More school idiocy...

ok fair enough.

 

I think the lad should be rewarded for his honesty and correct actions. The crime is not arriving at the border with a weapon, but trying to enter a country with the weapon.

Cheers,

Jim

 

Scarlett,As I have said, I dont have that much of a problem with a suspension. 10 days may be a bit much, but I can deal with that. The talk of expulsion is what I disagree with completely. And I do think he and the young man you shared about should be admired for their honesty.

 

Scarlett, that is sad. I had a similar experience recently. I was looking at a sex offenders website and decided to enter the address from where I grew up and it brought up a picture of a young man I played baseball with in High School. He was a good kid in school, but somewhere things went wrong. Very sad.

 

You know, Scarlett, that is at all levels. I taught for 25 years at the university...theological studies...and some of those kids didn't turn out so great either.

We try to give more than academics when we care, but it ends at the classroom door, I fear.

Cheers, and blessings. It remain a great calling.

Jim

 

Scarlett,
You make good and thoughtful points, but I still have to disagree.
I think that there should be leeway specific to the facts of the case, rather than a statute with no room to maneuver.
That's one reason why we have jury trials in courts, so that the specific facts can be examined.

To me, it is absolutely key that he turned the knife in, that he turned it in as soon as he got to school, and that it was a Swiss Army knife.
The principal had leeway. It was his choice to recommend such a lengthy suspension.
Yes, we own our actions, but that includes the person with the power to punish not overreacting, and the punishment having a useful point. I'm not sure it has any point in this situation other than hurting his grades and the things that Daisy listed so well.

I will mention something else about how the system works, at least in OK. If he had been in 9th grade, instead of 8th grade, as the story says, a 10-day suspension IS, often, effectively being expelled. It is up to the individual school district in OK to interpret the state guideline of no more than 10 absences per semester. If it is that way in Indiana, then if he had already gone once to the orthodontist or once stayed home with strep instead of infecting everybody else, or maybe even gone on a school field trip, he could lose the whole semester.
My school district, when it suspends someone, has what I believe is a more workable concept. They are suspended from the regular classroom, but they go to school in a restricted classroom, doing their regular classwork, and they are not counted absent. Often teachers will drop by during their planning periods to give assistance.
Real true suspension and expulsion do occur, but not from what I can tell, from a mistake that the student tries to rectify as soon as possible.

Karen

 

What I would have done if I were the boy is to throw it away while no one could see.

I would NEVER have gone to the office with a knife if I brought one by accident, but, then again, I did not trust the administration at all.

 

The purpose of rules is to discourage negative behaviour and encourage positive. Forgeting something is a mistake, intentionaly trying to take a weapon to school is negative.

On the other hand turning the weapon in when he could have concealed it all day with 99.999% chance of not being caught is a positive behaviour.

If you punish the positive behaviour your will discourage it. The rule should be anybody CAUGHT with a weapon will be ..........

The boy was not caught he turned it in, so as not to bring it to school. He made a mistake followed by a very positive action. He should be praised for his positive action. Maybe a stearn warning speach followed by a good job for doing the right thing.

They do want to teach kids to do the right thing, right.

 

I am sorry but...

In My Most Adamant and Strongest Opinion

That the one size fits all rule is a bunch of hooey...

And, the ability for some minor non-intelligent life forms to force that policy on the school system only goes to show that *some* schools have no more intellegence than the lowest common denominator...

Anyone can apply rules rigidly accross the board...

It takes a real leader to apply the intent and spirit of the law...

The *real* intent of the one size fits all is so that no one is allowed to excel above another...

No one is allowed to be considered more obedient or a child of better character...

Everyone is reduced to the lowest common denominator...

And we have the nerve to wonder what's wrong with our schools and society???

 

I don't wonder. It's because we look for reasons NOT to enforce rules.

 

I definitely am in favor of not enforcing stupid rules.

 

Contempt for law enforcement is a hallmark of the party of Ted Kennedy, Al Sharpton, Chuck Schumer, Jesse Jackson and the Clintons.

Michelle Malkin

How many who disagree with the suspension have actually worked with kids, on a daily basis, for more than a weekend ?

I worked with juvinile delinquents for nine years. I support the suspension.

 

When the letter of the law and the spirit of the law find conflict, ammendments to the law come in handy.

 

Bro. Curtis

I have worked with adult inmates for 10 years mostly gang bangers. I have learned that you always reward behaviour that you want to continue and punish behaviour that you want to stop. If an inmate turned in his shank to me or told me where to find it his punishment would be considerably less sevier then if I found it on my own.

I have had inmates come back from there inmate jobs with a tool or razor they forgot in their pocket and turned it in to me imediatly upon returning. The punishment is very, very much less then if I find it. WHY because I want them and other inmates to know that if it happens in the future (and it will) turning it in is the route to go with out a doubt.

If I punish an inmate today for turning in a tool he forgot in his pocket. Why would the inmate who forgets next week turn it in to me. Then I have a tool (weapon) on my unit.

 

Well, he walked out of the house with his pocket knife. That wasn't breaking the rules. Obviously, he was far enough from home and close enough to school that he could not take it back home. Had he taken it into school and hid it on his person or in the locker, then he certainly would have been guilty of breaking the rules. Instead he did the responsible thing and turned it in. Another (possible) option would have been to have his parent come pick it up after he arrived at school.

What we teach kids by punishing them in a way I think in unfair is to hide their mistakes or not admit when they've done something wrong, even if it was a mistake.

I hope it all works out in the end.

Julia

 

My first thought is you are crazy to trust inmates, especially gangbangers. Perhaps that guy who turns in a razor he "forgot" is just playing you.

My second thought, inmates don't "forget" what's in their pockets.

My third thought, if inmates are returning from jobs with tools in their pockets, somebody is dropping the ball by not inventorying what they are given, and not securing them after the work day.

To sum it all up, it doesn't sound, to me, like a well run place.

And I know all about rewarding good behavior. I just don't consider breaking rules good behavior.

I still am secure, and stand by the suspension.