CRAP: Island fourth grader suspended for using broken pencil sharpener

[freelance]

Sometimes I feel like I'm living in the Twilight Zone!


A 10-year-old Hilton Head Island boy has been suspended from school for having something most students carry in their supply boxes: a pencil sharpener.

More:

http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/story/607283.html

[Indy Vidual]

No child left behind?

[JohnMeridith]

"We're always going to do something to make sure the child understands the seriousness of having something that could potentially harm another student, but we're going to be reasonable," he said.


Let's see, what could I use to harm another student?

bring a gun and shoot them
bring a tire iron and bludgeon them
bring a knife from home and stab them
oh and a broken pencil sharpener

[RSLudlum]

LMAO....broken pencil sharpener??? screw the pencil sharpener, just stab em with your pen!!! :rolleyes:

[Gertie]

for f***'s sake.

WTF are they were more concerned about other students being purposely slashed than the wee 4th grader cutting himself accidentally? Common sense that is NOT.


"something that can harm another student."
Well, let's see what we can use from right in the classroom.

Pens
Metal rulers. Can't let them make shivs now, can we?
Staplers- yeow!
Tape. Good for depilation and bondage.
Scissors too. Even the snub tip ones = eye gouges.
50 pound bags of books falling on extremities or being whipped into faces.
Locker door, meet fingers.
Paper. Those cuts are fierce!
Derogatory names.

[CoreyBowen999]

yeah this is old news.. Happens all the time at my school

[RSLudlum]

^you forgot:

Coats with large zippers, damage the face/eyes if slung hard enough
Shoe laces, strangulation
Belts


:rolleyes:

[angelatc]

http://web.beaufort.k12.sc.us/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=3017

and

http://web.beaufort.k12.sc.us/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=2827&sc_id=1221152400&PHPSESSID=c241ea48f994f39cf95ad31b025d6585

[Zolah]

Geez where were these nanny-staters when I actually needed them at school, strangled 4 times by some "disruptive student", and he strangled at least 5 other people that I know of, several times some of them, and tried to use a butter knife to threaten someone, holding it to their neck (probably wouldn't have cut through butter anyway), and all this by age 8, and he was at my schools for another 8 years after that without being expelled once..this is in UK too, home of Big Brother and the nanny-state. But I was threatened with "final warnings" of expulsion several times for repeated lateness..go figure. [/vent]

[angelatc]

Heh. We just moved to Michigan, and the schools here are a little more conservative than the Liilnois schools. For example, in Illinois my son was "talked to" for drawing a picture of a gun, but here they have an after school trap and skeet shooting club.

Imagine my surprise when I found out they don't allow the kids to have scissors in school here.

[Standing Like A Rock]

oh, and no water in school either, i mean those kids could drown

oh, and finger nails must be trimmed to 1/16 of an inch at all times, just in case a student does not keep his hands to himself...

[Expatriate]

and kids must be made to wear unremoveable boxing gloves so they can't beat or strangle each other to death with those deadly bare hands!

Oh, but then how will they take notes? No worries, we aren't even teaching them how to write anymore:D

[TheEvilDetector]

Umm, they are going to have to confiscate people's hands, because the trouble is that people have fingers, with which they could poke you in the eyes.

Sucks.

[123tim]

I copied this from another article (found below the first) in which the School defends its stance:

Jill McAden, principal of Hilton Head Island International Baccalaureate Elementary School, sent a letter home to parents Thursday saying, "We regret that inaccuracies in a local news story created an impression that we do not use common sense in working with our children. :eek:

I also read the supplemental incident report which stated that the boy also had a one inch pencil "which appeared to be recently sharpened."

Also...

"It was clear from the suspects reaction, i.e., crying, that he understood it could be a problem bringing anything that might resemble a weapon onto school property."

