12 October 2009

"Zero tolerance" requires zero brains


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 was suspended and now faces 45 days in the district’s reform school.
More details at the New York Times. Photo: Mustafah Abdulaziz.

10 comments:

  1. What morons. The school district, not Zach and his family. Zach is far wiser than any of them!

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  2. You have to watch these rotten, evil first graders! They will certainly murder their classmates given a chance. I don't think a few days in reform school is appropriate. I think they should send him to the state pen for a few years. That will teach him to be excited about going to school.

    The school officials should be very proud of their intellectual prowess, too. They really got the rotten little bastard this time!

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  3. OMG. How dumb can you get, school officials? Was he threatening anyone? Was he a threat to himself? Was there any question as to why he had the implement at school? Okay, he probably should have had Mom ask permission first. Wonder what the answer would have been? BTW, do they make kids at that school system eat with their fingers?

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  4. FORTY FIVE days?!!!

    Not only does zero tolerance require zero brains, it also produces zero brains. That poor kid is going to miss a good chunk of the school year.

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  5. Here is the e-mail address for the president of the Christina school board. The next school board meeting is Tuesday October 13. evansg@christina.k12.de.us

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  6. Zero tolerance laws are stupid but that is a hefty knife for a 6 year old and not exactly a great idea for school.

    http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_detail.html?s=CA8045

    (its around a 4 inch blade)

    I wouldn't want my kid or other kids to have that knife at school just in general. I am not at all opposed to kids that age learning to use knives and how to use them safely. But 1st graders probably shouldn't have sharp blades at school. Should this kid spend multiple weeks out of school... not at all. That is why mandatory sentencing and zero tolerance policies are stupid. It takes all discretion away.

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  7. OK I might be wrong because that knife might not be what the kid had. I would be interested in seeing what it was (its hard to see in the picture)

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  8. My favorite part was where the article talked about a girl who was punished last year for bringing a knife to school to cut her birthday cake, and the teacher used it before calling the principal on the student. Yeah. Stupid doesn't cover this kind of stuff.

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  9. Screw public education.

    They put too much emphasis on rules designed for crowd control and not enough time or energy on education.

    This is just one more reason why parents should homeschool their kids.

    For a great read get a copy of "Dumbing Us Down" by John Taylor Gatto

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  10. This is right up there with the little boy who was charged with "sexual assault" for kissing a little girl. Can you imagine what would happen for "playing doctor"? You can't apply adult laws to children!

    I saw this little boy on Today this morning. Very cute, well-spoken and intelligent, and very sorry for not having asked his mother whether it was okay to bring the camping implement to school. (BTW: The knife on this implement is very small. Like on a Swiss Army knife.)

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