Say, aren't Floridians -- white ones, anyways -- SUPPOSED to carry guns (and stand their ground with 'em)?

Robert Marucci -- "an admirable young man" in more than one way

"I think he's the most awesome person in the world. He stood up and he was the man of the house when I couldn't be."

-- Robert's mother, Melyssa Lieb

by Ken

Earlier versions of this story, it appears, have been circulating online since the weekend, but I didn't catch up with it till a friend forwarded the AOL Jobs account below (links onsite), with the subject line "An admirable young man."

One aspect of his admirableness is reflected in the photo above. (Alas, AOL didn't include any video. One suspects that the Sean Cody website has been experiencing something of a traffic-and-commerce spike since the weekend.)

Another aspect of his admirableness is made clear in the report: this 18-year-old high school student's material contribution to the support of his family via his after-school job.

As often happens in cases of school-discipline disputes, conspicuously different versions of the story seem to be coming from school authorities and the family, but I think they contain enough areas of overlap to raise some interesting questions.

Florida Student With Gay Porn After-School Job Allowed Back In Class
'Number one goal for students to graduate'

By AOL Jobs Staff

A Florida high school senior who was supporting his family with an after-school job as a gay porn actor was allowed back into class on Wednesday, a week after he was suspended, ABC News reports.

Robert Marucci, 18, known as "Noel" on adult film website Sean Cody, was sent home from Cocoa High School on Jan. 15 after his classmates learned about his after-school job, The Huffington Post reported.

Brevard County School District spokesperson Michelle Irwin told AOL Jobs the suspension had nothing to do with Marucci's choice of after-school job. Rather, it was because he "made statements that were of a nature that prompted the administration" to investigate. She noted the school district has no authority to regulate what a student does in his private life but has a responsibility to secure the safety of the school.

"We have other students that have chosen different lifestyles and we have always provided the appropriate support and options for them," Irwin told ABC News. "It is our number one goal for students to graduate," she added.

Dozens of students staged a walkout on Friday to protest the suspension, which his mother, Melyssa Lieb told CNN affiliate WPLG had been characterized to her by the principal as an "expulsion."

"That would not be true because a principal cannot expel a student. It is a pretty in-depth process," Irwin told AOL Jobs. "I don't know if she misunderstood."

Lieb told WPLG she supports her son, and said he became a target of bullies when students found his video online. She said he was suspended because the principal, Dr. Stephanie Soliven, didn't approve of his "explicit lifestyle" career.

Marucci told WKMG that school officials removed him from classes for being a "disruption" and threatening to bring a weapon to campus, the Daily News reported. He denied the charges.

A campus monitor overheard a group of students discussing Marucci's off-campus job on Jan. 14 and Marucci was brought in to discuss it later that day with administration, she said. Marucci was suspended the next day.

"I think he's the most awesome person in the world, he stood up and he was the man of the house when I couldn't be," citing financial hardship, Marucci's mother told WPLG.

Attempts by AOL Jobs to reach the teen and his mother were unsuccessful.

In 2010, Shawn Loftis, who directed and acted in a series of gay porn films, was dismissed from a substitute teaching gig in the Miami area, The Huffington Post reported. But the Florida Education Practices Commission subsequently ruled he was eligible to apply for a permanent teaching position.

The details that intrigue me, which I should say don't appear in all accounts of this story which I've seen, concern the apparent disruption between Robert and that group of fellow students which seems to have resulted in the precipitating event that came to the attention of school authorities.

It does appear that the nature of Robert's job came to the attention of his schoolmates, and that in consequence he was bullied by those other students. Some accounts describe the bullying as fairly severe. It's less clear that Robert made some mention of bringing in a gun, but if he did, and the authorities became aware of this, I"m trying to figure a way by which they could have been aware of it without being aware of both the charge of bullying and the nature of Robert's after-school job. However:

(1) If they were aware the bullying charge, how is it that only Robert was investigated as a disruption to the school? Does that make any sense?

(2) And since the nature of Robert's job seems to have been at the heart of whatever brought the authorities into the story, how is it possible that, as is now being claimed, that was not a factor in Robert's suspension?

I'm just wondering.

#