Student Suspended Over Show-And-Tell Souvenir

KCCI TV ^ | OCTOBER 27, 2009

[LearnsFromMistakes]

A Des Moines girl was suspended after school officials said she violated their weapons policy.

Jazmine Martin, 12, brought an empty shotgun shell to school on Monday, a souvenir from a summer vacation to South Dakota. The shell was empty and had the word "blank" written on the front.

[LearnsFromMistakes]

My daughter wanted to make a necklace of her first few rounds she shot (.22). Good thing we homeschool...

[rightwingextremist1776]

But I'll bet you can locate more then just one roach clip by going though the purses in the teachers lounge....

[MrB]

Let me guess - this student is actually a good student,

not an “at risk youth”.

If she were the latter, she’d be given a pass, just to “level the playing field”.

[LearnsFromMistakes]

duplicate thread - my bad:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2372382/posts

[Campion]

An empty shotgun shell is a "weapon"? What's she going to do, mash it on someone's forehead and leave a soot mark?

How can people as stupid as these "educators" be trusted to educate children?

[stinkerpot65]

Government schools are evil.

[Artemis Webb]

These so called “Zero Tolerance” school policies have got to go. School systems simply use them to punt from the use of common sense.

[Dacula]

uplicate thread - my bad:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2372382/posts

---

Sorry, but I could not resist. Apparently you do not learn from your mistakes. :)

[Dewey Revoltnow]

Good grief. Whatever happened to common sense?

[Doogle]

happens

[Travis McGee]

We’re doomed.

[silverleaf]

God forbid she should bring a plastic spoon or fork to show and tell- those things can be fashioned into deadly weapons.

Then there’s always the swallowed pencil or marble...or worse yet- the deadly ..... peanut butter sandwich (shudders at the dangers in public schools)

[FES0844]

Common sense, accountability, respect, modesty, restitution...words, just words....they have no meaning today.

[SampleMan]

An empty shell is clearly not a weapon. A sharp pencil, now that’s a weapon.

[fso301]

How times have changed. Kids when I was in school would bring in their dad’s wartime bringbacks for show and tell. In history class, our teacher would bring in guns from his collection corresponding to the particular era in American History.

[cripplecreek]

When I was in school we could take guns to school for hunting after. They had to stay locked in our cars or in the principles office.

[silverleaf]

common sense is one of those conservative traditional values that dragged this country down, don’cha know (sarc)

common sense relies on...gasp...individual liberty and freedom to make decisions at the lowest level of decisionmaking, even by the individual

...we can't have THAT going on in the statist collectivist morally equivalent schools, can we?

[Tax Government]

Lawyers! Make an example of somebody in court, please.

Next thing, crayon drawings of weapons will be weapons.

[Lockbar]

Common Sense? Come on. Right after 9-11 security guards (Homey security) wouldn't let a kid get on a plane at an airport because his G.I. Joe toy soldier was holding a plastic gun about 3 inches long. Plus this same “show-and tell” story happens every year. Last year another 8 or 9 year old kid was suspended for bringing an empty brass cartridge case to school for show and tell. I suggest stop doing show-and-tell completely. Just stop it, for the children.

[MaxMax]

Someone should scatter a few hundred spent casings around the school grounds.
Let's see how they react to that. Idiots.

[Happyinmygarden]

“How can people as stupid as these “educators” be trusted to educate children?”

It all depends on what the definition of ‘educate’ is.

[dblshot]

A Des Moines girl was suspended after school officials who's skulls were empty and had blank marked on their foreheads said she violated their weapons policy.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Around 1960, my Dad gave me a WW II hand grenade that had been converted into a cigarette lighter. I always assumed it had been disarmed, but never checked. I always enjoyed showing it to my friends at school. Can you imagine that thing today?

[jersey117]

We were in Texas back in July visiting friends. We did some shooting at the range and my son brought home a couple of empty “trophy” shells. They busted open our suitcase and there was a note from Homeland Security saying that they went through our stuff. Crazy - what the heck is going to happen with an empty shell. This is zero tolerance taken to a ridiculous level.

[Graybeard58]

I just took my grand kids to school and had to go in to carry the punch for their parties today and just inside the door was a home made sign on the wall that said, “WWJD”. I asked them how long that had been there and they said, since school first started.

It’s very noticeable.

[libstripper]

In history class, our teacher would bring in guns from his collection corresponding to the particular era in American History.

Something similar happened when I was in high school (1958-1961). In my junior or senior year we had a Civil War buff come in with his collection of weapons, which included a Sharps rifle, a Spencer, a rifle musket, and several revolvers. He even said any man who went into battle with an unloaded weapon deserved to be killed!!

Some time in grade school, I think it was seventh or eighth grade, I did a term paper on civil war firearms and got an A or a B. A seventh or eighth grader who did it now might get expelled, especially if it contained pictures of evil guns.

