6-year-old expelled over Cub Scout utensil

[christiangirl]

NEWARK, Del. — Finding character witnesses when you are 6 years old is not easy. But there was Zachary Christie last week at a school disciplinary committee hearing with his karate instructor and his mother’s fiancé by his side to vouch for him.

Zachary’s offense? Taking a camping utensil that can serve as a knife, fork and spoon to school. He was so excited about recently joining the Cub Scouts that he wanted to use it at lunch. School officials concluded that he had violated their zero-tolerance policy on weapons, and Zachary was suspended and now faces 45 days in the district’s reform school.


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/ed...o_interstitial

Reason #234,974,082,304 that most of this country's efforts to "crack down" on violence are just plain cracked. I get zero-tolerance for "weapons," but give me a break. He's six and it's not exactly a butcher knife. The other cases in the article are just as ridiculous.

[Kevin]

Seems to me like the kiddo's 14th Amendment Due Process rights were violated.

[dreamseeker]

yup, i thought this was bs. i wonder what they think reform school will teach him

btw, the title of the thread is incorrect, he was suspended, not expelled.

[christiangirl]

Originally Posted by dreamseeker

yup, i thought this was bs. i wonder what they think reform school will teach him

btw, the title of the thread is incorrect, he was suspended, not expelled.

Thanx, fixed it.

[nikki1920]

Zero tolerance = zero common sense.

[ForeverRoses]

The part about the 3rd grader expelled for bringing a knife to cut her birthday cake- and the teacher used the knife and THEN called the principal???

common sense is so uncommon!

[Kevlar281]

Reminded me of this story.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by Kevlar281

Reminded me of this story.

Wow. That's pretty damn stupid.

I do wonder, though, how they found out he had the weapon in his car (not sure if it's mentioned in the article -- couldn't read the entire thing).

[srmom]

They have changed the laws in Texas to ease up and give some discretion to site principals because of some over the top cases.

In one instance, an honors kid, who'd never been in any trouble was called out of class because she had a "weapon" in her car. Turns out it was a "prop sword" that her brother, who participated in theater arts, and was appearing at the Renaissance Fair, had left in the car after the weekend. She was suspended, sent to a district alternative education center, and prosecuted by the DA for a Class 3 felony, eventually it was dropped.

Another case: One former Katy, Texas, high school student says he understands that administrators are trying to create a safe environment, but that they are going too far. A sophomore in 2001, he was late to biology class one day and his teacher sent him to the office for a tardy slip. While he was gone, he says, she asked the class to turn in their spiral notebooks - but no one told him to turn in his notebook when he returned, and his grade dropped from a B to a C.

So he scribbled her name on a piece of paper labeled "permanent list of people who piss me off" - a joke, he says. He then tore up the paper and threw it in the wastebasket. But by day's end, he was in handcuffs. He spent the night in juvenile hall, having been declared a "terrorist threat," and spent eight weeks in an alternative school.

Here's a website that lists the most amazing ones nationwide:

http://www.the-eggman.com/writings/zerostup.html

some highlights: A third-grader has a brother serving in the Army in Afghanistan. The proud third-grader draws a picture of his brother. The drawing shows his brother with a gun. Suspended

"Terrorist threat" criminal charges were filed against two 8-year-olds in Irvington, N.J., for "playing cops and robbers with a paper gun."

A young boy is suspended from elementary school for pointing his finger at someone and saying "Bang." It seems the school's Zero Tolerance rule extends to "Pretend" guns, including fingers.

Another school will let kids point fingers, but only if they have a "Permit."


Pretty crazy stuff.

[sewpurplebat]

Originally Posted by srmom

A young boy is suspended from elementary school for pointing his finger at someone and saying "Bang." It seems the school's Zero Tolerance rule extends to "Pretend" guns, including fingers.

Another school will let kids point fingers, but only if they have a "Permit."


Pretty crazy stuff.

That is just asinine. It is hard to believe people can be that uptight.

[christiangirl]

Originally Posted by srmom

"Terrorist threat" criminal charges were filed against two 8-year-olds in Irvington, N.J., for "playing cops and robbers with a paper gun."

[Preston327]

Zero Tolerance is a f***ing joke. The only school I went to with a serious crime problem spent more time figuring out who wrote "penis" on the bathroom wall than actually enforcing this stuff. I went to elementary school before this crap became the feel-good solution du jour, but I've got a few hilariously stupid stories of my own from high-school:

1. Getting bitched out by the SRO for having in my possession a drawing of a Barret M82 sniper rifle (for those of you who don't know your guns, this bad-boy costs $15k assuming you can even find one, not something a kid could afford) given to me by one of the cadets in my JROTC company. Nothing happened, I still have said drawing hanging prominently in my dorm.

2. Called down to SRO's office for "looking up weapons" on GlobalSecurity.org (yeah I was a military nerd in HS). What I had actually looked up was the specs on a tank. He gives me some BS, I question how the hell a high school student is supposed to buy or build a tank, he's humiliated and forced to let me back to class.

Zero-Tolerance needs to go 10 years ago. What ever happened to common sense and discretion?

ETA:

“There are still serious threats every day in schools,” Dr. Ewing said, adding that giving school officials discretion holds the potential for discrimination and requires the kind of threat assessments that only law enforcement is equipped to make.

So I'm not longer "equipped" to determine if a kid with a book of rifle drawings is a threat to myself, himself or others? God this article makes me weep for humanity.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Preston327

ETA: So I'm not longer "equipped" to determine if a kid with a book of rifle drawings is a threat to myself, himself or others? God this article makes me weep for humanity.

Only law enforcement is equipped to make these decisions? Reary?

Requirement to be a school administrator: bachelor's in education plus a master's in administration.

vs.

Requirement to be a police officer: (maybe) high school diploma? Some sort of state certification?

If administrators aren't equipped to make these 'tough' decisions, they should not be trusted to run schools, supervise teachers, ensure kids are safe, etc.

[Psi U MC Vito]

I thought a lot of police officers needed bachelor degrees now, at least in larger departments.

[chickenoodle]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Only law enforcement is equipped to make these decisions? Reary?

Requirement to be a school administrator: bachelor's in education plus a master's in administration.

vs.

Requirement to be a police officer: (maybe) high school diploma? Some sort of state certification?

If administrators aren't equipped to make these 'tough' decisions, they should not be trusted to run schools, supervise teachers, ensure kids are safe, etc.

Yep.

Speaking of simple situations blown completely out of proportion by ridiculous school policies... When my sister was in high school, she and a friend went to the bathroom during lunch. Turns out, that's is a big no-no at this particular school. She and her friend were suspended for 3 days.

So when are students supposed to go, you ask? During the 3 minutes they have in between classes.