It’s a Fork, It’s a Spoon, It’s a ... Weapon?

New York Times ^ | October 11, 2009 | Ian Urbina

[reaganaut1]

NEWARK, Del. — Finding character witnesses when you are 6 years old is not easy. But there was Zachary Christie last week at a school disciplinary committee hearing with his karate instructor and his mother’s fiancé by his side to vouch for him.

Zachary’s offense? Taking a camping utensil that can serve as a knife, fork and spoon to school. He was so excited about recently joining the Cub Scouts that he wanted to use it at lunch. School officials concluded that he had violated their zero-tolerance policy on weapons, and Zachary now faces 45 days in the district’s reform school.

“It just seems unfair,” Zachary said, pausing as he practiced writing lower-case letters with his mother, who is home-schooling him while the family tries to overturn his punishment.

Spurred in part by the Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings, many school districts around the country adopted zero-tolerance policies on the possession of weapons on school grounds. More recently, there has been growing debate over whether the policies have gone too far.

...

Education experts say that zero-tolerance policies initially allowed authorities more leeway in punishing students, but were applied in a discriminatory fashion. Many studies indicate that African-Americans were several times more likely to be suspended or expelled than other students for the same offenses.

“The result of those studies is that more school districts have removed discretion in applying the disciplinary policies to avoid criticism of being biased,” said Ronnie Casella, an associate professor of education at Central Connecticut State University who has written about school violence. He added that there is no evidence that zero-tolerance policies make schools safer.

[christianhomeschoolmommaof3]

It had a knife on it as well. I noticed that no one else answered your question. Funny comments though!

[christianhomeschoolmommaof3]

When they outlaw homeschools, only outlaws will have homeschool! ;)

[TC Rider]

[mountn man]

Ditto that.

[mountn man]

Well, at least he actually DID SOMETHING to earn his prize.

[mountn man]

Relative???

[mountn man]

I'm with the school on this one...that kid could turn out to be a cereal killer!

Or a math murderer.

[mountn man]

She smugly asked what I would do without my 'gun' and I informed her that I could use the simple items on the table to kill her and half the people in the room before anyone could even dial 911.

Walking through Tampa airpot once. I was past security and near the gates, in a gift/souvenir shop, and noticed a coffee mug. A ceramic coffee mug, next to a glass beer mug. I started looking around the store, to see what else an evil minded person could use.

Incredible!

But hey, they've checked an 85 year old womans shoes to make sure she's not carrying a nail file.

[mountn man]

Just think, if someone did start shooting in the restaurant...your SIL would’ve made a good shield.

[mountn man]

Thats what insurance policies are in place for.

[sionnsar]

Good thing he didn’t have a No. 2 pencil. Those are deadly in the right hands. :)

Decades later I still have the tip of one embedded in my leg.

[gogogodzilla]

Eh, that still feeds the ‘frivolous lawsuit’ beast, though.

[Armedanddangerous]

they can have my spork when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers

[publana]

FGS, this country has gone mad and I’m so fed up with it.

[Repeat Offender]

I grew up in a small rural farming town.... with a ridiculously liberal and intolerant public school. Well, a friend of mine came from a lower-income family; subsistence farming was a necesity that made ends meet. Well, he would buy a nice pair of jeans and wear them until they looked "worn." Then, he would wear them on the farm. Well, graduation day, my friend is standing there, wearing his full length blue robe; the first male in his family to graduate from high school..... and one of our lovely administrators told him he wasn't allowed to wear jeans under the robe (because you could just definitely tell /sarc). Any other pair of pants, but not jeans. Or, he couldn't walk. When he explained all he had were jeans, they didn't have money for clothes they didn't wear, he was told he couldn't participate (we weren't the same size). Then the "administrator derided him for not having pants that weren't jeans.

He drove his mother's truck home; found an old ratty pair of hand-me-down turquois courdoroy pants and had to run to catch up to the rest of the grads already marching to the field. And they still tried to stop him from participating.... "because he was late!!!"

[RipSawyer]

Good thing he didn’t have a No. 2 pencil. Those are deadly in the right hands. :)
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Apparently they are, I once had the unpleasant experience of being introduced to a skinny little guy who had done time in prison and he solemnly assured me that he could kill any man with a sharpened wooden pencil or a ball point pen. Ever seen the movie “Casino”?

This “zero tolerance” crap really is ridiculous. I’ll bet they have no objection to students wearing leather belts even though they are perfect for strangling someone but if a kid came in with his pants held up by a piece of rope they would freak out.

[wintertime]

Ever seen the movie “Casino”?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Or the latest Batman?

[Still Thinking]

What an asshat. I hope he’s managing a McDonalds somewhere today.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I do, too. Right knee. My stupid little sister. ;)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Oh, you betcha! One stab in the eye, they other up the nose...scrambled brains, to put it nicely.

It really is stupid. These things happen every few months here in ‘The People’s Republik of Madistan’ a ‘gun free’ zone. Well, except for the criminal element. For some reason, THEY always seem to have the guns and the innocent victims aren’t allowed to carry so much as a can of pepper spray!

Stupid socialist aging hippies running this town!