Katy ISD backs off graffiti punishment

In a victory for lovestruck teenage vandals everywhere — or at least in Katy — the Katy school district has decided a student who wrote "I love Alex" in Sharpie on a gym wall won't be shipped off to alternative school after all. "It is our intention and commitment to comply with the law and board policy," Katy ISD Superintendent Alton Frailey told the Chronicle. "However, we remain extremely uncomfortable with rendering an assignment of any length to the district alternative school for what occurred."

The graffiti incident, you'll remember, hit the news earlier this month. The perp was 12-year-old Shelby Sendelbach, and Katy school officials said sending her to alternative school through the end of the year was the only recourse they had under state law. But the punishment drew a lot of criticism, which led the district to reconsider its reaction a few days ago — and after reviewing the case, Frailey said the district wasn't sure it had found language in the law that gave officials the authority to put Sendelbach in alternative school. "We do not feel that it is appropriate or in the best interest of the students," he said.

KHOU reports that Sendelbach will be able to return to Mayde Creek Junior High, and the school principal and her parents will work together to determine an appropriate punishment. "I think that kind of situation calls for some common sense," parent Antoinette Boulet told Channel 11. "I think an appropriate punishment would be give her an eraser and make her clean the wall."