Posted on 04/03/2006 10:02:15 AM PDT by Abathar
INDIANAPOLIS -- A school principal in Indianapolis suspended an eighth-grader for 10 days and recommended he be expelled for carrying a pocket knife, even though the boy said he had forgotten the weapon was in his coat pocket and turned it over to school officials as soon as he entered the building.
An expulsion hearing has been scheduled for April 10.
Elliot Voge, 14, told Stoneybrook Middle School principal Jimmy Meadows he forgot that he had left the Swiss Army knife in his pocket after using it to whittle wood last month. The next day, just after he was dropped off at school by a classmate's mother, he said he discovered the knife in his coat and immediately went to the office.
Nevertheless, Meadows suspended him and recommended expulsion. The action stunned the boy's parents, who hired a lawyer to represent him at the hearing next week.
He did the right thing, why are you still asking why? I really don't see any difference in what this kid did and what the kid in your story did.
Maybe he's just a right ass
What the heck is that suppose to mean? I would love to see how you react if you daughter accidently left a knife in her purse and got expelled.
This article descibes the case of a 14-year-old boy who possessed a knife by accident and it was only revealed because he tried to do "the right thing". Do you really believe that this school policy will prevent gang members from possessing knives whenever they want them?
There were a lot of gang members back in my days too. Nearly all of them understood the distinction between assault and assault with a deadly weapon.
Most schools do not have metal detectors posted at every entrance. Even those that do cannot prevent someone who is determined from bringing a real weapon into a school. In addition, no amount of metal detectors or even body cavity searches can prevent someone from using a pencil, a pen or any number of other common items as a weapon.
IMHO, trying to dissarm everyone at school has the same effect as gun control laws. They just make those who intend to use a weapon to commit a crime feel safer that they will be the only ones armed.
I certainly hope their are no scissors in that school. Most of them having longer blades than you would find on a swiss army knife.
A gun store? You could walk into Sears, K-mart, or Wards, or order from the JC Penny's catalog.
In my town, you could walk into one of the precursors of the modern "Convenience Store" (i.e. a gas station that sold other things, although these were more like a mini general store, than junk food heaven) and buy a rifle or a shotgun, or ammunition for them or for a handgun. (Holiday Stores, they even had a "house brand" of ammo)
Doesn't stun me. The school system has taught my boys how to distrust authority. And who says you don't learn anything at school any more.
I didn't. Kids are incapable of controlling themselves. Every day, I went on a murderous rampage, killing several puppies, kittens, second-graders, and the occasional teacher or administrator. Fortunately, noone ever gets hurt in school, now, because 110% safety is mandatory. And everything that is not mandatory is prohibited.
People with your attitude are the problem. I carried a knife everyday from 2nd grade until I graduated from UCSD. It's an inanimate object. The problem is school administrators who won't prosecute the real miscreants on campus for fear of being castigated for dealing with the real problem.
I was in junior high around 1950 and there was a contest to sell magazine subscriptions and based on how many you sold you could win prizes. I sold enough to win a hunting knife which I picked up at the school. I paraded around school the whole day showing that knife to everyone. How times have changed.
Pencils are potential weapons. A French boy in my 5th grade class jammed a pencil right through the top of another boy's hand in the classroom. There was blood all over the desk and screams of pain as he yelled, "Archie stabbed me!". Archie didn't get punished. The stabbed boy went to the hospital to have the pencil removed from his hand.
I stopped reading right after the word "weapon", I was laughing so hard I nearly pee'd my pants then the humor of the situation turned to disgust when I thought about it for a second.
I carried a pocket knife, as well, and it was a tool that most of my friends kept on their person. Unfortunately, public school adminstrators today have no idea how to truly lead and manage. They do not (will not) know how to properly apply common sense to a situation, hence, you have these ridiculous no tolerance laws/regulations. I think that many of these folks love the no tolerance regs because it gives them the excuse to be a complete jerk under the guise of being "safe" or playing "by the book".
http://www.pensacolachristiancollege.com/rules.htm
(Note: PCA is associated with PCC...here are some of their rules)
Pensacola Christian College has developed an elaborate bureaucracy for dealing with all offenses, which has absolutely no Biblical precedent. Whereas God, in His infinite wisdom, created a system where sin had natural consequences, PCC prefers the more immediate system of demerits, socialling, and campusing. This is probably just as well, for their sake, as most of the rules are not sin. This brings up another issue - that of "spending demerits."
Under God's law, sin is sin, and even the tiniest of them sent Christ to the cross. At PCC, this distinction is blurred, as some offenses are considered sin (e.g. listening to "pop" music), while others (e.g. failing to clean your mirror during room check) are not. Also, in specific cases of obtaining a weekend pass where you will miss a required activity, the school allows it and simply gives you 10 or 25 demerits in advance, much like a business transaction. This certainly could not be sin. Therefore, the question of whether it is allowable (i.e. not actual sin) to "spend demerits," (to willfully disobey a rule with the expectation of receiving the demerits due) is raised. The school allows it in some cases, doesn't care in others, and denounces it generally. As a student at PCC, you will have to discern individually which rules the administration believes should never be broken, and which are okay to break if you are willing to accept the demerits. Obviously, this is an awkward situation, but the school has found it to be "reasonable," and we would like to assume they have actually thought it through.
These people strike me the same as PETA protesters that attack old ladies wearing fur, but shy away from Hell's Angels wearing leather. If it was the school bully, they might have been less confronational. Of course, the school bully might not have been as honest, either, so we'll never know.
IMHO, it's a power thing, pure and simple. I commend 'SoftballMom' for questioning the newspaper article (since when are reporters infallible?) and for trying to find some good in the principal, but I think that it's more likely a small person with a God complex. I've always said that 90% of people will utterly abuse whatever power they're given, and this story smells like confirmation to me.
I hope the parents rise up and demand this "educator" be suspended... decisions like this are foolish and clearly point out that these so called "educators" are not capable of reasoned judgement.
A student at one of our high schools was suspended a while back because they found a table knife in the bed of his pickup truck that apparently had fallen out when they were using his truck to move household goods.
The thing is, the penalty was not even mandatory. The school policy is for expulsion if it was a firearm. I could understand if the principal had his hands tied by some stupid policy, but the principal in this case did all this on his own. A simple one day suspension would have been more than adequate.
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