Posted on 03/02/2011 12:42:20 PM PST by Notary Sojac
Readers — As you know, Free-Range Kids is about trust, community and common sense. All of which a Virginia middle school student displayed the other day when he held open the door for someone he knew.
For this, he was given a day long suspension. The reason? The school had just installed a $10,000 + security system, and his action violated it. Voila:
According to an anonymous e-mail sent to The Tidewater News, the “A” student opened the door for a woman he knew, who had her hands full. The e-mail also indicated the student received a one-day, out-of-school suspension.
[School administrator Wayne K.] Smith said he could not confirm the story for confidentiality reasons. Superintendent Charles Turner said he did not know all the details behind the suspension.
Turner said the policy that prohibits anyone from opening doors was part of making the security system work.
“If it happens, it’s defeated,” he said. “You have to have a system, and that system has to be consistent. We have to stay within the rules and stay secure.”
Turner explained that part of the school district’s mission is to provide a quality education in a safe environment.
“We looked at what we’re doing in our schools for safety and looked at what others have done,” he said.
That’s why the security system was installed initially at the secondary schools and then the elementary schools.
And yet, what the school fails to understand is that the student was an even BETTER security system! The student has a heart, a brain and hands. This incredible carbon-based security system can open the door when that makes sense! It can create a climate of warmth, help and connectedness that a locked door, even operated by remote control from the front office, cannot.
We are happier and safer when we connect, rather than we assume we’re all in dire peril and must outsource our humanity to excessive rules and machines. — Lenore
Chivalry, and even good manners, will be punished.
Software, and nothing used by the military either. A lot of software companies have pretty intense security rules. Too much money running around, and too many trade secrets.
To hell with chivalry ... we gotta have security!!! Make her open the door herself!
/s
Not to keep out an adult whom the child knows and trusts.
What this student has now learned is that the way to be "safe" is to treat everyone you know as a possible threat.
All in all, it's just another brick in the wall.
Why is it whenever liberals are in charge they turn into raving fascists?
We’ve gone “security mad” in this country. What are we? A nation of gelded GIRLY MEN??????
“Those who forsake essential liberty for safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
-Benjamin Franklin.
Probably just a bunch of wussified yuppies, feminist crybabies, and gelded metrosexuals.
Wow, it took this long for an authoritarian Rule Book Harry to show up and myopically miss seeing the bigger picture.
I don’t know if piggybacking through a door is an essential liberty. And before you declare us security mad, read up on El Al security, we got NOTHING on Israel.
I depend on myself for my primary defense and security.
BTW, What Israel does is irrelevant to our own Constitution and Founding Fathers’ intent.
We have the same policy, and we're not military and we don't have a pile of gold on the premises. I think part of the reason behind this is that it's a lot cheaper to have a secure door policy rather than to pay guards 24/7.
Homeschool!
Punished for being a gentleman. I hope he continues to hold open doors, he must never apologize for being one.
Depending on yourself is nice, but when you work in for a company in a building they get to make the rules, and if you don’t like them you can leave. Maybe it’s paranoia, maybe not, but it their prerogative.
None of this is unconstitutional. Voluntary relationships are voluntary. And it’s not irrelevant either, if you’re going to complain about security here it’s good to keep in mind where things really are on the scale. The fact is there’s no organization here that puts up half the security barriers your average Israeli company does.
Now, as to whether the reasons are good, for putting the controls there in the first place .... that's a different topic: one that is probably a more fruitful target for you ire.
Proving that you're apparently too stupid even to read the "big picture" of my entire post.
Actually they had guards to go with their no piggybacking. Very paranoid. Of course who knows what kind of data they had from customers in this building. I’ve been lucky enough to always work for companies that were too lazy to really worry, I’d hate to deal with the hassles of that kind of stuff.
I think I trust this kid’s judgment more than I do that of the douchebag administrator quoted in the article. So where does that leave us??
I'm not extremely fond of the hassles myself, but they're not so great that I'd even think of leaving my job. As another poster pointed out, it's the employer's choice to set up security as they see fit. It's the employee's choice as to whether to work there or not.
Now, as for the school in the original post, I see things a little differently. Back in the day, when I was in high school, they were experimenting with the "open campus" setup in high school. I admit that I often took advantage of the freedom afforded by that policy. :-)
I don't agree with the "punishment" that this student is enduring (although I would certainly have taken advantage of the free day off myself), and I don't agree that a taxpayer-funded entity like this should be operated with such a heavy hand. It's a school, not Fort Knox. Wouldn't it be great if they'd use the same level of security on the Mexican border?
Not only is it for security but many companies and agencies use the logs to check time cards and hours worked.
One of my contracts was with a Federal civilian agency in downtown DC and had a massive number of unqualified people on the Government payroll. They were given a paycheck to buy liberal votes (the usual). This agency had so many people not working and just going home that they put in these security systems at all major office areas and at the end of each pay period the supervisors had to check the logs to ensure their presence match their time cards. Contractors too. It was a hassle since the contractors worked their butts off and were actually held to a higher standard when it came to the security logs.
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