[freelance]

I copied this from another article (found below the first) in which the School defends its stance:

Jill McAden, principal of Hilton Head Island International Baccalaureate Elementary School, sent a letter home to parents Thursday saying, "We regret that inaccuracies in a local news story created an impression that we do not use common sense in working with our children. :eek:

I also read the supplemental incident report which stated that the boy also had a one inch pencil "which appeared to be recently sharpened."

Also...

"It was clear from the suspects reaction, i.e., crying, that he understood it could be a problem bringing anything that might resemble a weapon onto school property."

OMG, where to even start ripping this apart! This is just laughable. The little tyke was crying, because he hurt his head banging it against the wall after attempting to understand this lunacy.

[georgiapeach]

I think the solution would be pretty simple for me. There would be no suspension because I would be yanking my child out of public school immediately. I had to threaten that over a stupid truency rule a couple of years ago, and when they figured out I wasn't bluffing they changed their minds. I wouldn't mind homeschooling so it was a win-win. :)

[akonpittbull]

I really can't understand why people have this kind of thinking. Actually with out pencil sharpener what they will do with the pencil. I think it is not the thing that anyone can harm the child with the sharpener so the according to me the decision is wrong.

[osan]

Sometimes I feel like I'm living in the Twilight Zone!



More:

http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/story/607283.html (http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/story/607283.html)
What the hell?

SHERIFF's report?

What the hell?

Precarious position?

What the hell?

Common sense? What common sense? To call these people idiots would be to elevate them to a station infinitely above their rightful positions on the intelligence ladder.

What the hell?

Thank heaven I don't have kids in a public school. I'd go to prison for a long time, without a doubt.

Did I mention "what the hell?"?

[Bruno]

Zero tolerance laws results in zero common sense and discretion

[osan]

Geez where were these nanny-staters when I actually needed them at school, strangled 4 times by some "disruptive student", and he strangled at least 5 other people that I know of, several times some of them, and tried to use a butter knife to threaten someone, holding it to their neck (probably wouldn't have cut through butter anyway), and all this by age 8, and he was at my schools for another 8 years after that without being expelled once..this is in UK too, home of Big Brother and the nanny-state. But I was threatened with "final warnings" of expulsion several times for repeated lateness..go figure. [/vent]

Depends on the laws in your state. I was a teacher in NYC ages ago. One day, first day of a new quarter, I'm sitting in a colleagues room perhaps an hour prior to classes commencing. This revol;ting student, Juan Caraballo, barges in and says to my colleague "hey Mayor, you fucking Jew cocksucker, have a nice day" and waltzes out. I was ready to murder the little bastard, but Larry chilled me down and explained that little Juan was trying to get himself suspended because in NY you can suspend a student only twice during a given marking period, so they get it out of the way early so that they can reign terror the rest of the time. Short of perhaps killing someone, there is literally no way to get a kid removed. In later month I ended up breaking the little fucker's hand when, after slapping my upside the head with a hard-bound book, he tried to swing on me after I cornered him in another teacher's room. No doubt he is in prison as we type. :)

Educational law is some of the scariest reading imaginable. Get a copy of federal and local law and you will see what I mean. When I say the public school system must be wholly dismembered, I do so for very sound reasons.

[dannno]

the boy also had a one inch pencil

Really??

http://jayefenderson.com/guideseek/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/short_yellow_pencil1.jpg


A broken pencil sharpener and a one inch pencil? Sounds like the kid just needed some descent school supplies!

[Bruno]

Really??

http://jayefenderson.com/guideseek/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/short_yellow_pencil1.jpg


A broken pencil sharpener and a one inch pencil? Sounds like the kid just needed some descent school supplies!

I see the weapons of mass destruction have been found

[jessenclerk]

Well, From the report, it's not so much that he brought a broken pencil sharpener, it's that he brought just the metal blade part. A suspension was appropriate (even if it's just for being dumb), but I think involving the police was a little excessive.

[Bman]

Do they make all the kids wear penny loafers?

A shoe string seems like a bad thing to have in school.