Cool skool.

A couple of months ago my 15-year-old son received a two day suspension from the Waxahachie Ninth Grade Academy for bringing a skateboard to school. I was upset and he was upset, but when I visited with the principle, he said, "A skateboard is NOT transportation. It is a toy." Bicycles are allowed on the school property, but not skateboards. How whack is that? If you have to walk two miles home from school or skateboard two miles, which would you choose? At any rate, my son, CJ, wrote the attached essay as a venting exercise after the incident. He was on his older brother's skateboards when he was 18-months-old on a half-pipe I had helped them build in the backyard. CJ looks at a pile of junk and sees potential jump ramps and obstacles to ollie. He is a good kid, does not drink, do drugs, steal cars or any of the other things parents of teens often have nightmares about. So why is it that he is chased off public property by cops and i security guards? Our little town does not have any public skate areas, so I am grateful to all the store owners who come out and cheer him on when he skates around their stores, and to the lady who brings him water when it's 98-degrees. Being high on a skateboard ramp is the best high there is for a teen, and I'm grateful that my son chose that route.

Sandra Hartman

Waxahachie, Texas 

Read 'More Sense' next page.--T-ed