Posted on 10/12/2009 9:10:49 AM PDT by IbJensen
Zachary Christie with his mother, Debbie, his father, Curtis, and the Cub Scout utensil that got him suspended from school.
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.
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.
“It just seems unfair,” Zachary said, pausing as he practiced writing lower-case letters with his mother, who is home-schooling him while the family tries to overturn his punishment.
Spurred in part by the Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings, many school districts around the country adopted zero-tolerance policies on the possession of weapons on school grounds. More recently, there has been growing debate over whether the policies have gone too far.
But, based on the code of conduct for the Christina School District, where Zachary is a first grader, school officials had no choice. They had to suspend him because, “regardless of possessor’s intent,” knives are banned.
-snip-
“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.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
School 'officials' are dumber than the students. This is patently ridiculous!
Zero tolerance means school officials check their brain at the door. I hate these liberal idiots.
Yeah, but they and their pensions are expensive and dumb.
( why was this kind of stuff handled in 20 seconds by Nuns? )
Thy’re going to send a Cub Scout to Reform School with little bastards?
That’s not all they check at the door.
They’re sending a perfectly well-behaved, smart kid to reform school? Where he will learn nothing and be horribly abused by his classmates? Talk about counter-educational...
Children should be private schooled or home schooled.
Public school is child abuse.
basically it’s a jack knife with attachments a la “swiss army”. the kid shouldn’t have taken it to school.
that sadi, the admin should have behaved with wisdom and told the six year old that these type things are not permitted in school, confiscated it ultil after school, and let the matter drop.
ever notice how the zero-tolerance folks never, ever hassle the real thugs and only seem to harrass the honor students?
Seems like the F105 would be more maneuverable in tight quarters.
(Just my $0.02 worth...)
A question about public schools: What do the kids use to eat lunch? Twigs and sea shells? I hope these people can find a nice parochial school for their child, or figure out a way to keep him at home, because at school is he surrounded by cretins, idiots and barbarians.
God help us in our day in Jesus name, amen.
The white one seemed different, somehow.
The fault lies with the folks who elected the school board. The board is just following the will of their bosses.
Yeah, but I'll take the F105 with the bayonette attachement... the F105B.
They’ll be eating in the proper muslim way. Don’t touch the food with the left hand. That hands is used for......
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