High school theft targets: iPods!

Above: These things can cost $500+, with all the gear.

Update: Please see follow-up. Sometimes things aren't what they seem. :)

Email from Missy M., who says she's a student at Lee's Summit North High School:

• I thought it may be intresting for the kansas city star to do a report on all of the thiefs that have gone on at our school. over THIRTY IPODS have been reported stolen and not every one reports them. its getting out of control. mine was stolen monday and it happened with in ten minutes! two students have been arrested and those are only the thiefs that have been caught! i think it may do are city some good to know that there are hott iteams on the streets!

hott iteams, indeed! I couldn't raise anybody at Lee's Summit police right away, so I turned to Lee's Summit School District spokesperson Janice Phelan:

"Thirty's an exaggeration," she quoted Principal Dave Ulrich as telling her. "Kids are allowed to have iPods but not turn them on except at lunch. Students are encouraged to watch them closely."

The school, by the way, is one of the largest in the area, she said: around 2,000 students. Graduation's tomorrow, so this crime wave may end.

Comments

[Todd]

Maybe Missy M. should be attending English class instead of worrying about her iPod. Nice to see the education system at work.

[Answer]

"with in 10 min" "are city" Hopefully she isnt' one of the students graduating this Spring and that she replaces her stolen ipod with a grammar book.

[Veronica Corningstone]

Missy don't rely that heavily on spell check. It will not catch errors like "are" and "our". Also don't valuable items such as iPODS and gadgets to school.

[G]

I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, that her spelling and grammatical errors are a result of the medium in which she is communicating, instead of an indication of a poor education.

That being said, I'm curious why students stealing other students IPods is of vital interest to the city? High Schools have always been a bastion for petty thefts of this kind, for obvious reasons: hundreds of distracted teens in relative close proximity of each other, all sporting the newest fad in technology. It's a thief's paradise.

This is a school issue, one that I would deal with by telling the kids "Hey, if you don't want it stolen, don't bring it to school....where it doesn't really belong anyway."

[Hawkeye in OP]

Just like others have said. If you don't want it stolen, don't take it to school. And stop listening to music during lunch and pick up a book and study.

Pshaw, kids these days.

/Get off my lawn

[Mike]

Right on for dinging this girl for her sub-standard writing skills. Perhaps the stoner story needs to be combined with her's? If you have an iPod or Palm Held Device, you need to keep it close to you at all times, or it gets stolen. Duh? No doubt her iPod didn't have any identification, like a name engraved on it, then authorities are supposed to find it for her? Turn off the TV and all the other techno diversions, take your books home and learn to read and write with at least minimum proficiency standards, so you can compete in the job market.

[Jokey McJokemaker]

I got some cash stolen from my unlocked car and the Police would not respond to my call either. It happened within 3 hours that I was gone. What is this world coming too?

[Boots Hadley]

I have been thinking of getting a new iPod, I might just swing by the local high school. huh?

[Wellibee]

Where I teach at, one student had his "gold fronts" stolen when he took them out to eat some candy.

A first year teacher had his cell phone stolen when he laid it on his desk while he went to help a student (I tried to warn the guy about this when I saw him lay it down before but he was like "I trust my kids"...) I think they were all in it together, the one who asked for help to get him into a far corner and the one who stole the phone...

[Rationality]

It's interesting that all of you (with the exception of Todd) who were so quick to point out spelling and grammatical errors in the girl's email made at least one in each of your posts.

"Hopefully she isnt' one of the students graduating this Spring and that she replaces her stolen ipod with a grammar book."

Try the grammatically improved, "I hope she isn't one of the students graduating this Spring, and she replaces her stolen iPod with a grammar book."

"Missy don't rely that heavily on spell check. It will not catch errors like "are" and "our". Also don't valuable items such as iPODS and gadgets to school."

It also won't catch missing words like "leave".

"No doubt her iPod didn't have any identification, like a name engraved on it, then authorities are supposed to find it for her?"

This sentence is declarative, or is it a question?

[htgirl]

I went to Lee's Summit. I don't know if they are talking about the old LSHS, North or South, but material things have always been an asset to the students.
But, like presented earlier...if you don't want your things getting jacked, don't bring it to school!!

