and Sylvester:
a pair of real aces.
Posted on 12/14/2004 5:19:10 PM PST by Former Military Chick
Philadelphia public schools chief Paul Vallas and City Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson yesterday apologized for the decision that led to a 10-year-old girl who was caught with scissors in her book bag being handcuffed and taken to the local precinct in the back of a police wagon.
"I'm not going to demonize a fourth grader who brings a scissors to school," Vallas said in a phone interview shortly after calling the child's mother, Rose Jackson, to apologize. "For heaven's sake, you don't need to call in the police on a case like that. I just think that's an overreaction."
Johnson, who said he also had called Jackson to apologize, said his department would reconsider how it restrains young children for transport in future cases.
"As a parent, and grandparent, I do understand that the use of physical restraints on young people, especially preteens, can be distressing," Johnson said in a written statement. "The department will carefully monitor future cases."
Current Police Department policy dictates that all suspects being transported to police stations be handcuffed with their hands behind them, Johnson said. In this case, because of her age, her size, and nature of the offense, her hands were handcuffed in front of her, he said.
Porsche Brown, a fourth grader at Holme Elementary School in the Far Northeast, was pulled out of class Thursday and immediately suspended after an 8-inch pair of scissors was found in her book bag. Under state law and district policy, scissors are considered potential weapons, and students are not permitted to bring them to school.
But Vallas said yesterday that principals must exercise judgment when dealing with students in the early elementary grades, especially when a student apparently had no intent to use the scissors as a weapon.
"I felt good with them apologizing," Jackson said last night. "They're admitting it was wrong, how it was handled."
But she added: "My main concern right now is to get my daughter back to school and back to a normal childhood."
City police chose not to press charges against the girl, and Vallas said the district would not move to expel her either. She will be allowed to return to school today after a two-day suspension, Vallas said.
Vallas' comments reversed a position taken last week by Holme principal Ethel M. Cabry, who through a district spokesman defended her school's decision to call city police, saying she was following policy.
Cabry could not be reached yesterday.
Staff personnel found the scissors while searching students' belongings for an unrelated item that was missing from a teacher's desk. The girl told police she had the scissors to open a new CD.
Vallas said he would not take disciplinary action against Cabry, as Porsche's mother had urged last week.
"I'm not blaming the school. The schools are a little gun-shy. Just last week, the district was criticized because there had been scissors incidents where city police weren't called," he said.
Under the district's zero-tolerance discipline policy, principals are subject to dismissal for failure to report violations to the district's central office.
The incident at Holme comes as the district continues to grapple with violence in and around its schools.
Just last month, an 11-year-old boy was charged with raping a 12-year-old classmate in a stairwell at Stetson Middle School; and a 16-year-old student was fatally shot and three others were wounded outside Strawberry Mansion High School.
But Vallas said each case must be looked at individually - especially when the potential weapon is an item that clearly can be used for educational purposes.
"I'm not saying that you shouldn't report it [to the district administration] as a serious incident. I'm not saying that you shouldn't consider disciplinary action, but you've got to exercise some judgment here.
"Police are real busy. That's not a good use of police manpower."
Porsche's arrest has brought criticism from education and legal advocates.
"Hauling the child off to jail is ridiculous and really is an overreaction and starts the child believing that the child is a criminal," said Judith Browne, acting codirector of Advancement Project, a democracy and justice action group based in Washington.
In 2003, Browne's organization released a report saying that zero-tolerance discipline policies are inappropriately sending children into the juvenile-justice system for acts previously handled by the schools.
But Harvey Rice, the state-appointed safe schools advocate who helps victims of crime in Philadelphia's public schools, defended the school's handling of the case. City police are supposed to be notified, he said.
"We have to look at the whole big picture. It's unfortunate in this day and age that we have to be very careful and cautious and err on the side of no children being harmed," Rice said. "Just one slip-up the other way and someone could be seriously injured, if not even worse."
Hundreds of weapons are confiscated in the schools each year; sometimes police take students to headquarters, and sometimes the case is handled at the school, he said.
This wasn't the first case involving scissors, Rice said. In 2002-03, 125 of the more than 1,100 weapons violations recorded in the district were related to scissors, he said.
Rice said that the district should move for expulsion in weapons cases, and that any extenuating circumstances can be evaluated at the hearing. Parents and students should know not to bring scissors to school, he asserted.
