Posted on 04/23/2013 8:48:52 AM PDT by grundle
Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have filed a civil rights lawsuit against a Chicago public school district on behalf of a second-grade teacher who was suspended after he displayed garden-variety tools such as wrenches, pliers and screwdrivers in his classroom as part of a "tool discussion" in his class.
Despite the fact that all potentially hazardous items were kept out of the students' reach, school officials at Washington Irving Elementary School informed Doug Bartlett, a 17-year veteran in the classroom, that his use of the tools as visual aids endangered his students. Bartlett was subsequently penalized with a four-day suspension without pay - charged with possessing, carrying, storing or using a weapon.
The complaint charges that Bartlett "suffered humiliation, embarrassment, mental suffering, and lost wages, and was suspended for four days" - and asks for "nominal and compensatory damages" and for the suspension to be expunged from the teacher's record.
"This school district's gross overreaction to a simple teaching demonstration on basic tools such as wrenches and pliers underscores exactly what is wrong with our nation's schools," said Rutherford Institute Pres. John Whitehead.
"What makes this case stand out from the rest is that this latest victim of zero tolerance policies run amok happens to be a veteran school teacher," Whitehead said.
None of the tools were made accessible to the students. When not in use, the tools were secured in a toolbox on a high shelf out of reach of the students. They were used to demonstrate the proper use of tools.
He is building an addition on his model railroad layout.
“What do they do in shop class?”
They shop for shoes and purses that match you silly brute!
Between seventh and eighth grade I went to a summer shop class where we worked with electrical wiring. I brought a pocket knife with me to strip insulation from wires, there being nothing else that worked as well. The teacher paid no attention to that horrible, dangerous weapon. Shockingly enough, it never induced me to even try to injure my teacher or another student. Clearly, the knife was spiritually defective.
I’m surprised you didn’t turn out to be a mass murderer with that background.
Probably look at heavily-edited photographs of 'harmful' tools, with the offending bits blurred out.
They’re all stupidly run. You have to wonder how zero tolerance policies take root all across the country. I guess it’s like crazy math or sight words — one state takes a lousy idea and everyone runs with it, like lemmings.
Public schools are run by idiots, and parents are waking up to that sad fact.
Take that kid in West Virginia who wore an NRA shirt to school and was arrested. Look at the comments section at the end of any article written about it. The comments are scathing. Ten years ago, there would be at least some comments supporting the public school’s decision. Not anymore.
“If you call me boogernose again, I’ll... I’ll... I’ll CORE you!”
Well, that’s a relief, at least!
Nearly every morning I wake up feeling like I’ve entered an alternate university...............
Super! Wonderful skills.
I have bad memories from a bandsaw accident Spawn #1 had in Jr. High school shop class.
::willies::
LOL.....poor kid....it was one time gramma got blamed for something and she didn’t. :D
She probably has post distress corer syndrome [PDCS].
Weapon who would think a 4inch tanto bladed pocket knife as a weapon. NOT ME NOT ME :)
Pearish the thought!!!
He must be a white man in a black school.
He came back to me and was almost peeing in his pants and laughing at me saying "Dan my man, you got me".
Even worse, I spent a lot of time, to my parents’ great chagrin, trying to figure out how to make black powder and I even built a fully firing, with match heads as propellant, civil war cannon. Before the Tragic Boating Accident I owned a number of guns (won’t say what some of them were), do have a CCW permit, and drive around in a Lincoln Navigator taht I use to tow a boat. I’m definitely anti-socal.
Southern California definitely isn’t all it’s made up to be.
I live in the semi-rural area of southwest Knox Co., TN, about 22 mi. from downtown Knoxville. Long time ago hometown was Chicago, IL, which I “lovingly” refer to as Shitburg.
Lolz!
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