Posted on 04/24/2008 6:37:47 AM PDT by From The Deer Stand
Two students attending suburban St. Paul, Minnesota high schools were expelled last week after purchasing souvenir swords during a spring break choir trip in the United Kingdom. The students had packed the swords in boxes and used duct tape to secure the box for the trip back home. A chaperone found the boxes after the students left the store. The students were disciplined on their return home. One of the students, a 16-year-old sophomore at Eagan High School, was kicked out of school for the remainder of the school year. He purchased a set of three samurai swords for $60. The other student, a senior, was expelled from the School for Environmental Studies in Apple Valley. He also was dismissed for the remainder of the school year. Both schools said the students violated the zero tolerance policy for weapons. Attorney Amy Goetz, a founder of the St. Paul-based School Law Center, noted that too many students who simply make a mistake and do not intend to do harm get punished. Twin Cities talk radio, in discussing the story on Thursday morning, questioned whether confiscating the swords and not returning them constituted theft.
I smell a HUGE LAWSUIT!.............and one which I’d actually agree with!................
Education for a nation of PC pansies.
A $20 Sword is a weapon?
I can buy non edged Swords (real steel) in the Peoples Republic of Massachusetts even. These school administrators need to get a life.
Good grief, the way they are punishing kids these days I doubt I would even be eligible for parole yet if they had these rules back then.
We have a high school called “School for Environmental Studies” ???
Apologize profusely.
Buy them each a Glock model 22 and an AR-15 for their inconvenience.
They have no edge and the steel is porous (non forged or hardended)-- meaning that if you actually tried to behead someone with it, the would-be victim would end up with a bruise on their neck and you'd end up with a broken display sword.
“We have a high school called ‘School for Environmental Studies’ ???”
They probably thought he was going to cut down trees or butcher whales with them, thereby enraging mother Gaia and bringing down the curses of ozone depletion, global warming, and drowning polar bears. I would include a rain of frogs myself, but that’s just me.
I guess the issue is the publik skool is paying for the transport of said students on the choir trip. Therefore they would be paying for transport of “weapons” and therefore the transport of the “weapons” would “violate” the zero tolerance policy they have.
Methinks the proper way to handle this would have been for the kids to find a way to independently ship the swords back to the US and not involve the busybody school.
I do think the school system way overreacted and some people should lose their jobs over this. Another way could have been found to handle the problem, but nobody apparently cared enough to try.
Ah. Never cared for non-functional weapons.
In 1990, I took my son to London. On the trip, he bought a replica Spanish pirate style pistol. Not only did it look 200 years old, but the opening was entirely sealed. You couldn't put a bullet in it if you tried.
We had it in our carry on luggage. Thankfully, they didn't confiscate it when they searched the luggage before boarding, but the stewardess took it and kept it with her the whole time.
btw - the stewardess also kept our Swiss Army knives (that we used for the fork and spoon) during the flight.
I guess if we did that now we'd both be in Guantanamo.
I have about 2 dozen swords. All live steel, all purchased in foreign countries. At least a couple of them were given to me as gifts.
I can’t even IMAGINE traveling someplace and not being able to purchase something like that and bring it home.
The school officials are dumbasses.
Ah...so you are “hoarding” weapons and building an “arsonal”...
You are most likely also conservative...and might even believe in God...Big G...
Clearly a threat to the country...
*snicker*
I would be a bad chaperone because I would have asked to see them because I like stuff like that and then remind the boys to not pack in the carry on. When I worked in the school system I frequently bent the rules because I don’t believe in communism and sometimes kids need a break.
This is silly.
I bought two souvenir swords in Spain about 15 years ago. I took them aboard the return flight as a carry-on, too. Everyone in our group bought swords and carried them on board. (It was a company-paid trip; we worked in the tourism industry. It was popular to buy swords in Spain.)
If the swords these boys bought in the UK were anything like the swords I bought in Spain, they’re not weapons. They’re just decorative and not sharp at all, though they are heavy.
Bow to your academic overlords.
The wussification of youth continues. Teach them that to even handle a "weapon" is evil. Teach them to bow to absurd authority.
And yes, for the realists among us, a $60 set of "samurai swords" is not actually a set of swords. I paid more than that for a wooden sword.
But the yoots must be taught absolute nonviolence. But don't actually hug each other, that is forbidden as well. Accept and obey.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.