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Middle Schoolers Arrested for Food Fight
A massive arrest took place at a Chicago middle school the other day, with 25 kids between the ages of 11 and 15 being handcuffed, thrown in a paddy wagon, and charged with reckless conduct. Their crime? Throwing food in the cafeteria.
There are certain disciplinary infractions that no teacher should be expected to manage without police intervention–violence, sexual assault–but a food fight? Really? Isn’t the ability to deal with a food fight sort of a requirement–albeit a highly unsavory one–of working in a middle school?
That seems to be the thinking of the parents whose kids spent a day in jail and may be sentenced to community service or probation. As one mother put it, “I was all for some other kind of punishment, but not jail. Who hasn’t had a food fight?”
According to school authorities, an on-campus police officer called for backup when he was unable to contain the flying edibles. Apparently, the numerous cops who replied to the call had no idea how to deal with misconduct aside from arrest. This makes sense. They are, after all, trained to deal with real criminals.
What would you do if your child was arrested for throwing food at school?
Photo: fat2fitradio.com
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4 Comments
Kristina commented on Nov 12 09 at 9:20 pmA riot is a riot no matter what the ages of the children involved. If the officer at the school felt that the situation was so out of control that it was necessary for him to call in back up, then there need to be serious consequences for the students involved. Such open revolt against the authority of the adults at a school must not be dismissed with a slap on the wrists. Perhaps spending half a day in jail will teach some of these children to conduct themselves appropriately at school. I am a substitute teacher that works at many middle schools and I think that most parents would be very surprised at the behavior of their children while they are on campus. There is very little respect for authority left in schools today and that is because there aren’t harsh enough consequences for the often outrageous behavior of students. If kids are hurling apples and oranges across the cafeteria, they are contributing to a riot and creating a physically dangerous atmosphere. They do not have the right to do that. They absolutely deserved to be arrested. Doing a little community service might not be the worst thing that could happen to these children.
diera commented on Nov 13 09 at 9:36 amI have to say, I kind of agree with the previous commenter. It’s one thing to throw a little food, but if the on-campus police officer was ‘unable to contain the flying edibles’ – i.e. the kids didn’t stop throwing food when a POLICE OFFICER told them to stop – it’s a lot more serious than just the food fight itself.
Lisa commented on Nov 13 09 at 8:45 pmAgain, this couldn’t have just been a few hamburgers being tossed around. That would have resulted in assigned seating at lunch, some suspensions, saturday school and detentions.
Canuckmom commented on Jan 09 12 at 6:13 pmBut what else could teachers do? If you even touch a kid their parents sue for abuse. Had one if the adults grabbed someone’s arm to stop them from throwing something they would have been the ones I trouble, even if they were protecting the other kids in the caf from being hurt. It’s lose-lose.
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