[Kevin]

what kind of crap is this?

If i had an electronic pencil in high school, it would have been confiscated by a teacher.

Students are uber spoiled to their counterparts even 10 years ago

[A]

Nice one, Missy. One paragraph, six spelling errors, and nine capitalization errors. Maybe iPods (along with cellphones) should be banned at schools so the students can concentrate on LEARNING rather than text messaging, playing games, listening to music, or watching videos.

[htgirl]

I agree 'A'. My neighbor is 15 and she is like my baby sister. She carries her cell phone with her to school and constantly texts me with crap throughout the day! I am constantly telling her to pay attention in class...not the buttons on the phone! She can spell though...she learns that texting! LOL

[A]

Rationality said: "Try the grammatically improved, "I hope she isn't one of the students graduating this Spring, and she replaces her stolen iPod with a grammar book.""

Seasons of the year are not capitalized except when they title a particular semester that includes the year, as in "Spring Semester 2006".

Gotcha, Rationality!

[A]

Who's posting comments using my name? Please stop!

[Theresa M]

Stealing iPods can be a pretty lucritive business that's for sure. When they cost between $70 and $300 each.

Whatever happened to not being able to bring stuff like that to school anyways? Heck, when I was in school pagers were just getting started and if we were caught with one or a walkman it was confiscated and not returned. Bring back the old rules and this won't be a problem anymore.

[Veronica Corningstone]

"Not I", said the fly. Quit crying A. Get over it!

[jay]

guess nobody steals TI-85's anymore... i must have been a nerd or something

[Rationality]

I didn't capitalize "Spring", I just failed to correct it. Of further note is the fact that I only stated my version was grammatically improved.

I make grammar and spelling mistakes as well. I'm only pointing out the irony of these spelling/grammar cop's bad grammar.

[htgirl]

kids, kids, kids!

[Robert]

Taken from Rationality's message:

"Missy don't rely that heavily on spell check. It will not catch errors like "are" and "our". Also don't valuable items such as iPODS and gadgets to school."

It also won't catch missing words like "leave".

Did you mean "leave" or "bring" in your correction? If it fits into the part of Missy's sentance that I think you meant it for, it would either read:

"Also don't LEAVE valuable items such as iPODS and gadgets to school."

or

"Also don't BRING valuable items such as iPODS and gadgets to school."

Quit throwing stones at my glass house!

:)

[Richard Brown]

Hey Kids....YOU DON'T NEED AN IPOD AT SCHOOL...Maybe if you took your butt to class on time, you would actually learn something. I'll bet these are the same kids that have cell phones at school too. You can't blame the kids...it's their PARENTS!!!

[htgirl]

I think I learned my lesson in elementary school when I brought one of my grandma's pins to school and someone stole it out of my desk. Kids are scandalous....starting at a young age! Don't bring anything to school you might miss!!

[Robert]

Oh yes, let me actually comment on the topic as well.

The iPod is actually turning out to be a great educational tool. School districts are using "Podcasting" in numerous creative ways to provide access to presentations, speeches, lectures, audiobooks, photos, and now even video. An individual can also use it as a calendar or address book. One professor in Georgia Podcasts the week's most frequently asked questions to all of his students. Foreign language students can download Podcasts in the language they are studying in order to fully immerse themselves in that langauge.

So, I guess my point is that it is pretty short-sighted to just assume that students have iPods at school just to listen to music. I know that the district that I am on the school board for is using them for educational purposes, so I will give Lee's Summit the benefit of the doubt in this case.

[Boots Hadley]

I graduated highschool 7 years ago and now all I do is make out with chicks and think about the Chiefs.

[Jokey McJokemaker]

Podcasting is great, but you do not need the IPOD's at school! You only need itunes to get the podcast and replay it on a computer. At this point you can download it to your IPOD/MP3 player.

So you can leave the IPOD's at home or at least on your person so people can't steal them.

I know of a great educational tool....a book!

[htgirl]

Boots, you are a perv.

[htgirl]

You and I graduated the same year and all you think about STILL is that?

[Cochese]

what should he think about? girls come and go, but Gunther will always be with us.

[htgirl]

ok...whatever you say.

