No talking in class, no chewing gum, and most importantly: no starting hashtags that poke fun at your school board’s failings.
Pat Brown, a senior at Cicero–North Syracuse High School, was reportedly suspended for starting the hashtag #ShitCnsSouldCut—a reference to the fact that the school board can’t seem to pass a budget. Though Brown has since deleted his those tweets, they clearly reflected a cynical high schooler.
“#ShitCnsShouldCut the bathroom and pluming, school smells like shit anyway,” read his first one, according to a Topsy search.
“#ShitCnsShouldCut a/c oh shit wait, dat been gone,” read another.
Then came the tweet that Brown said got him called to the principal’s office: “#ShitCnsShouldCut Mrs.Julian.” That’s a reference to Melissa Julian, Cicero–North Syracuse’s executive principal.
“I said we should cut her, because I don’t think she does a good job. But that’s just my opinion I was sharing on Twitter,” Brown told CNN.
Cicero–North Syracuse didn’t immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment, and Superintendent Kim Dyce Faucette said she wouldn’t comment on disciplinary actions against individual students.
“I was called down to the office and told I was being suspended for harassment of teachers, which no harassment was ever committed,” Brown told Syracuse.com. “I proved them wrong and instead they suspended me for cellphone use in class and disrupting the education process.”
In response to the debacle, students started a #freePatBrown hashtag. Used by more than 1,000 people, it’s far more popular than #ShitCnsShouldCut ever was. But it didn’t work. On Tuesday he tweeted that he was still suspended, and would stay that way until Thursday.
Just got the official word…Pat Brown was not freed. I am still suspended until Thursday.
— Pat Brown (@PatBroski) May 28, 2013
Brown, set to graduate June 21, clearly didn’t have much regret. He posted a screengrab of a Syracuse.com news story about him, headlined “Cicero–North Syracuse student suspended after speaking out against failed budget,” to Instagram.
“Best thing I’ve ever accomplished. Made my parents proud,” he captioned the photo.
Photo via patbroski/Instagram
