DOCUMENT: Bizarre, K-12

Boy, 13, Busted For Illegal Marker Possession

Oklahoma math teacher in citizen's arrest of student

permanent marker

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Child Marker Arrest

DECEMBER 22--A 13-year-old boy was arrested Friday for using a permanent marker while in class at his Oklahoma City middle school, a violation of an obscure city ordinance.

According to an Oklahoma City Police Department report, the boy was spotted “in possession of a permanent marker” by Roosevelt Middle School teacher DeLynn Woodside. The 50-year-old educator told cop Miguel Campos that the student was “writing on a piece of paper, which caused it to bleed over onto the desk.”

Woodside, pictured at right, reported that the child, whose name was redacted by police from the report, attempted to hide the marker when she asked him for it. Strangely, Woodside’s Facebook page reveals that her “likes and interests” include the official “Sharpie Permanent Markers” page on Facebook.

Campos reported that he allowed Woodside, a seventh grade math teacher, to “sign a citation” against the boy, who was then transported to the Community Intervention Center, a juvenile holding facility. A police sergeant subsequently “booked the marker into the property room.”

A police spokesman referred to the student’s bust as a “citizen’s arrest” effectuated by Woodside.

The marker ban--which apparently is aimed at curbing graffiti--stems from a city ordinance making it illegal to possess spray paint or a permanent marker on private property (without the owner’s permission). (2 pages)

Comments (558)

