School Board Stupdity in Action

[reeeoga]

Would you expell the kid?
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/local_story_348001946.html

 

[I Love Pluto]

The way I understand it - The child possessed the weapon for a period of time. When he did, it became HIS weapon. There is zero tolerance for carrying a weapon. He might be a victim of circumstance, but he did create the circumstance by carrying the weapon.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Tough one. He did have it in HIS possession as the PP said. The best thing for him to do was to go and get someone in position of authority to collect the weapon. Hopefully they educated other students to do that--or next time, if a gun is found--it will either be left there....or actually used. Suspension probably would have been better though. A 2 year expulsion seems a bit extreme when the child didn't do anything technically wrong possibly (we don't know how long he held the gun).

 

[disney junky]

If they hadn't and it were reported, and one of our kids went to school there, we'd be bashing the school board for being soft on crime and not enforcing their own policies.

 

[MushyMushy]

Zero tolerance is zero common sense.

'Nuff said.

 

[Charade]

I agree with MM. However, there might be more to the story. Where in the bathroom did they find it? How long was the "some period of time"? I agree that the boy made a mistake by pocketing the airgun and not calling for a teacher, but expulsion is waaaay too harsh a punishment. Perhaps a 3 day suspension would be better. Or nothing at all but a stern reprimand and take the opportunity in a class assembly to restate the rules about bringing to or finding weapons on school property.

 

[FayeW]

Of course he shouldn't be expelled! He found a weapon and turned it in, he should be commended, not punished!

Next time, the students will leave it there and someone will actually use. The schoolboard will only have themselves to blame for their assinine decisions.

 

[HappyDznyCamper]

OMG that poor boy. He is obviously(sp?) not a star at any sport or he would have been given an award at a special assembly.

 

[DawnCt1]

if he found the gun and took it directly to the office, then he should receive a commendation. if he found the gun, pocketed it and turned it in an hour later, then a 3 day suspension. expulsion is ridiculous. i agree with mm, no common sense in the schools anymore.

 

[monsterkitty]

I would need to know all the facts before commenting. Including:

What are the laws regarding a student possessing a weapon in that state? Do the laws require that the school expell the student for ahving a weapon, no matter what kind of weapon or why the student had the weapon.

How long did the student have the weapon? It says a "short time" but a short time to one may be 5 minutes while to another it could be 30 minutes.

Our laws state that student who have any type of weapon are to be expelled for a minimum of one calendar year. At an elementary school, a little girl (third grade if I remember correctly) had a steak knife to cut her chicken. She was expelled for a year and everyone was up in arms. The principal was just following the law, even though he didn't agree with the expulsion.

The boy held the gun in his possession. Not the best way to handle the situation, but that's what he did. How it was handled by the district may not be their choice.

 

[missypie]

Zero tolerance is zero common sense.

'Nuff said.

I totally agree. To me, a "zero tolerance" policy is the administration abdicating decision-making. They bust a little girl for bringing a kitchen knife in her lunch box to cut her chicken; they bust a boy scout who forgot that his pocket knife was still in his back pack after a camp out. They want no responsiblity for trying to determine who is going to do violence and who just made a mistake.

 

[disney junky]

I totally agree. To me, a "zero tolerance" policy is the administration abdicating decision-making. They bust a little girl for bringing a kitchen knife in her lunch box to cut her chicken; they bust a boy scout who forgot that his pocket knife was still in his back pack after a camp out. They want no responsiblity for trying to determine who is going to do violence and who just made a mistake.

This is a quote from our school policy.
"By law, the possession of a weapon shall result in a one year expulsion from school. Local police authorities will be notified of all weapons violations."

I believe that this is not "administration abdicating decision-making," it's the law, and if the school district doesn't report these incidents, the administrators can lose their jobs, and the schools can be fined. Who among us has the uncanny ability to determine motive?

During a locker search about ten years ago (we were tipped off by another student), I found a pellet gun. I have to tell you, I was scared to death. All I knew was what I felt; a gun in a canvas gym bag in the bottom of a locker, and my first thought was, my kids go here to school. This was before Columbine, before zero tolerance, before school shootings appeared on the news so often you become calloused to it.

If you want to trust the press to have reported the student and parent's side of the story accurately and without bias, feel free. The student showed poor judgment at the very least, but perhaps, just perhaps, there is more to this than we know. This student will be educated in an alternative setting at taxpayer expense. The parents would most likely have the option to place him in a private school.

The school board and administrators were doing their jobs based on the situation as they saw it. I'm sure their attorneys saw to it that they followed the law exactly.

 

[Anewman]

Ryan Morgan, 13, says he pocketed a pellet gun he and a friend found in their school's bathroom to keep people safe.

The School is not commenting, and only the Boys side is being played in the press.

But I can easily see a boy being caught with a gun(pellet) and THEN saying I was going to turn it in...

