Student Arrested for Making Videogame Map of School

tanman writes "A student at the Houston-area Clements High School was arrested, sent to an "Alternative Education Center" and banned from graduation after school officials found he created a video game map of his school. School district police arrested the teen and searched his home where they confiscated a hammer as a 'potential weapon'. ' "They decided he was a terroristic threat," said one source close to the district's investigation.' With an upcoming May 12 school board election, this issue has quickly become political, with school board members involved in the appeal accusing each other of pandering to the Chinese community in an attempt to gain votes."

Comments

Re:Understood...

[Cedric Tsui]

The article doesn't mention an arrest or any legal charges whatsoever.
He was simply suspended from the school... Ok. And sent to some crappy re-education centre.

Re:Understood...

[GreyPoopon]

This kid doesn't deserve to be arrested. He doesn't deserve to be thrust into "Alternative Education". He deserves to have someone ask him why he built the school in a video game. Let a psychologist evaluate him, and then either medicate the kid or let him go back to class.

Before you jump into action, here's a little more information:

• Article in Houston Chronicle
• They found five swords (not a hammer)

The summary is this

1. He was created a game maps for a first-person shooter game.
2. He was dumb enough to show his work to somebody else, most likely at school.
3. When the police searched his room, they found five swords. There's no indication of whether his parents knew about them, or whether they were part of some hobby (like fencing) where it would be appropriate to have them, or whether they had practice or sharp edges.
4. Even the board is questioning whether they overreacted.
5. The police chose not to arrest him.

So he basically got sent to an "alternate" education path to get him out of the school and he's not allowed to attend graduation. The question is, in light of the information above, do you see these two moves as unreasonable pending the outcome of an investigation and psychological evaluation? It's entirely possible that after meeting with a psychologist he would be allowed to return to school and participate in graduation. How should the school have handled it? When answering, keep in mind that school officials would be responsible for balancing the concerns of other parents against what's best for the student in question.