Chichester High officials suspend seven students(more to it then that)

[Champ]

A student election at Chichester High School turned ugly last Friday after a candidate for senior vice-president was suspended for trying to launch a write-in campaign. It got downright nasty Monday when sympathetic students decided to show their election-day support for the banned candidate.

Six more students were ultimately suspended for what school officials saw as "insubordination." Some students and parents, in contrast, are calling it a "ridiculous" product of the school’s zero-tolerance policy -- not to mention undemocratic.

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The school’s student handbook says a candidate for office must have a cumulative grade-point average of 2.0 or higher, according to Kok, whose cumulative GPA is about 2.2. At some point prior to the election, the requirement was apparently raised to 2.5, which made Kok ineligible for the position. (The student handbook is posted on the Chichester School District Web site and states that the minimal cumulative GPA needed to participate in sports and extra-curricular activities is 2.0.)

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Because Kok’s name is pronounced "Coke," some teachers may have interpreted the messages as a reference to cocaine. Two of the labels worn by students were: "Free Kok. Join the Movement," and "You Know You Love Kok. Vote Kok."

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1675&dept_id=18171&newsid=11714407&PAG=461&rfi=9