[Cochese]

Will you be there for me in 5 years? NO. Go chiefs.

[Cochese]

I'm sorry I snapped.

[htgirl]

maybe...you don't know that! i know i'm more dependable than the chiefs!!

[joel]

okay. we get it. the schoolgirl cant spell. does anyone who posts on a blog use correct punctuation, spelling, or grammar all the time? i didnt think so.

DONT BRING YOUR FREAKIN IPOD TO SCHOOL YOU SPOILED BRATS! then it wont get stolen.

put down the cell phone/ipod/PSP/blackberry and pick up a pencil and a book and study and become a productive member of society. dont just fart around and wait on your parents to die so you can get their money.

[Cochese]

htgirl, i think i am falling for you.

[htgirl]

Vegas Cochese?

[Cochese]

Wichita.

[Veronica Corningstone]

Cochese

That was the most intelligent comment I have ever heard on this blog. Chiefs in '06!

Books are great, but somewhat outdated. More and more, students are being diagnosed with chronic back problems due to the sheer amount of weight in books that they are forced to carry back and forth to school on a daily basis. In addition, the cost of printing textbooks is an incredible expense that could be at least partially alleviated with more high-tech solutions.

I see your point that the iPod could be left at home, but sooner rather than later, we're going to have to bring schools into the modern era....students have been lugging textbooks back and forth for decades. We can do better than that.

In addition, universities and trade schools are increasingly going to more high tech solutions for putting out information. I was at a conference last month and ended up sitting down with an individual who is on the staff of one of the staff colleges of the Air Force. In that particular school, they are using e-book readers rather than traditional textbooks. I forgot exactly the amount he said, but the implementation of that plan is saving the college hundreds of thousands of dollars over a 10 year period...even when one factors in all of the money they have to pay in copyright fees, etc. to put their materials into the readers.

Let's prepare our kids for the real world. It's time.

[Robert]

Bah. Forgot to sign my name on that last one.

[Cochese]

looks like veronica corningstone is falling for ol' cochese.

[htgirl]

No, was talking about going to Vegas my sweet Cochese. But, I was kidding. ....Wichita.

[Cochese]

i know what you are saying, but wichita is really beautiful this time of year. the perfect spot for two lovebirds to get away for a while.

[htgirl]

I see. Wichita huh. Well, I guess it is closer to home and would be cheaper. Ok.

[Cochese]

so you can pick me up around 6 tonight?

[htgirl]

Oh, so now I gotta be drivin Mr. Daisy?

[htgirl]

Fine....how bout 7 instead. Pack lite.

[Robert]

Quote:

DONT BRING YOUR FREAKIN IPOD TO SCHOOL YOU SPOILED BRATS! then it wont get stolen.

put down the cell phone/ipod/PSP/blackberry and pick up a pencil and a book and study and become a productive member of society. dont just fart around and wait on your parents to die so you can get their money.

To me, this is also pretty short-sighted. Pencils and books no longer define education. We live in an information age, no longer an industrial age. If I ask a student a question, such as (just off the top of my head) name all of the noble gasses (a question that I do not know the answer to myself), I will be much more impressed with a student who can go to the appropriate place to find the answer than a student who simply rattles the answer off by rote memory. The ability to find the answer shows that the student is able to put the question into context and work out a solution, something we should be encouraging our students to do.

Although studying is important, and conditioning your brain to receive and process information is something that MANY students are lacking, just making the assumption that a student is not trying to become a productive member of society because he carries an iPod or Blackberry is an incredibly ignorant statement. Students who master the future's technology today are the students who are going to be the ones paying for our Medicare and Social Security tomorrow.

I only spent 4 years in the classroom as a teacher before I needed to change professions in order to make more money, but a good number of my former students continue to amaze me with the incredible things they are doing in college, the impressive degrees they are earning, and the sheer amount of money they are making. One of my students, who was very big into the gadgets is now doing extremely complex research into computer allgorhythms (sp?) as a undergrad at KU. I don't think telling that person to pick up a pencil and study would have been the right answer.

[Boots Hadley]

I see how it is, you dump Boots so you can go for that scumbag Cochese? I bet he doesnt even have an iPod......see, this post is relevant.