Public school zero tolerance policies.

@JTT,

I understand what the OP means. it is ridiculous for a child to be suspended for something so silly as a 4 inch toy that is a choking hazard more then it is tool for killing.

But third grader or not JTT, there have been many news articles on children that age and younger bringing loaded guns to school.

Also in middle school, we had a student come after a teacher with a brick. She scared frozen. She would have been beat in the head with the brick if another student hadn't stepped in and knocked the kid out.

1 Reply

@JTT,

JTT wrote:

I said that kids should be taught honesty and fairness and if these "adults" can't devise a level and level headed policy then they should be booted out.

Really? That's not what you posted.

What you posted was ...

Quote:

If that's even a remote possibility, those administrators should be weeded out and booted out. These are the people who are supposed to be educating children

As I noted in my response, administrators are not supposed to be teaching children.

~~~

and your level-headed offering

Quote:

I think that a lawsuit is in order.

2 Replies

@ehBeth,

In today's world if your child studies hard for a test but still fails that is grounds for people filing a lawsuit. So this does not surprise me.

1 Reply

@boomerang,

Quote:

A third grader at Mo's school was suspended for bringing a "weapon" to school.

Well that does seem something of an overreaction, boomerang.

I'm wondering if these "weapons" have been used in incidents of student bullying?

I'm not sure how these policies are made in public schools in the US or why.
Often in Oz the state authorities are involved, sometimes making blanket policies for all public schools.

Sadly, we've had a recent tragic incident involving a real weapon here. A 12 year old student was killed by another student in a knifing incident. (Not in a public school, a private (Catholic) school, btw). Knives appear to be becoming the "weapon of choice" by young people (& some others) in the broader community lately & it's spilled over into our schools. I suspect we are about to get into some quite serious zero tolerance policies as a result.

2 Replies

@Seed,

Doesn't happen up here. Seems most peculiar to me.

0 Replies

@JTT,

Get a grip on what?

I agree with everyone here that zero tolerance policies are a joke, and this is a crazy example.

You do like to read more into people's posts than they ACTUALLY post, don't you?

1 Reply

@msolga,

msolga wrote:

Knives appear to be becoming the "weapon of choice" by young people . . . in the broader community lately . . .

According to a CBC report i hear a while back, this is also a problem now in Canada . . .

1 Reply

@Setanta,

What happened to good, old-fashioned wrestling and fist-fighting? When I was in elementary school, that used to be our method of choice for inflicting pain on each other. Those young people of today are so spoiled with all their gadgets and gizmos ...

1 Reply

@maporsche,

Hi maporsche

Quote:

I agree with everyone here that zero tolerance policies are a joke

In every conceivable circumstance?

Or just the sillier examples we sometimes hear about?

Not baiting you, or addressing this question to you alone. But I wonder what your thinking would be in response to something like this occurring in a school. Keeping in mind that there have already been quite a number of other knifing "incidents" in other schools already & in the broader community as well. Is there a case for zero tolerance here? I recall, in another thread here, some time ago, people arguing (quite passionately) that a student's suspension (as best I recall the details) for bringing a birthday pocket knife to school (against the school's rules) was very unfair & oppressive. :

Quote:

Sadly, we've had a recent tragic incident involving a real weapon here. A 12 year old student was killed by another student in a knifing incident. (Not in a public school, a private (Catholic) school, btw). Knives appear to be becoming the "weapon of choice" by young people (& some others) in the broader community lately & it's spilled over into our schools. I suspect we are about to get into some quite serious zero tolerance policies as a result.

How should schools be responding to such situations?

0 Replies

@ehBeth,

Education, in the sense of providing fair and equitable responses, goes far beyond the face to face contact that teachers have.

I do think a lawsuit is in order.

1 Reply

@Thomas,

Thomas wrote:

What happened to good, old-fashioned wrestling and fist-fighting? When I was in elementary school, that used to be our method of choice for inflicting pain on each other. Those young people of today are so spoiled with all their gadgets and gizmos ...

I hear that.

