Jeremy Collins This is Me

Education

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1. 1. Potomac News Online | Court upholds bottle bomb expulsions

   www.potomacnews.com/servlet/Sa - [Cached]

   Published on: 7/21/2005   Last Visited: 7/21/2005

   Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a decision that said the School Board was within its power when it expelled Jeremy Collins in 2003.
   
   One night over spring break in 2003, Collins -- then a student at Forest Park High School -- showed some friends how to replicate a chemistry experiment he had seen at school. Collins demonstrated that combining aluminum foil and an over-the-counter cleaner in a plastic bottle causes the bottle to explode.
   
   On April 18, 2003, Collins and his friends bought the necessary ingredients from Wal-Mart and proceeded to explode several 'bottle bombs' in a residential neighborhood, according to court documents. The next night, similar bombs were set off in several school parking lots.
   
   After a Montclair resident reported hearing gunshots, the police got involved. A large-scale police investigation and heavy media coverage had parents calling the schools, asking if conditions were safe for their kids to come back to school, according to court documents.
   
   The police tracked down Collins and his friends, and principal Thomas Gill recommended that the School Board expel the students.
   ...
   Collins denied participating on the second night of the bottle bombings, and sued the School Board. His suit said the board didn't have the authority to expel him for actions that occurred off school grounds, and that his constitutional rights to due process had been violated.

2. 2. zerointelligence.net

   zerointelligence.net/archives/ - [Cached]

   Last Visited: 5/25/2007

   Jeremy Collins, a former student at Forest Park High School, was expelled in May after he and other students fashioned crude explosive devices out of plastic bottles, aluminum foil and household cleaners. A second student was also expelled and three others were given lesser punishments.
   
   Several bombs exploded at elementary schools throughout the county. The school system charges that Collins taught the students who placed the bombs at the schools how to build them, an allegation he denies.

3. 3. Zero Intelligence: March 2004 Archives

   zerointelligence.net/archives/ - [Cached]

   Published on: 3/1/2004   Last Visited: 11/16/2004

   Jeremy Collins, a former student at Forest Park High School, was expelled in May after he and other students fashioned crude explosive devices out of plastic bottles, aluminum foil and household cleaners. A second student was also expelled and three others were given lesser punishments.
   
   Several bombs exploded at elementary schools throughout the county. The school system charges that Collins taught the students who placed the bombs at the schools how to build them, an allegation he denies.
   
   So it all boils down to whether the school can tie Jeremy to damaging a school, right? Wrong.
   
   Even if Collins was not connected to the school bombings, the school system argues that the expulsion is proper because Collins admitted exploding several bombs throughout the community the same weekend, which constitutes a violation of school policy regulating off-school conduct.
   
   That's where the school and I part ways. The school's loci parentis ends when the boy is no longer under their care. They have exactly zero say in what he does and how he lives his life when he is not at school or a school function. If he damaged school property then they're well within their rights to expel him. If he was not involved in bombing the schools then they need to back off and let the groups that were responsible for him at the time do their jobs.
   
   Oh wait, those groups already did their jobs.
   
   Collins was prosecuted in juvenile court. The judge made no finding of guilt, but ordered Collins to pay a $500 fine and perform 80 hours of community service, among other things.
   ...
   "Jeremy was no more responsible for the (explosions at schools) than his teacher, the manufacturer of the cleanser or tin foil used, or (the school system), who failed properly to monitor what was being taught in their classrooms."