The district's code of conduct, which is sent home to parents, states that non-school-issued scissors are not permitted in school and are considered a possible weapon, he said.
At Holme School, a classroom supply list repeated that scissors were not to be brought to the classroom.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact staff writer Susan Snyder at 215-854-4693 or ssnyder@phillynews.com.
So when I read an article like this I just toss up my hands in frustration.
What's going is too much rules-based thinking based on a society being run by lawyers.
Jeepers, I used to take my embroidery to study hall. I had scissors AND needles. Did that make me some kind of terrorist? Common sense must have died.
Appology is not enough. 30 days docked pay for EVERY adult involved. 30 days suspended for the police officer. Constitutional Law classes mandatory for School Administration.
We really need a "DUH?" alert.
You have to wonder what kind of morons are running these schools. No wonder the kids aren't learning anything any more.
This is the school district my 19 year old son dropped out of. It is putrid!! He told me all the varieties of drugs he could by IN SCHOOL and this kid gets arrested for scissors. You toss your hands up in frustration,think how I feel, my tax dollars pay for this s**t! Thanks for the ping.
The ongoing saga of stupid teachers and their idiotic administrators in the news highlighting their intellectual brightness.
Would you hire these people to educate your kids?
I wouldn't hire someone like that to run a gas-mart.
I have got half my grandkids out of public schools, and I'm working on the other half.
Separation of school and state.
Did you have an 11-year old raping a 12-year old in the stairwell at your school?
That happened here in Philly about 2 weeks ago, right before another incident where a 9th grader was gunned down outside of another school and killed. And the child with scissors gets arrested. If I had the money I'd be sooooo out of this city.
Respectfully disagree, having been in the legal profession for 20+ years. Will be the first to admit that some lawyers shouldn't be lawyers, but I've been fortunate enough to, for the most part, to have worked for conservative-type lawyers.
The thinking of society makes the landscape ripe for lawyers, not the other way around. When the "rules-based thinking" is replaced with personal responsibility and a duty to one's own character and others, then the lawyers will have to head for deep water instead of circling in the shallow pools. Here's a good example from a long time ago. A middle aged woman comes to our office with a shunt in her forearm. She wants to sue the hospital. The woman went to the emergency room two nights ago and they placed the shunt in her arm to administer fluids. I screens this lady in the initial interview that went something like:
Dummy: So I sat deh fo two hours and da nuss come in and take off the bag. She didn't take dis ting out my arm.
Me: Did you ask her at that time if she was going to take the shunt out of your arm?
Dummy: Naw, she leff it in and den some odder nuss come in and tell me I can go. She didn't take it out either.
Me: Did you ask that nurse about the shunt that was still in your arm?
Dummy: Naw. She told me I could go so I got dressed and left.
Me: What were you wearing when you left the hospital?
Dummy: I had on {whatever) and a jacket.
Me: It was cold so you had on a jacket? And the jacket covered the shunt in you arm?
Dummy: Yea.
Me: On your way out of the emergency room, did you stop at the nurses station to ask about the shunt in your arm and whether or not you should leave the hospital with it in your arm? Did you stop by the ER admitting station to ask whether it should be removed? Did you ask the guard on your way out the door?
Dummy: Naw, I figger if they was gone remove it they would have.
So now she wants to sue because two days later the thing is still in her arm. Most people in their right mind would realize this thing needs to come out before they go home. Not someone who sees dollar signs for doing absolutely nothing they earned.
That mindset comes first. Then the lawyers come.
The kids seem to know more than the teachers and teachers administration.. Liberals in any job seem to bring confusion.. Teacher, lawyer, elected official, art, cop you name it.. Liberalism is indeed a mental disease.. infecting any society..
Heavens no, (no stairwells). When I went to school the biggest problem was the Chemistry teacher looking for the gas leak with a match. (He found it.) The problem today being a complete inability to teach morals in the school. And if you try to teach them at home you're a bigot or worse.
and Sylvester:
a pair of real aces.
you mean a pair of real A$$es
"If I had the money I'd be sooooo out of this city."
I don't think you can afford to stay.
You and your stupid underling already have demonized a fourth grader, you fargin twit. Sheesh...when is this insane PCshit gonna end?
I swear Woodrow, one of these days this crap is going to be thrown in front of the wrong person and all hell is gonna break out.
FMCDH(BITS)
So did you pull the thing out of Dummy's arm and stick a band-aid on it? And then ask her, "Did you ever think of doing that"?
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