Pupil with knife posed no threat

After interviewing pupils and staff members who were in a classroom on Wednesday at Union School where an 11-year-old was displaying a penknife, police investigators have concluded that the pupil did not threaten anyone or pose a safety threat to others, Chief Steven J. Nienstedt said Friday. "The investigation reveals that the pupil did not threaten anyone," Nienstedt said. "The pupil possessed the knife in school, which is not a violation of law under these circumstances. However, it is a violation of school policy, and the school authorities are addressing that accordingly."

Because the pupil was a minor, authorities withheld identification. Although police did not file charges against the pupil, school district officials confirmed on Friday that the fifth-grader had been suspended for possessing a penknife on school property.

Nienstedt said the pupil brought the penknife that was about 2 inches to 3 inches long from home to the school on Union Avenue. While at school, the pupil showed off the knife to other pupils during lunch, Nienstedt said.

"He didn't open it and threaten anyone," the police chief said. A pupil reported the incident to a teacher, who then alerted the principal. The pupil was detained in the principal's office until police arrived, Nienstedt said. "This has been fully investigated and we are absolutely certain that there was no threat," he said of the incident.

Schools Superintendent Leslie O'Keefe said the school district would maintain the suspension because the pupil violated school policy on carrying weapons on school property. "We do not have any toleration for any type of weapons," O'Keefe said Friday, "so we would maintain our policy with the suspension, but there were no threats made."

And the FBI wasn't called?

there's a large Asian population living in Rutherford and given the fact that the Virginia Tech murderer was Asian, could this have been an overreaction if the boy was of Asian descent or just the norm of zero-tolerance policies in today's educational system?

These people need to get a grip!

I am SO glad to have gone through my education in the 60’s when boys were still allowed to be boys!

2 posted on 04/21/2007 9:50:06 AM PDT by Knute (Tell me again ONE good reason I'm living here in Wisconsin??)

Of course the principal couldn’t have handled it in the office but wasted tax dollars by calling in the police.

Ahh, remember the days when the school parking lot would be filled with unlocked pickups with loaded shot guns on the headache racks and no one thought a thing about them and we didn’t have wackos going on school shooting sprees.

3 posted on 04/21/2007 12:04:57 PM PDT by mtbopfuyn (I think the border is kind of an artificial barrier - San Antonio councilwoman Patti Radle)

4 posted on 04/21/2007 12:22:55 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker ( Hunter/Thompson/Thompson/Hunter in 08! Or Rudy/Hillary if you want to murder conservatism)

In other news today, 2 yoots were arested for playing mumbley peg in a schoolyard

5 posted on 04/21/2007 1:00:56 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.