You know a school has hit a new low when it starts blackmailing its students. An Arizona girl’s high school intimidated her into paying for a broken Chromebook; otherwise, she couldn’t graduate or even go to prom. The twist is that it wasn’t even her fault. She was going to the bathroom during class but didn’t see the cord another student had plugged in to charge his laptop. Tripping on the wire, she fell on her face, causing the device to fall and break. Outrageously, the school said she should pay for it.
“It seems completely unreasonable that we should have to pay because her classmate created a tripping hazard and that the school allowed that to happen by not providing a safe way for students to charge their chromebooks,” the girl’s mom expressed in a Reddit post on r/legaladvice. She went on to say that the school was “adamant” about her paying for the damages since the boy using it didn’t have insurance, even though it was a complete accident. “Holding her prom and graduation over her head also feels like extortion,” the Arizona mother protested.
While there is an argument to be had about the school’s policy for laptop insurance or necessary compensation fees when a device is damaged, this incident is not applicable. It’s clear the situation wasn’t her fault. “If a charging cable was in the way and going through traffic areas OP should not be liable,” remarked a commenter. “School policies should insist either the devices be charged before class or have desks that have charging ports that do not interfere with regular daily mobile activity.”
The post’s comment thread overwhelmingly supported the Arizona mother and her daughter. “The kid who owned the laptop needs to pay for their lack of insurance,” a user said. Others were furious with the school for even blaming the girl. “They can go f— themselves,” another angrily grumbled. Fortunately, the mom later provided an update to the post, happily claiming the situation had been resolved.
“Well, I’m really proud of her right now. She escalated this by herself with no input from me. She’s been trying to work with the tech staff since the incident and go through the proper channels. She realized that wasn’t going to be effective, and she went to see the principal today right when I was posting this 😂. He waived the damage charges and said it wasn’t her fault.”
Needless to say, everyone congratulated the mom and praised the daughter’s boldness and proactive behavior. “You tell your daughter she’s a badass. You tell her that an internet stranger called her a badass today. Good for her. I wouldn’t have had the guts back in high school,” celebrated a user. Hundreds more expressed in comments and upvotes how they were glad it was resolved.
If the daughter keeps this strong-willed attitude up through college, she’s got a bright future ahead of her.
