’m gonna knock you out, momma said knock you out” would have been very poor judgment, too. ;)</p>
<p>Wow- I wouldn’t last long in today’s educational environment! We wrote some awesome song lyrics about our teachers (we weren’t going to kill them, but they certainly weren’t flattering…)</p>
<p>Miss Cox might as well learn her lesson on this one now. This country has a hard time finding the middle of the road. When is a threat made in jest really a threat? When is joke truly humorous and when is it funny at someone’s expense? When is that compliment a wanted flirtation and when is it sexual harrassment? It’s a tightrope we walk.</p>
<p>Here’s a good one that I just heard on the radio this morning. A 10 year old student was suspended for 10 days because he flipped a coin and it accidentally hit a teacher…assault by a penny! How absurd! It’s a wonder that intelligent, educated professionals are not embarassed by reporting these “vicious threats”!</p>