I'm not exactly seeing why she reported something this minor to the police, assuming she made the actual call. If she did, she circumvented the chain of command in her school and cut her administration out of the loop. As a school administrator that would not leave me too pleased with her. Seriously, did this actually warrant police intervention or could it have been dealt with by the school?
The student refused to relinquish the marker. That is when the discussion seems to have ended. In my day his parents would have been called. These days if the parents were called they'd typically say "so what let him have it?"
She should be thrown out on her ugly fat a**. That's what this country is coming to with those Left wing Socialists in charge in Washington and everywhere else.
Perhaps she is trying to bring sharia law to OK. Didn't the OK voters specifically outlaw sharia law last election? She DOES make a good case for full body burkahs. Welcome to facist Amerika!
I love the burkah line! Looking at her, you could make a case for sharia law.
Bust the teachers union. Problem solved.
Fat, lazy, sloppy, Obama voter. Need I say more? If she doesn't have the mental capacity to deal with students without calling the police over a magic marker, she shouldn't be teaching.
How did you find out who she voted for?
I have read your comments. I thought your sign on name was telling so I thought I'd grab a quote from Wiki "the sources focus upon his cruelty, extravagance, and sexual perversity, presenting him as an insane tyrant. While the reliability of these sources has been questioned, what is known is that during his brief reign, Caligula worked to increase the authority of the emperor. Interesting.........
I agree. It is interesting also that though he rants against liberals, yet he engages in classic liberal behavior..... attack the authority figure while making endless excuses for the criminal. Ironic.
Calling the child a criminal is very unjust. He wasn't packing a .45 cal. or 10" blade. It was a sharpie for Gods sake!
When he brought contraband into the school he made a mistake. When he refused to turn it over, he became a criminal and was arrested.
I doubt this has much to do with political affiliation. As a conservative, I'm pleased to see a young jerk get dragged out of a classroom. Perhaps she was better able to teach the rest of the class in his absence.
Sure you are libnut. I've seen your kind before, marauding as something you're not. Conservatives abide by the teach a man to fish rule, which would have had the teacher explaining the law to the student to actually educate him. He should have been held accountable by the school libnut. Not the police.
Actually, a conservative would take it for granted that this teacher was justified. A liberal would blame the teacher and make endless excuses for the punk.
Liberal's would back the teacher, union?
Well as usual the article only says a bare minimum of the whole story...kind of like the article that tells the story of "Man,76,shoots who and kills a father and son" What isn't told is the father and son harassed that poor old man for many yrs. and the son was in his mid. 20's. He just couldn't take it any more. A 13 yr. old can harass a teacher to no end. Possibly it was the 15th time he was told about having a permanent marker and blew her off. There is WAY more to this story than is being told. I'd say this is typical of how the news distorts a story and incited rage. People need to use their heads and no what is written is at most 1/2 the story.
good comment
OK, there are a plethora of attacks here against the teacher. Does anyone have any deeper knowledge of the story other that what's presented here? As someone pointed out, the police ultimately do the arrest, so one scenario that I can imagine is that the student in question has long been a problem, and that the teacher used this as a last ditch scare tactic. I've encountered more than my share of spoiled rotten children who are inevitably accompanied by grossly permissive parents, who are further enabled by timid and obsequious school administrations. The teacher might be the ultimate doofus, but I suspect there might be more to the story.
So with the same lack of information about the child that you abhor about the teacher, you choose to attack the child. Scare tactic? C'mon. Grow up and see idiocy where it's so obvious.
The teacher and child aren't equals. The teacher is entitled to our support until it's proven she deserves otherwise.
Merry Christmas Teacher, I bet you are regretting having a facebook page now! Oh BTW you probably just made the kid a career criminal! Way to go Teach! What happened to school punishment, like cleaning graffiti as a lesson? Call the cops and send the kid to jail? That's way out of line.
Thanks to the lefties you cannot punish kids, at school, at home or anywhere.
Gotta disagree with you. That marker could be used to draw a GUN! The teacher can't tolerate terrorism in the classroom. Can't be too careful.
Only a judge can force a punk to clean graffiti.
Or a parent??
Nope, a judge can't force anyone to clean anything. He can announce a sentence to clean it up, and that's pretty much it. The kid is not forced to do anything. He can still refuse to clean it and spend more time in jail. What are they going to do hold a gun to his head and make him rub a rag back and forth? Well...apparently in OK, they might. F0cking stupid Oklahomans.
riiiiight
anyway you slice it, you fools look like idiots cheering this teacher on for sending a boy to jail over a magic marker. but then, you're probably the type to call the cops on war veteran flying an American flag in your neighbor because of some "obscure city ordinance." this coubntry has gone down the tubes when a teacher can't teach a boy why it is wrong to bring a magic marker to school. oh, oh, we need cops and a judge to "force" this boy to go to jail over a...let me stop laughing...magic marker. it's funny to us real conservatives who know it's a waste of money.
Why do liberals always make excuses for bad behavior?
Teachers cannot arrest people, only police can. The teacher can't "have a student arrested." It is entirely within the discretion of the police whether or not to arrest, and the police officer is fully responsible.
Actually anyone can perform a "citizens arrest" they are then turned over to police for formal charges.
This just illustrates the incompetency of public schools, the micromanagement of frivolous detial that passes for education and the stupidity of "zero tolerance". ZT means zero common sense apparently. This highlights the need to disband and defund any agency that begins with the letter F, as in "Federal", or any department that begins with "USD of " incl,uding the Department of Educaton, an oxymoron at best. And, BTW: Have these people never heard of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers...?? Will. Remove. Anything. Jabba the Hut needs to be relieved of her job.
The problem arises when teachers attempt to enforce discipline with children who's parents view teachers that are overweight as "Jabba the Hut".
No, the problem arises from incompetent teachers who have too much time to focus on insignificant things rather than teaching. That she resembles Jabba the Hut is just a bonus.
I know it's a bonus to you. That's why teachers call the police before they call parents these days.
I'm with melissa. This teacher has nothing to offer except maybe a dozen donuts. They should make her run laps around the school as punishment. I'd sue her into oblivion and not rest until she was out of a job. Imagine having to go to juvenile detention over this...cop not too bright either.
I know. As I said, because so many parents these days think as you do, good teachers simply call the cops. The system has rendered bad parents impotent. Go right ahead and sue the cops.
The system has run all of the good teachers out of the biz. Only fat, lazy slobs with no mental wherewithal call the cops. Good teachers speak to a child...and well...teach.
Bad and litigious parents have resulted in policies across the nation to change and kids now get taken away in cuffs. Good teachers to most people these days are teachers that don't annoy little johny.
Good teachers teach, libnut. I guess they don't have time anymore between fistfuls of doughnuts these days. You can try and rationalize this and say "oh, oh, the kid broke the law" but it makes you look stupid. He had a magic marker in school...the teacher should have been able to handle it, but she's apparently incapable of handling her job.
She did handle it. And Johny's parents got to pick him up at the police station. Good for her!
In the public schools in Japan they require students to have a ma-ku pen (perminent marker in Japanese) to lable their personal property. It is easy to remove permanent marker marks with rubbing alcohol. Looks like the lady just wanted to ad to her collection. Glad the police got it and not her. Hopefully someone will now have some common sense and leave the family alone.
Do we really need someone this hypersensitive and lacking in common sense, teaching our children? If the only solution that this woman felt she could muster up was that of calling 911 for a sharpie incident, that tells me that she's lacking in intellect and certainly in any sense of her position, let alone bereft in the adult decision making department. Btw, this brain surgeon could have solved this situation by having the kid clean the desk with the appropriate tools. Natural consquences, you make a mess you clean it up. Go forth and ..err...sin no more or whatever, if ykwim. Someone introduce her to soap operas or her community little theater if she wants drama. Creating it in the classroom is unacceptable. So much for modeling appropriate behavior.
This is what teachers must do in a society that sues teachers rather than supports them.
This is what fat, lazy bad teachers do. Good teachers actually speak to children, and teach.
Thank you! You sound like a teacher.
.........................and have the punks in their class removed in handcuffs.
I've noticed a lot of vilification of the teacher here. This may appear to be a silly issue of a sharpie but there is likely a lot of back-story we aren't being provided in the interest of making this story seem as ridiculous as possible. It is worth noting that these days a teacher cannot so much as touch a student and must endure whatever abuse the young punk with a sharpy doles out until a cop arrives to put a stop to it. In fact, if you read most of these comments, most people here want her sued. Bottom line, the teacher told him to give it up, he refused. He gets busted. Good.
And she never heard of sending the kid to the office? He stays in ISS for the rest of the day and after school he and the janitor clean the desk and a few nastier spots in school for a week until he learns *key word here, folks* LEARNS to take care of property that is not his and not paid for by him but by the whole community. LEARNING should be happening, not retribution, not petty punitive BS. The only thing this kid learned is to not get caught again. NOT, to think before acting, following the rules, asking permission or chain of command. There may be more to the back story, but that doesn't make the teachers actions any less ridiculous and over reaching.