 

[MushyMushy]

This is a quote from our school policy.
"By law, the possession of a weapon shall result in a one year expulsion from school. Local police authorities will be notified of all weapons violations."

I believe that this is not "administration abdicating decision-making," it's the law, and if the school district doesn't report these incidents, the administrators can lose their jobs, and the schools can be fined. Who among us has the uncanny ability to determine motive?

During a locker search about ten years ago (we were tipped off by another student), I found a pellet gun. I have to tell you, I was scared to death. All I knew was what I felt; a gun in a canvas gym bag in the bottom of a locker, and my first thought was, my kids go here to school. This was before Columbine, before zero tolerance, before school shootings appeared on the news so often you become calloused to it.

If you want to trust the press to have reported the student and parent's side of the story accurately and without bias, feel free. The student showed poor judgment at the very least, but perhaps, just perhaps, there is more to this than we know. This student will be educated in an alternative setting at taxpayer expense. The parents would most likely have the option to place him in a private school.

The school board and administrators were doing their jobs based on the situation as they saw it. I'm sure their attorneys saw to it that they followed the law exactly.

I'm in Pennsylvania as well, and you might want to look into the rest of the law:

The superintendent of a school district or an administrative director of an area
vocational-technical school may recommend modifications of such expulsion
requirements for a student o a case-by-case basis.

Which is why, when my son was caught making knives in his shop class, the school adminstrators used their common sense and modified his punishment to fit our circumstances.

I'll repeat myself: zero tolerance is zero common sense.

 

[disney junky]

I'm in Pennsylvania as well, and you might want to look into the rest of the law:

The superintendent of a school district or an administrative director of an area
vocational-technical school may recommend modifications of such expulsion
requirements for a student o a case-by-case basis.

Which is why, when my son was caught making knives in his shop class, the school adminstrators used their common sense and modified his punishment to fit our circumstances.

I'll repeat myself: zero tolerance is zero common sense.

Just out of curiosity, what were those modifications? It does seem to me that if another situation arose involving your son, this would create some real need for explanation on the part of the administration. I cannot imagine him not being expelled. He was caught making knives in shop class!?!?

BTW, I was quoting school policy, not school law.

A note is found in the middle school bathroom. It says, a bomb will go off at noon. It's 10:30. The school is evacuated, students are outside for the three hours it takes to search the school with the bomb sniffing dogs that are brought in, and every nook and cranny of the school is checked. There are no bombs found, the school is deemed safe and the students return.

What should happen to the student who wrote the note? Well, they didn't mean any harm; obviously there was no bomb found. So the motive was just to get attention, to see what would happen.

Those students would be placed in an alternative setting in our school and were. Was that appropriate? YES. And the students were charged for the cost to bring in the police.

You reap what you sow. That's my catchy little phrase for the day.

 

[Becky2005]

I don't know the facts but I will say living in Illinois I don't think we have that same law about students with weapons means an automatic expulsion.

I'm almost positive because of a couple situations. Two different situations that happened at our school one with a Kindergartener of oops, didn't know that was in my backpack (not a gun though) and one an older boy with violent acts. Both handled very differently as they should have been.

I do know at least 4 or 5 years ago our Principal had told us our school does NOT have a zero tolerance policy, they take it on a case by case basis. She was happy about that because it does let them do things that make more sense.

 

[declansdad]

I'll repeat myself: zero tolerance is zero common sense.

I agree that in some situations zero tolerance policies are not the best option but in some cases they are more than appropriate.

 

[MushyMushy]

I agree that in some situations zero tolerance policies are not the best option but in some cases they are more than appropriate.

But see, with zero tolerance, there is no "in some cases." Zero tolerance is in ALL cases. A kid whose parent left a pair of nail clippers in his backpack would receive the same punishment as the one who brought in a knife with intent to cause harm.

 

[MushyMushy]

Just out of curiosity, what were those modifications? It does seem to me that if another situation arose involving your son, this would create some real need for explanation on the part of the administration. I cannot imagine him not being expelled. He was caught making knives in shop class!?!?

There was quite a lot to it, and I'm glad to say that the school administration used their brains and adapted the punishment to suit this particular circumstance. He didn't just get off scot free. And he wasn't caught making the knives -- he was actually caught after three were made, which leaves you to wonder where the teacher was in all this. (the answer... in his office)

It was a mess, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it would have been if he'd been expelled for a year and turned over to the police.

 

[declansdad]

But see, with zero tolerance, there is no "in some cases." Zero tolerance is in ALL cases. A kid whose parent left a pair of nail clippers in his backpack would receive the same punishment as the one who brought in a knife with intent to cause harm.

With potential weapons, it is difficult to deceide when to err to it was a simple mistake.

In other situations, say cheating on an exam, there is nothing wrong with a zero tolerance policy.