Writing on school wall gets Katy sixth-grader pulled

Katy ISD says they followed state law in punishments for graffiti case

By HELEN ERIKSEN -  Houston Chronicle - July 7, 2007

Shelby Sendelbach, a sixth-grader in the Katy Independent School District, was read her rights, ticketed and punished with a mandatory four-month assignment to an alternative school because she wrote "I love Alex" on a gymnasium wall with a baby blue Sharpie.

The graffiti offense is a Level 4 infraction in the district's discipline plan, along with making terroristic threats, possessing dangerous drugs, and assaulting with bodily injury. Only a Level 5 — for murder, possessing firearms, committing aggravated or sexual assault, arson or other felonies — is more severe.

Shelby's parents, Lisa and Stu Sendelbach, say they do not condone what their daughter did. Nevertheless, they are fighting to get her punishment reduced because they believe it is too harsh.

The Sendelbachs said they expected a lesser punishment such as an in-school suspension and community service. Shelby is assigned to alternative school from Aug. 27 through Dec. 21. A district-level appeal hearing is scheduled later this month.

"We are shocked that the school district rules as they are written make no distinction between what Shelby is accused of and what a gang member does with a can of black spray paint," Stu Sendelbach said.

The 12-year-old Mayde Creek Junior High student said she regrets the May 21 incident for which school police cited her for criminal mischief and the making of graffiti. The graffiti offense is punishable as a felony because the marking was made in permanent ink.

Removal mandated

The Harris County district attorney's office declined to prosecute the case as a felony. But school district spokesman Steve Stanford said the district is following a state law that requires mandatory removal to a disciplinary alternative education school for such an offense.

The district's discipline plan complies with the Texas Education Code. Under it, a district can remove a student who commits a crime that is punishable as a felony.

An alternative school in Katy ISD is for students who have been suspended, expelled, committed crimes or who persistently misbehave.

Sendelbach said his daughter, who suffers from attention deficit disorder, does not have a history of misbehavior. He said he was angered further when he saw the proliferation of graffiti in the bleacher area and accused the principal of "encouraging this activity by not removing these inscriptions."

Another parent at the school, Patrick Prebo, agreed with Sendelbach, saying the punishment violates common sense. His 12-year-old daughter, Kaitlyn Inscore, was a participant in the graffiti incident and received the same punishment as Shelby.

"I think the school gave students explicit permission to write in that area when they left the graffiti on the bleachers," he said.

The school's principal, Rick Hull, declined to comment by phone on the graffiti.

The district is gathering information on previous incidents related to graffiti at the school.

Punishment defended

Shelby said she admitted to writing the graffiti when she was questioned by school district officials and police. She signed a confession saying she wrote "I love Alex." She claimed another girl drew a heart around it.

Stanford, who said he could not discuss the specifics of the case because of privacy laws, defended the punishment, saying the district had no choice.

But Rep. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, disagreed. Eissler co-authored House Bill 603 in 2005, which gives administrators more latitude to consider disciplinary history, intent, whether a student has a disability that would impair judgment or acted in self-defense in deciding punishment.

"They have all the leeway they want," he said. "They didn't have to hammer this young lady the way they did. That's why I wrote HB 603 — to give school districts authority to back off the black-and-white justice."

Stanford said he is confident the district is following the law.

To critics such as Fred Hink, co-director of a parent advocacy group called Texas Zero Tolerance, incidents such as this are examples of rigid and absolute standards that school districts across the state use to impose excessive punishment for minor infractions.

"Equating a child that writes a simple line on an obscure area is not the same as a kid who brought marijuana to school — but in the eyes of some districts, especially Katy ISD, these children are equal," Hink said.