Boy expelled for box cutter allowed back (common sense on the rise!)

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | August 16, 2002 | ABDON M. PALLASCH

[FreedomPoster]

A Cook County Circuit Court judge slammed a south suburban school district Thursday for its "zero tolerance" discipline policy and for expelling a 9-year-old boy who accidentally brought his aunt's box cutters to school with him.

Judge Aaron Jaffe ordered the Community Consolidated School District 168 in Sauk Village to let the boy rejoin his classmates in fifth grade starting Wednesday and to give him any tutoring he needs to make up what he missed when he was expelled from fourth grade halfway through last school year.

Jaffe suggested the school district might want to rethink its one-size-fits-all policy because he said it lacks "common sense."

"One must wonder why [the boy] was so scared," Jaffe wrote. "Was it because the school administration had made the school environment, with its extremely strict policies and punishments, a place of unnecessary fear and discipline? If that be the case, the school district's officials and administrators ought to start re-evaluating its policies and procedures."

The boy did not know the box cutters his aunt used for work were in her bag, which he was using as a school bag. He saw them and showed them to another student, who told a school official.

"I think kids who bring two razor blades to school don't belong in school for a little while," said Bob Ellch, attorney for the school district.

That was the attitude of the school hearing officer who interrupted the boy's mother at his expulsion hearing to explain that the only issue was the district's zero tolerance policy, Jaffe wrote, adding that all the evidence showed that the boy was an exemplary student and did not intend to harm anyone.

"However, the school district did not consider or weigh these factors. [The boy] was in possession of the box cutters and didn't tender them to a school official--that was the only fact that mattered to the school district," he wrote.

Jaffe slammed the whole notion of zero tolerance--adopted by districts around the country after the Littleton, Colo., Columbine High School massacre of 1999--calling it "a policy which permits school officials to prescribe the harshest of mandatory punishments with virtual complete disregard for a student's due process rights and case-specific circumstances of alleged misconduct."

While most children may be dreading the end of summer vacation, this boy's mother said of her now 10-year-old son: "He is very happy. He wants to go back to school. He cried when he was expelled.''

The boy's parents bought him books so he could study at home last year.

[FreedomPoster]

Amazing! Perhaps common sense isn't dead after all! I find this highly encouraging.

[SeaDragon]

Jaffe suggested the school district might want to rethink its one-size-fits-all policy because he said it lacks "common sense."

It certainly is refreshing, that is for sure. Don't get you hopes up for common sense to be rising very fast. The are too many nimrods out there.

[B Knotts]

It's good that the judge ruled in his favor, but he's better off in homeschool than in the gov't indoctrination center anyhow.

[Trinity451]

"he's better off in homeschool than in the gov't indoctrination center anyhow."

I don't know... having just graduated from the public school system I know how much fun it is to laugh at my teachers' feeble attempts at brainwashing us w/liberal propaganda... :)

[FreedomPoster]

No arguments there. Another sign of promise for the future is the increasing numbers of privately-schooled and home-schooled kids.

[FreedomPoster]

And guys and gals like this who see through the B.S. of the goobermint indoctrination centers.

Your momma and daddy done raised you right, Trinity451! ;-)

[ladylib]

"I think kids who bring two razor blades to school don't belong in school for a little while," said Bob Ellch, attorney for the school district." What a creep! The kid didn't know he had them. What's "a little while"? What a smarmy way to present an argument. This supercilious attorney knows that the kid had no knowledge. Who cares what he "thinks"? Obviously, the only thing he's good for is shooting off his mouth and sucking up to his clients (dumbass school board) while trying to influence a judge. "Thinking" is another thing entirely. I hope this helps kill his career.

[ladylib]

A very good reason to homeschool your kids is the new "zero tolerance" rules that are proliferating all over the country. These rules generally hurt good kids. There are too many stupid, self-serving, unthinking people (school administrators and the whoring school attorneys who represent them) who are only to willing to send your kid down the river and destroy his future if they think their jobs might be in jeopardy or they might be sued. They are gutless creeps. They don't care about individual children or individual circumstances. In fact, they love the fact that they don't have to think very much about anything (like that woman principal in CO who disciplined boys who went "bang-bang" with their fingers. She was just thrilled that she didn't have to think too much about the incident and make a decision because her district had zero tolerance rules. Here she is making who knows how much a year and she is thrilled she doesn't have to think! How reassuring that must be for parents.) PULL YOUR KIDS OUT OF SCHOOLS THAT HAVE BLANKET ZERO TOLERANCE POLICIES. INSIST THAT SCHOOL OFFICIALS TREAT YOUR CHILD AS AN INDIVIDUAL IN DISCIPLINARY MATTERS.

[bvw]

Hooray!

[ladylib]

When you have children, will you send them to the public schools or will you look at alternative methods of education? I get the impression that a lot of kids aren't buying into the liberal garbage that their teachers are trying to foist on them. Did you know that most students have higher SAT scores than their teachers? It's sort of sad when students are brighter than their teachers. That's because many public school teachers come from the lower half of their high school graduating class. Maybe they're easily bamboozled into accepting a lot of liberal indoctrination because they're not to bright too begin with.

[Trinity451]

I'm not sure... not something I'm planning on worrying about for a while... hehe... but I would like to raise my kids being quadrilingual, since children learn languages easily. I think it would be great fun having my kids show up at a public school already speaking English, French, Spanish, and American Sign Language. :) I went to public schools, and I think I turned out okie dokie... it all depends on the parents. I've always had lots of interesting, intellectual discussions w/my parents, so I obviously plan on doing the same w/my kids in the future. Oh, and btw, I plan on being a public high school teacher (at least until I get my master's and doctorate and can teach at a university)...

[ladylib]

You're lucky you had good parents that you could talk to. You probably had some good public school teachers you could talk to also, right? At least a couple? Well, maybe one?

[Trinity451]

I did have good teachers, for the most part. I often disagreed with some of them, but they did their jobs well and were truly concerned about their students. Hehe, two of my favorite teachers are married and live one street away from me... I have such a good relationship w/them that they let me house-sit for two weeks.