urltea.com/hbk -> www.fortbendnow.com/news/2847/chinese-community-rallies-behind-student-removed-from-clements-over-pc-game-map
Bob Dunn, Apr 30, 2007, 11 57 am Members of the area Chinese community have rallied behind a Clements High School senior who was removed from the campus and sent to MR Wood Alternative Education Center after parents complained he'd created a computer game map of Clements. About 70 people attended the Fort Bend Independent School District's April 23 meeting to show support for the Clements senior and his mother, Jean Lin, who spoke to FBISD Board trustees in a closed session. While an agenda document does not specify details, the board is holding a special meeting tonight to address the boy's actions and the discipline that was meted out as a result, sources close to the matter say. The boy's name was not identified last week, and the district has declined to discuss his case. Richard Chen, president of the Fort Bend Chinese-American Voters League and a acquaintance of the boy's family, said he is a talented student who enjoys computer games and learned how to create maps (also sometimes known as "mods"), which provide new environments in which games may be played. And, sources said, it was uploaded either to the boy's home computer or to a computer server where he and his friends could access and play on it. Two parents apparently learned from their children about the existence of the game, and complained to FBISD administrators, who investigated. "They arrested him," Chen said of FBISD police, "and also went to the house to search." The Lin family consented to the search, and a hammer was found in the boy's room, which he used to fix his bed, because it wasn't in good shape, Chen said. He indicated police seized the hammer as a potential weapon. "They decided he was a terroristic threat," said one source close to the district's investigation. Sources said that although no charges were filed against the boy, he was removed from Clements, sent to the district's alternate education school and won't be allowed to participate in graduation ceremonies with classmates. "All he did was create a map and put it on a web site to allow students to play," Chen said. FBISD officials declined to comment on the matter Monday. "Our challenge is, people in the community have freedom of speech and can say what they want, but we have laws" covering privacy issues, especially involving minors, that the district has to respect, said spokeswoman Nancy Porter. Speakers at the FBISD Board's April 23 meeting alluded to the Clements senior's punishment, and drew a connection to the April 16 shootings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, in which a Korean student shot and killed 32 people. The Asian community "faces new pressures" as a result of the shootings, William Sun told board members. "We urge the school and community not to label our Asian students as terrorists." "We should teach our children not to judge others harshly" and not to target people as being a threat because of their race, said Peter Woo, adding that the school district should lead the way in such efforts. But Chen said Monday he and other community members don't consider FBISD's actions in the case to be racially motivated, and don't think they blew the incident out of proportion. "They all think the principal has to do something - but how much? "Someone just made a mistake, and we think the principal should understand that." If Lisa Rickert and Ken Bryant- seen making campaign promises in the parking lot at the last board meeting try to play this card for votes by again micro managing school policy, they will have sent a clear message that these two incumbents can be bought and sold. I attended that meeting and Rickert and Bryant did not make a campaign speech. They simply came out after the meeting was over to let the crowd and parents know what was happening before going into closed session. This boy was not charged with a crime, the police did not consider him a "terrorist threat", he is not a "loner" -- but a well, liked honors student. From what I understand, other than using Clements as a backdrop, the game did not single out any students or teachers. But if every kid in FBISD who did something stupid was put in BLC, we wouldn't have any students left in our regular schools. The game he created was "out there" for at least two months. But the complaints came a day after the Virginia Tech tragedy. I think the Board needs to show some common sense in these kinds of instances. I know that the Asian community wants their children to be safe and secure in school just like all other ethnic parents whether white, brown, black, green purple... I dont care what race the child who downloaded the material was,, the other children in the school has to be safe.. Im not for violation of rights as Im not for this city becoming a nightmare like in W Va.. We hav lost some rights,, its tru,,, but we live in a different world now.. A world where your neighbor could be a terorist of a sex offender... If your child gets killed or assaulted ,, would nt you have wanted every lead, threat, suspicion to be followed up on... This young man made a mod using skills most people don't possess and has fun playing games with his friends and people get paranoid. Violence is going to happen and it is stupid to think that video games trigger this kind of reaction . I guess my brothers and I playing cowboys and indians or war when we were young made us terrorists too . I am 42 years old and I enjoy playing all of the same types of video games this young man does and I have never had a thought about going out and killing anyone. I guess we should also ban military adventure books,thrillers and murder mysteries as well . People,get a clue and get over yourselves 6 J Williamson - Apr 30, 01:56 pm We put our administrators in a "no win" situation. Take pre-emptive action and you are over-reacting and stomping on individual's rights. Take no action and something tragic happens and you will be crucified for not taking prudent precautions. When the president of the Chinese-American Voters League and his constituentcy are cheering two incumbent candidates in the parking lot next to a vote for Lisa Rickert sign, it doesn't take an engineer to figure out that two incumbents and a special meeting means "we need your votes in any language." The other incumbents should be very careful of how they deal with this issue.
Parent - Apr 30, 04:30 pm "All he did was create a map and put it on a web site to allow students to play," I haven't seen this map, but in this day and age, the boy used bad judgement when he created this map. Although I cannot say whether the punishment fit the misdeed or not, I can say that this type of minimilization is a concern as well. I agree with Mr Williamson when he says we put those of leadership in a difficult place. It also puts students who may complain in the future questioning whether they should or not. I used this as a teaching moment with my own kids and reminded them again about how careful they need to be in this day and age about what they say and do. I also reminded them the continued importance of reporting things they feel might be dangerous to themselves or others. This wouldn't even be on Bryant and Rickert's radar any other time. There have been more serious issues that they have just pushed to the side and have cost the District $$$$. Columbine happened a long time ago - seems like this should have sunk in. This kind of stuff is inevitable in todays society, with all of the violent games that are out there, but everyone has to realize that simulating shooting in a school is not a good thing. He should be punished, but don't permanently scar the child. Here is a smart kid who apparently made a bad decision while having some fun. Don't make this a racial issue - if a purple kid from Mars did this, he should have been treated the same way. It is difficult to protect our campuses from violence - any possible threat has to taken seriously. By the same token, I would like to see all violent games in the marketplace come under much greater scrutiny - it is a problem in our society that we are ignoring. If election wasnt upon us you would have never even heard a peep out of the incumbents,, Its ...
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