If someone tried to bully me with a GI Joe-sized rifle, or with a knife made of tin-foil, I would have smacked them straight in the nose. What a ridiculous idea.

Cycloptichorn

0 Replies

@JTT,

JTT wrote:

Education, in the sense of providing fair and equitable responses, goes far beyond the face to face contact that teachers have.

I do think a lawsuit is in order.

On what grounds?

0 Replies

@Seed,

Quote:

But third grader or not JTT, there have been many news articles on children that age and younger bringing loaded guns to school.

Also in middle school, we had a student come after a teacher with a brick. She scared frozen. She would have been beat in the head with the brick if another student hadn't stepped in and knocked the kid out.

There's a thread that runs through civilized societies. Don't punish everyone for the transgressions of one.

Kids are being punished for behavior that the society around them says is just grand. Someone bought this kid a toy gun. I don't see the toy gun industry going out of business soon. Kids are surrounded by adults carrying and using all sorts of firearms.

Don't try and take away my brick. I'm a law abiding citizen.

1 Reply

@msolga,

But he did not bring in a weapon - it was a toy that replicated a weapon and poorly at that - my question is - does the school have a policy regarding bringing in toys that are replicates of weapons - toy guns, toy swords, etc... I guess in this case if the rule is specific against toy guns and states resulting in being suspended then that is the school rule.

If it states weapon - then the arguement is this poorly replicated toy gun is not a weapon and he should not be suspended.

Big difference between a middleschooler (4 years) and a 3rd grader and bringing in a knife and a toy plastic gun.

1 Reply

My son's school has a policy (that parents are requested to sign) that specifically prohibits toy weapons. I don't know of any cases where this policy was enforced.

2 Replies

@Linkat,

Quote:

But he did not bring in a weapon

I'm not arguing about that, linkat.

I was addressing the "zero tolerance" aspect of this discussion.

1 Reply

@ebrown p,

ebrown p wrote:

My son's school has a policy (that parents are requested to sign) that specifically prohibits toy guns. I don't know of any cases where this policy was enforced.

The problem is that policies like that are written for items like this -

http://svmomblog.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/09/23/toy_gun.jpg

But end up being used against kids who brought a little 2-inch GI Joe rifle to work. The OP and others here are correct: this is ass-hattery of the worst kind.

Cycloptichorn

0 Replies

@JTT,

JTT wrote:

There's a thread that runs through civilized societies. Don't punish everyone for the transgressions of one.

Kids are being punished for behavior that the society around them says is just grand. Someone bought this kid a toy gun. I don't see the toy gun industry going out of business soon. Kids are surrounded by adults carrying and using all sorts of firearms.

Don't try and take away my brick. I'm a law abiding citizen.

So by saying that, then you feel there should be no law against murder? I mean don't take away your right to murder someone because someone else got in trouble for it?

You are correct, kids are surrounded by adults carrying all sorts of firearms. These people have been trained for years in how to use these guns. They are there to protect the children.

As history has shown when kids take guys, knifes and other types of weapons to school it ends in horrible circumstances.

1 Reply

@ebrown p,

We have something similar - but it is a private school - we agree to all sorts of crap. As a result I am terrified of what my kid will wear on a dress down day - or any other sort of thing they may bring in. On the positive side - being such a small school if they did do something inappropriate, I 'd more likely get a call telling me I broke ABC rule - rather than anything actually happening. I guess that is an advantage of knowing everyone at some personal level within the school.

0 Replies

@Seed,

Quote:

So by saying that, then you feel there should be no law against murder? I mean don't take away your right to murder someone because someone else got in trouble for it?

No, Seed, what I'm saying is wait until I do murder.

Quote:

As history has shown when kids take guys, knifes and other types of weapons to school it ends in horrible circumstances.

As history has shown, there have been some events. No reason to go to "Level Orange".

Maybe the kids should all have to take off their shoes at the entrance, be stripped searched to make sure they don't have some C4 strapped to their thighs.

1 Reply

Public school zero tolerance policies.

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know