Public school zero tolerance policies.

The expensive Grand Avenue arts high school has a troubled brief history, including repeated administrative and staff turnover.

http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-lausd-science-teacher-20140410,0,5329192.story#ixzz2z4DEx0Zp

Why Does My Kids’ Elementary School Need a Tank?
A San Diego school district just got a Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle—admins claim it will be used in case of a shooting or other disaster. Is it really necessary?

.....

One thing I didn’t realize we needed is a Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle (MRAP). But our school district now has one. Ours is the Caiman model, a 6x6 behemoth that weighs in at over 15 tons and makes Humvees shrivel up with feelings of inadequacy. The Caiman offers a range of option packages, from bristling-with-machine-guns, to monster-truck-field-hospital. But we got ours used, so we have to make some modifications in order for it to serve our purposes, which were not immediately clear when a local news site broke the story before the District was ready for the official rollout.

.....

As to whether the MRAP was an impulse buy, Ms. Kroemer assured me it was not. “Our school police had actually been looking for grant opportunities to acquire an armored vehicle for this exactly this purpose,” she said. “There has been a lot of research within law enforcement that shows it is very difficult to be defensible against assault weaponry in the case of an active shooter.”


http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/13/why-does-my-kids-elementary-school-need-a-tank.html

So if a student freaks out
and he takes hostages, then
u run him over with that vehicle ?

Can we please back up and ask why a public education
system has a police department?

So how about the curious finding that the Los Angeles Unified School District has taken possession of Pentagon military surplus that included 61 M16 assault rifles, three grenade launchers and a mine-resistant protective vehicle? (Almost makes you want to make up new lyrics to a Christmas song, doesn’t it?) And now that there are some answers, in a way they only raise more questions about what the role of school police departments should be.

....

Zipperman said that although the Pentagon identifies the three launchers as grenade launchers, civilian police call them less-deadly ammunition launchers. He assured me that the school police never had any intention of lobbing grenades at anyone, ever, and that they would not be used against students to launch anything. But as a police department, he said, LAUSD’s finest engage in mutual-aid pacts with other police agencies, and the ability to move those launchers out of storage might come in handy.

As for the assault rifles, Zipperman said they were converted to semiautomatic assault rifles -- why am I not feeling better yet? -- and are used to train a cadre of officers within the department. Those officers in turn are equipped with civilian semiautomatic ridles, which are either kept in locked compartments within their patrol cars, or in more centralized locations, in case of a Columbine High School-type gunman attack.

....

But then I wonder: Looking over the course of a couple of decades, would the same money used for M16s and the training and this robust a police force perhaps save more lives if it were used on school counselors and student health? My guess would be yes.

Quote:

He assured me that the school police never had any intention of lobbing grenades at anyone,
ever, and that they would not be used against students

I thought that was funny; students who do poorly on civics tests.

Quote:

As for the assault rifles, Zipperman said they were converted to semiautomatic assault rifles

By military definition,
assault rifles r fully automatic.

civilian police call them less-deadly ammunition launchers.

Deasy said that many attacks and criticisms were frequently not based in fact and that well-funded teachers unions have often put adults before children. He said his efforts to improve district schools, sometimes at the expense of teacher job protections, have made him a target from the union.

Children are “voiceless and defenseless,” Deasy said. “My concern is that youths' well-being be paramount and that their rights come first. Quite frankly, that’s the only reason we open our doors when we begin work in public education.”

But Mr. Deasy’s departure cannot be blamed on the teachers union. Its mission, after all, is to protect teachers’ interests. Mr. Deasy is gone because neither the school board nor the city’s political leadership were willing to give their support to a superintendent who made student interests his first priority.

Deasy, 53, nonetheless defends the achievements of his 3-1/2-year tenure.

"It was a historic period of time, unlike any other in the work of LAUSD [Los Angeles Unified School District], where achievement rates were the highest they had ever been," he tells Steve. "Graduation rates moved from the upper 50s to 77 percent, a historic high. Every indicator, actually, had never been better."

He points to his initiative to end what he calls "the criminalization of students" by reducing suspensions from 48,000 a year to fewer than 8,000.

Here Are 10 Outrageous 'Zero Tolerance' Follies of 2014



Zero tolerancePublic domainAre your children safe at school? That depends on if you're worried about bullies or administrators. Here are 10 of the most infamous "zero tolerance" punishments handed down to kids—and even some adults—this year.

1. Student, 13, shares lunch, gets detention

A 13-year-old boy at Weaverville Elementary School in California shared his school lunch (a chicken burrito) with a hungry friend. For this, he got detention. Superintendent Tom Barnett explained, "Because of safety and liability we cannot allow students to actually exchange meals.”

