MCHENRY COUNTY SOLVES GANG PROBLEM

Ganglike doodle gets teen expelled

January 19, 2006

BY MONIFA THOMAS Staff Reporter

A 16-year-old boy has been expelled from his far northwest suburban high school for doodling what school officials say is a gang symbol in his notebook.

Members of the McHenry Community High School District 156 school board voted Tuesday to expel student Derek Kelly from McHenry East Campus High School for the rest of the school year, according to Derek's mother, Kathy Kelly.

The sketch showed the letters "D.L.K" in the middle of a cross with a spider web in one corner and a crown on top. School officials allegedly told Kathy Kelly the letters stood for "Disciples Latin King," referring to the Latin Kings and Latin Disciples street gangs.

But Kelly said those are also the initials of her son, whose full name is Derek Leon Kelly.

McHenry East Principal Dave Moyer would not comment specifically on Derek's case Wednesday, but he said: "The school district takes a very strong stance on gangs. The policy reflects that and our practices reflect that."

Derek made the sketch in his school planner on Jan. 3 while serving an in-school suspension for taking a bathroom break without permission, his mother said. Two days later, he was expelled for 10 days prior to Tuesday's board meeting.

Over 50 other citations



Kathy Kelly said the school had warned her son twice before about inappropriate drawings, including one with a "T" that officials said resembled a pitchfork.

Derek has also been cited more than 50 times in his three years at McHenry East for skipping class, causing disturbances in the cafeteria and other minor offenses, his mother said. Based on his credits, Derek qualifies as a freshman.

"Obviously, they see that there is a disciplinary problem, and they just want to throw him out of the school and wash their hands of him," Kelly said.

She said her son is not a gang member, and that the school is sending a negative message to students about freedom of expression.

"He was doodling on his own paper," Kelly said, not writing graffiti on school property or vandalizing. "He didn't do it to hurt or intimidate or offend anyone."


Ganglike doodle gets teen expelled