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Boy Suspended Over Spork
In another case of zero tolerance run amok, a 6-year-old boy has been suspended for bringing a camping utensil to school. It wasn’t a can of flammable sterno or a bottle of bear spray that got him in trouble. It was a spoon/fork/knife combo utensil used for eating. And despite the fact that eating is clearly what Zachary Christie intended to do with his spork, he is facing 45 days in reform school for violating his school’s zero tolerance policy on weapons.
Zachary’s mom, Debbie Christie, says her son recently joined the Cub Scouts and was so excited about his new spork that he wanted to use it to eat his lunch at school. Unfortunately,the Christina School District in Delaware is like many districts around the country in that it has a very strict code of conduct with little provision for the use of common sense.
The fact that the district’s code of conduct has any provision whatsover for the use of common sense is somewhat unusual. But last year, Delaware lawmakers tried to give schools some discretion in applying zero-tolerance rules by allowing them to “on a case-by-case basis, modify the terms of the expulsion.”
The problem is that Zachary was suspended, not expelled, and therefore the district has no flexibility in his case. Delaware lawmakers are working on a revised law that would fix that problem, but in the meantime little Zachary is being home-schooled while his parents fight the punishment.
There is a valid reason why teachers and administrators don’t use common sense when applying zero tolerance rules. It’s because they don’t have a choice. Zero-tolerance rules were created specifically to not allow common sense to come into play. They are inflexible by design and proponents argue that this is exactly how it is supposed to work. Punishing students for innocent mistakes acts as a deterrent to those who might have more nefarious ideas. But critics say that there is nothing to be gained by punishing innocent children and zero-tolerance is ultimately more harmful than helpful.
What do you think? Have we had enough of zero tolerance in our schools?
Image: lightmyfireusa.com
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[...] most schools have a zero-tolerance policy that not only covers pocket knives, but also includes eating utensils. So why would a British judge be advocating for schools to allow boys to bring a knife to school [...]
Judge Wants Boys To Bring Knives To School | Strollerderby commented on Feb 09 10 at 1:28 pmugh commented on Oct 13 09 at 1:56 pmI saw the boy and his parents interviewed on TV this morning, and the item was not a spork but a camping utensil (like a swiss army knife) that had an actual sharp blade in it. I’m sure the boy didn’t intend any harm, but a sharp blade is very different than a spork.
Mistress_Scorpio commented on Oct 13 09 at 2:22 pmI saw the GMA report and they showed the camping tool with knife. It’s pretty clear that the knife part was what put the tool into “weapon” territory. But yes, I am sick of zero tolerance policies from school that only have them so administrators don’t have to think.
Bec commented on Oct 13 09 at 3:08 pmI remember when an article came out while I was in grade 8 about some kid who’d stabbed another kid with a pencil. We tried so hard to convince our teacher that we shouldn’t be trusted with pencils. If only someone had thought of attaching a blade to one.
BlackOrchid commented on Oct 13 09 at 3:22 pmDelaware public schools are notoriously abysmal. Maybe this will spur the parents to find a better option (which is pretty much all of them) for their “sharp” little boy! He deserves better. Really all the children of DE do, but if I were the mom, there’s no way I’d send him back to public school.
Louise commented on Oct 13 09 at 3:23 pmI don’t know…as silly as this case sounds (and the punishment seems pretty unreasonable for a 6 year old), this child did bring a knife to school…that’s just not a great idea. And as much as the use of “common sense” in these matters seems like a reasonable idea, the point, as I see it, of zero tolerance policies is not so much that they provide such a superior deterrent, but to avoid situations where the same infraction results in vastly differing punishments for different students, sometimes based on nothing more than guesswork about intentions, etc.
Yes, perhaps we can make a reasonable assumption that this kid didn’t intend any harm (he is only 6)…but we should examine how it is that we come to this assumption in this case, but perhaps not in other similar cases. I recall seeing in the original article a reference to the fact that if those making this decision knew the kid and “knew his family,” they would not have punished him so severely. This seems to me to be perilously close to saying that these rule violations should be tolerated or punished less seriously in the “right” kind of kid, but that it’s OK to throw the book at the “wrong” kind of kid from the “wrong” kind of family.
