• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

14 year-old girl wears rosary beads to school. Guess what happens

Skwim

Veteran Member
HOUSTON — A middle school student believes the Fort Bend Independent School District has violated her rights, and now she wants an apology.
Jonae Devlin, 14, was suspended from Hodges Bend Middle School after wearing a rosary to the school.

“I never get in any trouble like this,” said the 8th grader.
Devlin said she wore the rosary because it reminds her of her late grandmother who was a practicing Catholic.

“It reminds me of all the love she had for me,” Devlin said.
Devlin said the principal ordered her to remove the rosary just before the winter break.

“She said, ‘I’m going to give you the choice to take it off or be suspended,’ and I said, ‘You might as well suspend me,’” Devlin told us.

“I’m angry because of the way they’re treating students,” said Sherell Johnson, Devlin’s mom.
According to the district’s student dress code, openly wearing a rosary violates school policy.
Some gang experts have associated the rosary with gang activity.

“The rosary can be a sign of gang involvement,” said Victor Gonzales, the Director of the Houston mayor’s Anti-Gang Task Force. “Schools are just worried about safety.”

Both Devlin and her mom claimed they had no idea about the policy.
FBISD officials insist the dress code was spelled out to both parents and children during a series of seminars at the beginning of the school year. District officials said they stood by the decision to discipline Devlin.

source
 

emptybe

Om Mani Padme Hum
I understand... You know how many gangbangers have the rosary tattooed around their neck? or the praying hands with rosary tattooed somewhere.
 

Skwim

Veteran Member
The way I see it, given that
A) The rosary is associated with gang activity.

B) The school board evidently finds gang membership and signs of it disruptive in schools.

C) To eliminate such disruption it has seen fit to establish a dress code that forbids the display of gang signs in any form, including the rosary.

D) The school advised parents and students of this code.
therefore, in displaying the rosary the girl was in violation of the code. That she was given the opportunity of either removing it or be suspended and chose the latter, her suspension was her own undoing. Hopefully, it'll be a good lesson.
 

dallas1125

Covert Operative
But a lot of people are going to invoke their religious rights. Its odd though that a religious piece is associated with gangs.

One thing though, isnt the first thing you think of when you see a rosary, Oh, she is a christian. Not Oh, she is a gang member?

I mean, to assume that everyone who wears a rosary is involved with a gang is kind of...insane...
 

blackout

Violet.
I'll bet gang members wear blue jeans as well.

If EVERY Individual was free
(and even societally encouraged)
to 'express in dress',
(ie, create a unique/personalized visual I'mage of Self)
then thugs wouldn't so easily find "ordinary" things,
bandanas, rosary beads, whatever
with which to "set themselves apart".

Why not just put everyone in jeans and a grey t-shirt.
Generic hair cuts then?
That way no one can stand out as a gang member.
Or an individual. :sarcastic
 
Last edited:

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
Sounds like a tough call to me. If it's true the rosary is being used by gangs, that's a reason to ban rosaries from schools. But at the same time, kids should have a right to their religious symbols -- which presumably mean more to them than, say, a colored handkerchief.
 

blackout

Violet.
Sounds like a tough call to me. If it's true the rosary is being used by gangs, that's a reason to ban rosaries from schools. But at the same time, kids should have a right to their religious symbols -- which presumably mean more to them than, say, a colored handkerchief.

Unless of course "fashion" is your "religion".
Or the art of Self 'Becoming'.
 
Last edited:

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
And that is a good point in and of itself, UV.

Not too many schools are well prepared to deal with the development of a complete personality.
 

Skwim

Veteran Member
One thing though, isnt the first thing you think of when you see a rosary, Oh, she is a christian. Not Oh, she is a gang member?
The point is not how many people do or do not first associate the rosary with Christianity, but that in the eyes of the school board because it is also a gang symbol it has potential to be disruptive.

I mean, to assume that everyone who wears a rosary is involved with a gang is kind of...insane...
:facepalm: It would be if that were true, but it isn't.


Sunstone said:
But at the same time, kids should have a right to their religious symbols -- which presumably mean more to them than, say, a colored handkerchief.
As I understand it, one can wear a rosary as long as it isn't visible.
"According to the district’s student dress code, openly wearing a rosary violates school policy."​
 
Last edited:

Bismillah

Submit
The point is not how many people do or do not first associate the rosary with Christianity, but that in the eyes of the school board because it is also a gang symbol it has potential to be disruptive.

The school board is of the opinion that the predominant affiliation for the rosary is criminal deviance, which is idiotic.

It would be if that were true, but it isn't.

No...it is. It is assumed that any and all such attire is associated with gang related activities.
 

Skwim

Veteran Member
The school board is of the opinion that the predominant affiliation for the rosary is criminal deviance, which is idiotic.
And who said, "the predominant affiliation for the rosary is criminal deviance"?

NO ONE! :facepalm:
 

Bismillah

Submit
Skwim said:
And who said, "the predominant affiliation for the rosary is criminal deviance"?

The school made the decision to ban the rosary because of "gang affiliation". That means that the connotation of a rosary is gang activity and as such disruptive to classroom affairs. What an idiotic assumption.

"The rosary can be a sign of gang involvement"
"Some gang experts have associated the rosary with gang activity."
 
Top