[MrB]

I hope you can see that incident objectively.

Somehow (dog, chemical sensor, something) they detected gunpower/explosive residue.

Do you think they shouldn’t have inspected a bag that tested positive for explosives?

[Still Thinking]

Alternate headline: “Empty heads object to empty shells”

[MrB]

And again I assert that had she been an “at-risk youth”, she wouldn’t have been punished under that “weapons policy”.

[Mobilemitter]

"It all depends on what the definition of ‘educate’ is."

In a statist controlled edumakational system : indoctrinate

[jersey117]

Somehow (dog, chemical sensor, something) they detected gunpower/explosive residue.

I guess I should be more objective - but the shells were washed and in a plastic bag in between clothes in a checked bag. I thought they would be harmless. I know they were just doing their job but when you see stories like the flying Imams suing the airline industry for discrimination, it kind of ticks you off.

[thethirddegree]

If we had a ‘zero tolerance’ policy for inept and unthinking school personnel we would not have a public school system.

[Gritty]

The only danger I see in this article is from the stupid administrators of this government school.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

A crayon looks like a bullet...

[Still Thinking]

Next thing, crayon drawings of weapons will be weapons.

US boy caged for drawing gun in class

Boy's suspension over gun drawing is called a misfire

Please cease and desist from any further attempts at satire until the end of the satire-proof Wussy Age.

[MrB]

Yeah, lack of common sense is rampant, but it is inevitable when you impose broad rules with no discretion at the point of decision. This is one of the aspects of liberalism though, moving the locus of discretion to a point detached from the locus of incident.

Sounds like they have excellent explosive detectors, though.
“washed and in a plastic bag”

[Eric in the Ozarks]

It’s out the window in our school system.

[MrB]

Figure out how to sue for “inept and unthinking school personnel” and you’ll soon see such a zero tolerance policy.

[Still Thinking]

Good grief. Whatever happened to common sense?

Next thing, you'll be claiming there's nothing wrong with the founding fathers, despite the fact that we all know they were white, male, AND Christian! (AND didn't get a tingle up their leg when they thought about top level government employees)

[jersey117]

Sounds like they have excellent explosive detectors, though. “washed and in a plastic bag”

I'm assuming it was the shells - or now that you mentioned "residue" it could have been powder on the clothes. The HS sticker inside the bag didn't say exactly what it was that triggered them to open and search the bag and they did not remove the shells. It was our first time shooting so I don't know too much about it.

[Still Thinking]

Someone should scatter a few hundred spent casings around the school grounds. Let's see how they react to that. Idiots.

Nah. They'd declare such a lockdown you wouldn't get your kids out of there for months. And as if that's not bad enough, they'd be showing them Alexander Nevsky propaganda flicks at night.

[Arrowhead1952]

My daughter wanted to make a necklace of her first few rounds she shot (.22).

I made a necklace for my daughter that had a 1 1/2" arrowhead on it. I'm glad she never wore that to school.

[Osage Orange]

I wonder if my wild turkey spur necklace would be acceptable?

[556x45]

Zero tolerance is about control and conditioning kids to be subjects. If the govt comes down hard on kids during their formative years its a lesson learned and retained into adulthood. The best thing you can do for your kids is remove them from govt school...its completely worth the effort, time and money.

[Still Thinking]

Around 1960, my Dad gave me a WW II hand grenade that had been converted into a cigarette lighter. I always assumed it had been disarmed, but never checked. I always enjoyed showing it to my friends at school. Can you imagine that thing today?

Sheesh, you can't even explain that it's not a weapon, because it's a tool that facilitates SMOKING! Why don't you just bring a Bible to school or something?

[varon]

Good grief. Whatever happened to common sense?

Remember, this is a school environment. Why would anyone expect common sense?

[Still Thinking]

The gunpowder might have set off the sniffers or, seen on X-Ray, the empties could have looked like live rounds with wadcutters. As long as they didn’t take the empties, no harm, no foul. Plus, it might have had nothing to do with the empties anyway. I get those notes all the time, with nothing questionable in there at all. They probably do some random searches.

[Still Thinking]

If we had a ‘zero tolerance’ policy for inept and unthinking school personnel we would not have a public school system.

That sounds like the way to go then.

[svcw]

When my daughter's high school had a fellow walk around to the classes talking about not bringing any weapon to school, she got out of her seat went to the front of the class (interrupting him of course) and handed him her pencil.
Of course he wanted to know the meaning of this interruption.
She explained she could kill him at least four different ways with that pencil, so she was turning it in before she was suspended.
His response, "the lecture" is over and walked out of the class. My daughter bowed and got a standing O from her mates.

[Still Thinking]

Kudos to your daughter!