Student slams short skirt, make-up and selfie rules in 'porn ring' school

A high school student attending a school named in a recent "pornography ring" scandal has hit back at her school's short skirt ban in a passionate online video. 

Fifteen-year-old Faith Sobotker attends Kambrya College in Melbourne, Australia, where it's alleged girls were told to cease wearing short skirts to "protect their integrity," as well as to stop wearing make-up and refrain from sending "sexy selfies."

In a clip recorded on her friend's phone and shared by Fairfax Media, Sobotker responds by saying "My self respect is doing what makes me happy," adding "You can't tell me what ladylike is because we don't live in the '50s any more. I am looking for equality. 

"I am 15 years old. You do not get to sexualise me like that, you do not get to tell me that my body is sacred, because it isn't." 

Catherine Manning, a concerned mother of another student, accused the school of slut-shaming the girls by calling an assembly to discuss their appearance. 

The meeting was held after students at the school were found to be victims of the online "porn ring," reported in News.com.au, on which young men shared and traded non-consensual nude images of young girls. 

"Instead of laying blame directly where it falls — with the perpetrators — it seems [my daughter's] school decided the best line of defence was to haul the girls into a meeting and not just police their appearance, but thoroughly insult and denigrate them," she said in a Facebook post.  

Kambrya College has been approached by Mashable Australia for comment.

The website, which has been called grossly abusive, has since been taken down by authorities and investigations are ongoing. 

School offers refunds for yearbooks with quotes from Stalin, Hitler and ISIS leader

There are humorous yearbook quotes and then, well, there are these. 

Students and parents at Quaker Valley High School in Pennsylvania were in for a shock after discovering the school's yearbook included quotes — with attributions, no less— from Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Islamic State (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. 

The three quotations included were Hitler's “Words build bridges into unexplored regions,” Stalin's “Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, so why would we let them have ideas?” and al-Baghdadi's “Be just: the unjust never prosper. Be valiant. Keep your word, even to your enemies."

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Hitler, Stalin and Islamic State terrorist group leader quoted in Quaker Valley yearbook http://triblive.com/mobile/10529339-96/yearbook-district-quotes …

5:50 PM - 26 May 2016

 
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Upon discovering the error, the school district has offered refunds to students who want to return the yearbooks — which cost $69 a piece but can range up to $100 for customized versions —and stickers to cover up the quotes for those who opt to keep them.

Though it's unclear how the oversight happened, the school district apologized to students and parents in an email obtained by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Thursday, explaining that while the quotes were vetted before publication, the attributions obviously were not.  

“This is a regrettable mistake, as the school district would never knowingly condone this messaging in a school-sponsored publication,” the statement signed by district leadership read. “We are well aware of the emotions this has conjured in many of our students and their families, and for that we are sorry.”

Though the district didn't indicate whether any students will be punished in relation to the incident, it seems safe to say the high school's student body was not amused by the prank. 

“It's one thing to have a silly quote from your favorite TV show," senior Dominique Cagliuso told the Tribune-Review. "But to have a quote from dictators is disrespectful.

Power outage forced students to graduate in the glow of their cellphones

Graduation is supposed to be a special moment in the spotlight for high schoolers, but at Georgia's Winder-Barrow High School Thursday's ceremony was exactly the opposite after a blown transformer left students to graduate in the dark. 

Students and family members quickly took to social media to share photos and videos of the ceremony, which took place outdoors on the high school's football field, where cellphones lit up the event like a concert after the outage. 

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First class to graduate in the dark? This class continues to break new ground.  (Excuse the screaming )

6:18 AM - 20 May 2016 · Winder, GA, United States

 
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In one video, Winder-Barrow High School principal Al Darby can be heard declaring that the graduation would go on in the dark. 

"Our thought is, we're going to continue to call names," Darby said as the crowd erupted in cheers. "And I never thought I'd say this as the principal of Winder-Barrow High School, but thank goodness for cellphones." 

The power outage apparently occurred after balloons flew too close to the transformer, several attendees wrote on social media. 

One attendee reported the graduating class size was about 400 students, and judging by the fact that one video of the outage starts with last names in the C's, it doesn't seem many students were able to walk before the transformer blew. 

Understandably, not everyone was thrilled about the graduates receiving their diplomas in the dark. 

At least Winder-Barrow's Class of 2016 can be certain they went out of high school with a bang.

 

Over-age Canadian high school basketball player arrested

A South Sudanese immigrant and prominent high school basketball player in Canada has been arrested after the revelation that his age may be closer to 29 and not 17, officials say.

Jonathan Nicola was issued a student visa to attend an Ontario school, where he was given an athletic scholarship.

The truth about his age came out after immigration details were passed on by the US to Canada, reports said.

Mr Nicola has admitted he was not 17, but said he was not a "liar person".

He arrived in Canada last November, with a permit to attend Catholic Central Secondary School in Windsor, the Canadian Press news agency said, quoting board documents.

The school has not commented on the case.

His passport and study-permit application say his date of birth is 25 November 1998, which means he would be 17 years old.

But new details emerged after Mr Nicola applied for a US visa in December to play with his team there, a Canadian government lawyer said, according to the report.

Details passed on from US officials showed that he had unsuccessfully applied for refugee status in 2007, giving his date of birth as 1 November 1986. That would make him 29 years old.

In April 2015, he applied for a US student visa, and stated he was born in 1998. But his request was rejected by US officials, who said he had lied about his age and that he was trying to immigrate to the United States.

Expulsion hearing

After his arrest, Mr Nicola reportedly told officials he did not know his exact age but admitted being closer to 30.

"I did not come here to harm any people or do something bad," he told Canadian immigration officials via video conference.

In an earlier interview with the Windsor Star, he said it took him six months to get the Canadian visa.

He will remain detained and is likely to face a hearing on whether he should be expelled from Canada, the Canadian Press says.

A local priest has started a campaign to raise money to secure his release,broadcaster CBC has reported.

Apparently the issue with his age is not the only doubt surrounding Mr Nicola, as there is also confusion about the spelling of his name - some reports have said it is Jonathon.