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.
Zacharys 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 districts 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 possessors 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, Zacharys 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 ...
Some of the worst injuries I remember a occurring during my school years were three incidents not involving banned items.
One: a sharpened pencil that two bullies made an awkward
student sit on one jr high study hall. They were expelled.
Two: a girl was thrown through a plate glass window during the race riots.
Three: a boy was knocked unconscious with a pipe from the stage theater scaffolding during the race riots.
I remember only one incident, also in junior high were about five girls were involved in a fight with razor blades — I do not remember hearing the injury report on that one.
Yes, I have heard the injury reports as a sub teacher of kids getting clobbered by book bags. The kid in Chicago was killed using a non-banned “weapon” — a loose piece of lumber. ANYTHING can used as a weapon.
..Zachary wears sometimes wears a suit and tie...
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
The REAL reason Zachary is gone.
Can’t have him showing up all the other yutes.
Bet he washes every day and does his homework and calls the teachers Mrs/Miss/Ma’am or whatever is appropriate.
Can’t have any of that manners and culture rub off on anybody.
(Some) Teachers probably don’t know what to think of it either.
That's because the real thugs, their “parents”, or both would catch those zero-tolerance folks and deliver a beating. A short stay in jail would only raise their street cred. Its far easier and safer to go after someone like this kid.
A weird sub-hobby of mine is day dreaming of weaponry one can make of everyday items. When shopping with wife I’m constantly looking for items to use if confronted by a threat.
When looking around one can see many things one can use.
But I guess that is the evil in me.
So, no more pencils, pens, combs, shoe laces, belts, scarfs, balls, or bats. The Admin. needs to police the campus every day for rocks, sticks, etc. before school starts. All school supplies should be inventoried daily to assure no one has pilfered something to be used as a weapon. In the classroom, there can be no rulers, books, plastic bags, purses, or anything else that a “reasonable” person might consider a weapon, which is any hard or sharp object.
All persons entering the school must submit to a full body search including a body cavity search. Everyone will remove & exchange their clothing for prison style garb & flip-flops.
You want zero tolerance? You got it!
Given the current propensity of teachers & school staff to molest students, zero tolerance will apply to school staff as well as students. Any staff member who violates zero tolerance will be immediately fired. Staff can expect their personal property & car to be searched daily. After all, an adult with a jar of paste is far more dangerous than a 6 year old. Staff should be prohibited from bringing ANY type of meds to school, such as aspirin, Rolaids, etc. Searches will be done daily. Zero tolerance MEANS ZERO TOLERANCE!
If parents would INSIST that zero tolerance be applied to EVERYONE & EVERYTHING at school, this BS would stop pronto!
Then we can return to the good old system of favoritism for athletes & ass kissers, & perhaps INTENT can again be considered in finding guilt.
“And dont forget, the Cub Scouts are on the liberal ($***) List because of the Boy Scout organization ban on homosexuals. So the same people who cant use common sense about this dangerous weapon in school also hate the Boy Scout organization and everything it stands for. That too could have given them incentive to make an example of this boy.”
Exactly what I was going to say.
public school ping
I agree.
But also, I think in their effort to treat everyone “equally”, they go after the good kids to spread out the punishment among all social groups. That however, just tells ALL the kids that being good has no benefit. A good character has zero benefit in zero tolerance land. Might as well be a thug!
I saw one of those “Inside Prison” shows that cured me of such mental wanmderings. Every prisoner spent all his hours doing exactly that. I decided I wasn’t going to waste the valuable and short awake hours of my mind towards such thing. Those prisoners had that niche filled.
On wonders how much trouble he would have been in had he made a comment about eating a Brownie.
Nonsense on both counts.
The "rule" is asinine, and should be repealed.
If so much as a paring knife is found the entire Kitchen staff should be fired.
L
re: brought .22 rifles to school for after class target shooting with the Scouts
HB Plant HS in Tampa had a shooting range, right beside the HS gym, for use by the ROTC program. Used to fire all sorts of weapons there. It was out in the open, with a short wall on two sides and a higher wall at the target end.
The Superintendent:
http://www.christina.k12.de.us/Superintendent/index.htm
From the NYT article:
“Education experts say that zero-tolerance policies initially allowed authorities more leeway in punishing students, but were applied in a discriminatory fashion. Many studies indicate that African-Americans were several times more likely to be suspended or expelled than other students for the same offenses.”
Conclusion: The scout got busted to make a quota.
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