I understand the intent of zero-tolerance laws, but there has to be some wiggle room for administrators on these fucking things. Of course, school administrators appear, in most cases, loathe to use judgment and would prefer to refer to rules, shrug and say, “My hands are tied” so they do not have to actually make a decision they have to stand behind.
"Zachary wears a suit and tie some days to school by his own choice because he takes school so seriously,” said Debbie Christie, Zachary’s mother, who started a Web site, helpzachary.com, in hopes of recruiting supporters to pressure the local school board at its next open meeting on Tuesday. “He is not some sort of threat to his classmates.”
Well, I think it’s clear this was a mistake and the kid shouldn’t be expelled or spend time in reform school, but just because the kid is in scouts doesn’t mean he should be bringing a knife to school. They should be able to determine if the first time warrants a warning or something more serious, but if it happens again he and the family should know better. Being in boy scouts doesn’t absolve the kid of anything.
He probably shouldn’t be bringing in the camping utensil.
And kids probably shouldn’t pass notes or talk in class when the teacher is teaching.
But the latter can be easily handled with escalating warnings, maybe a trip to a vice-principals office, and, as probably a very late resort, a minor suspension.
The former, in this case, led directly to a 45 day suspension.
It’s not just a utensil, it’s a knife. And even in just showing it off to his friends, there’s the potential for them to be seriously hurt.
And kids probably shouldn’t pass notes or talk in class when the teacher is teaching.
This is a ridiculous parallel. A knife does a lot more than leave paper cuts.
But the latter can be easily handled with escalating warnings, maybe a trip to a vice-principals office, and, as probably a very late resort, a minor suspension.
Bringing a knife to school is not the same as talking in class or passing notes. The principal should have leeway for honest mistakes like this to provide warnings, but repeated offenses should be dealt with harshly.
These outrageous news stories are easier to swallow when you think of public school as prison. Also explains the bus system, bad food, bland block walls, exercise hour, and ringing bells.
The comparison breaks down because they learn fewer life skills than you gain in prison, such as bank robbery and keeping prostitutes under control.
It’s not just a utensil, it’s a knife. And even in just showing it off to his friends, there’s the potential for them to be seriously hurt.
Are you trolling? 6 year olds want to show each other cool stuff. I think the possibility of someone getting seriously hurt here are pretty friggin’ remote.
And no, he shouldn’t be bringing it to school. Have his teacher take it away and give it back to him at the end of the day with a warning not to bring it again. If he brings it again, involve his parents.
Is Phil trolling by comparing a knife to a note in class? Should we just let 6 year olds walk around the playground with knives? I mean, they are just notes right? Minor disturbances? Accidents do happen. If it’s as easily preventable as not allowing knives on campus and taking the infractions seriously, why not?
And no, he shouldn’t be bringing it to school. Have his teacher take it away and give it back to him at the end of the day with a warning not to bring it again. If he brings it again, involve his parents.
Are you nuts? A parent should be involved right away. The kid is six.
Mordrak - how do you read my post and think that I’m advocating letting 6 year olds walk around the playground with knives?
It’s a question of how you respond, and the flexibility of such a response. And no, I don’t think the first offense of a 6 year old bringing in a camping utensil is particularly severe. Maybe more so than talking or note passing, but if a reprimand from a teacher is a 1 on the school response scale, and a visit to the vice principal is a 2, and a 45 day suspension is a 9, then a first offense of bringing a camping utensil to school should fall somewhere in the 1 to 3 range in terms of response, not automatically be a 9.
Did you look at the “knife” in question? It’s the fold-out backend of a spork. This kid could do harm with it- the same harm he could do with a good pair of craft scissors or a pen.
Unlike the rest of our society, these schools are enforcing strict punishments without any actual consideration or adjudication. They get away with this because the kids aren’t supposedly deprived of education, there just sent to an “equivalent” reform school.
Did you read the even crazier case in the story of the girl getting expelled because her grandmother sent a knife to cut the birthday cake? Yeah, these sure are reasonable rules.
A cub scout knife with a fork and a spoon on it will be about as sharp as a butter knife. You’re acting like he’s waving around a razor honed Ka-Bar.
In 4th grade, I brought in a pocket knife that I got by sending in 10 Bazooka Joe comics + 40 cents. It couldn’t cut a damned thing, but I thought it was cool. Teacher found it, put it in an envelope, and sent it back home with a Note from the Teacher.
That’s all that should happen to this kid.
Danger, schmanger. Kid’s aren’t fucking fragile, it’s not like they were running out for a game of mumbly peg.
A 6 year old does not know to NOT bring some cool thing to school. I would never have thought to tell my six year old to avoid such things. I am pretty sure I did not expressly forbid her to bring a knife to school.
The parents, I guess, should have addressed it when he was given the utensil in the scouts and…then frisk him each day to be sure. The punishment is crazy harsh.
[sarcasm] At least the local legislature carefully reviewed the wording of the new law, which applied to expulsions (oops, did they forget to mention suspensions?) and I am sure it was passed quickly to avoid similar looniness[/sarcasm]
Back in my day (20 years ago), everyone carried a knife to school. I had a lockblade Case knife that was probably 3-4 inches long. Some of the manlier students brought their shotguns and would go hunting with the coaches. We had an archery class. Amazingly, we never had a single incident in 4 years.
edit: Corrected time period because I am old, but not quite 920 years ago old.
If this kid isn’t taught a harsh lesson about the dangerousness of knives now, he may wind up becoming a knife wielding maniac that permanently carries it wherever he goes.