2. Sunscreen not allowed on field trip—kids might drink it

A San Antonio, Texas, school forbid students to bring sunscreen on a field trip. Why? According to spokeswoman Aubrey Chancellor, "We can’t allow toxic things to be in our schools.” The children, "could possibly have an allergic reaction (or) they could ingest it. It’s really a dangerous situation.”

3. Kindergarten cancels its year-end show to allow more time for college prep

A letter home from the Harley Avenue Primary School in Elwood, New York, read, in part: "The reason for eliminating the Kindergarten show is simple. We are responsible for preparing children for college and career with valuable lifelong skills and know that we can best do that by having them become strong readers, writers, coworkers and problem solvers."

4. Teacher suspended on weapons charge for demonstrating carpentry tools

A second grade teacher at Chicago's Washington Irving Elementary School was suspended for four days without pay for bringing screwdrivers, wrenches and other shop tools to class, and demonstrating how to use them. These are dangerous items.

5. School bus driver loses job for keeping kids warm when bus breaks down

This one's in Canada! On a day when the windchill dipped to -34 Fahrenehit, school bus driver Kendra Lindon's bus broke down. Knowing it could take a long time for a replacement to arrive—and that kids would be waiting outside till it did—she picked up the few children on her route (including her son) in her SUV. A neighbor noticed two kids sitting in the cargo hold without seat belts and called the bus company. She was promptly fired.

6. 79-year-old substitute teacher fired for having student-friends on Facebook

Carol Thebarge was a substitute teacher at Stevens High School in Claremont, New Hampshire, for nine years and was friends with about 250 current students on Facebook. She was told to unfriend them or lose her job. She chose to lose her job. Superintendent Middleton McGoodwin told the press, "She’s loved by many, but that doesn’t give you allowance to ignore a protocol designed to protect all.”

7. Student suspended for slicing apple with knife during health food demonstration

Da'von Shaw, a Bedford, Ohio, high school student, brought apples and craisins to school for a "healthy eating" presentation. When he took out a knife to slice an apple, his teacher told him he was not allowed to use it. He immediately handed it over to her. Case closed? Nope. Later that day he was suspended for a week because he brought a weapon to school.

8. School goes on lockdown when mom fails to sign-in

The mother of a special needs child in Walnut Grove, Missouri, raced to school when she got a "frantic" call from her kid'steacher. After she was buzzed into the building, she ran straight to his room, thereby committing the cardinal sin of not signing in. The school went into lockdown. Cops arrived and took the mom to the police station, where she was charged with trespassing.

9. Girl in wet bathing suit forced to stand outside... in February... in Minnesota... due to school policy

After the fire alarm went off in Como Park High School in St. Paul, Minnesota, everyone evacuated, including Kayona Hagen-Tietza, 14, who had been swimming in the gym pool and didn't have time to change. School policy forbids teachers from having students in the car, so she stood outside, barefoot, for 10 minutes in 5-degree weather until a teacher obtained "permission" to let her sit in her car just this once.

10. Student suspended for twirling pencil, subjected to five-hour evaluation

Ethan Chaplin, 13, was twirling his pencil, which made the child sitting behind him feel "threatened or uncomfortable." That's all it took for the Vernon, New Jersey, school to send Chaplin for a 5-hour physical and psych evaluation. His urine was tested and blood drawn. “We never know what’s percolating in the mind of children, okay?" the superintendent, Charles Maranzano, said. "When they demonstrate behaviors that raise red flags, we must do our duty.”

A Kermit parent said his fourth-grade student was suspended Friday for allegedly making a terroristic threat.

His father, Jason Steward, said the family had been to see “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” last weekend. His son brought a ring to his class at Kermit Elementary School and told another boy his magic ring could make the boy disappear.

Steward said the principal said threats to another child’s safety would not be tolerated – whether magical or not. Principal Roxanne Greer declined to comment on the matter.

“All student stuff is confidential,” Greer said. She referred a call from the Odessa American to Kermit ISD Superintendent Bill Boyd, who did not return a phone call.

Steward said he didn’t understand why his son was removed from school and why the district didn’t just send a letter home.

He said he requested that the school send him “something in writing” saying that the school suspended his son and why they suspended him. Steward was told the school would put the letter in the mail.

Steward said his son has attended Kermit Elementary since August. The 9-year-old has been in in-school suspension for referring to another student’s skin color and got in trouble for bringing a kids’ book about pregnancy to school.