I’m not necessarily in favor of zero-tolerance policies, but I guess I’d be in favor of a less draconian punishment for *any* 6 year old that brings a knife to school but doesn’t hurt anyone with it, rather than adjusting the punishment based on what might be just speculation.
Ali commented on Oct 13 09 at 4:33 pmSo now 6 year old cub scouts are potential gang fighters? Another reason I home educate. Now this boy has this on his record. One misstep and your Ivy leagues dreams are gone for good. Hope he doesnt get molested in reform school by the older kids. HIs good life is over.
Mistress_Scorpio commented on Oct 13 09 at 8:54 pmOH NOES!!!11!!! This will go on his Permanent Record!!!! Bye bye, Ivies, hello buttsexxx!!! (eyeroll)
Obsolete commented on Oct 13 09 at 10:29 pmWelcome to the New World Order! No reason to beat around the bush on how this and most other countries treat their citizens. This boy is 6 yrs old and is already made to ‘feel’ like a criminal. His mother should homeschool him and take him out of the public school system. We are a “police state” and it is only going to get worse! The USA should be ashamed! Eliminate anyone, or concept, have them arrested, put in an asylum, etc, etc, etc. I could rant forever about this, but, I might get expelled, shipped off. This “brave new world” will fall, just like Rome did.
amy commented on Oct 13 09 at 10:37 pmOr maybe his parents shouldn’t have let him bring a knife to school, even though he was so excited about being a Cub Scout. How about if the “wrong kind of kid from the wrong kind of family” grabbed his knife and used it? Who’d be in trouble then?
But, I will say this – excellent use of the media by these parents. The boy is not being sent to reform school, just being suspended for a few days. Phew.
Obsolete commented on Oct 13 09 at 10:42 pmI was reading the post Mistress Scorio summitted and it made me remember when my great nephew was in Kindergarten and he wasn’t sure where to go at the end of the school day. He knew he didn’t live far from the school so he started walking home. A teacher found him still on the schools grounds took him back inside the school untill his parents picked him up. The parents were called in for a conference the following week and were told that his actions would be on his permanent record. God forbid!
GP commented on Oct 14 09 at 7:34 amHmmmm….the blog post is kind of like the school, but in the other direction…the school is OVER reacting, the post is under-reporting, in that is was not a “spork”…DUH to both of y’all. Bah.
GrammaSez commented on Oct 14 09 at 10:46 amComments
You may rail against zero tolerance until that kid’s metal spork is lodged in your kid’s eye. Rules are Rules. And, it’s very misleading to post a picture of a frikking SPORK when, in fact, the kid was carrying what amounts to a Swiss Army Knife.
GrammaSez commented on Oct 14 09 at 10:48 amWhat morons would send their 6 year old to school with a concealed weapon? And then WHINE about getting in trouble?
GP commented on Oct 14 09 at 11:09 amThank YOU, Gramma.
Em commented on Oct 14 09 at 11:22 amNOT a spork. A knife with a fork and spoon attached.
jenny tries too hard commented on Oct 14 09 at 5:50 pmUh, yes it was a knife in the camping utensil…a freaking BUTTER knife, or its rough equivalent. My six-year-old Tiger Cubs got a Cub Scout approved “camping utensil” and it looks like a Swiss Army Knife, yes, except with the World Crest of Boy Scouts in place of the Swiss symbol, but the utensils on it were a spoon fork magnifying glass and *gasp* a butter knife. I have no reason to think that the cub scouts gave this boy a knife any sharper than a butter knife. Was it appropriate for school? No. The teacher should’ve taken it from him, given it to his parents at the end of the day or possibly the end of the grading period, and punished the boy with loss of recess or something similar. But come on, people, a BUTTER knife, not a switchblade.
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