Delaware school zero-tolerance rule
Oct 13, 2009 18:53:47 GMT -5
Post by Lamron on Oct 13, 2009 18:53:47 GMT -5
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NEWARK, Del. (AP) -- A Delaware first-grader suspended for bringing his favorite camping utensil to school will likely get a reprieve, a school board member said Tuesday.
Zachary Christie, 6, was ordered to spend 45 days in his district's alternative school for troublemakers after he brought a combination folding fork, knife and spoon to eat his lunch at Downes Elementary School in Newark last month.
The knife is banned as a dangerous instrument under the Christina School District's zero-tolerance policy, which officials said required them to expel Zachary or send him to the equivalent of reform school regardless of his age or what he planned to do with the utensil.
Hundreds of people were expected to attend a school board meeting Tuesday night at which member John Mackenzie said the policy would likely be amended. Any change would be retroactive to the beginning of the school year.
"The policy, of course, needs some additional flexibility," Mackenzie told The Associated Press. "Politically, zero tolerance is what everybody clamors for, until we start to realize how harsh zero tolerance can be."
The school district announced Tuesday afternoon that the seven-member board would consider a narrow change that would affect only kindergartners and first-graders and allow for three- to five-day suspensions rather than mandating harsher punishments.
A school district spokeswoman did not return calls seeking comment.
Zachary's mother, Debbie Christie, sought to have her son's suspension reversed but was rebuffed last week by a disciplinary committee. She established a Web site to further his cause and The New York Times reported on it Monday.
The site urged people to contact the district superintendent and school board members, and Mackenzie said he had been deluged by angry calls.
Debbie Christie declined an interview request from The AP, writing in an e-mail that "the family is exhausted."
Zachary said in an interview on CBS' "Early Show" that he understands weapons don't belong in school.
"I agree that they shouldn't bring dangerous weapons to school but I don't think the punishment should be this bad," Zachary said. "It's not fair."
He is being home-schooled for now but said he sometimes misses his friends and wants to go back to Downes.
State Democratic Rep. Terry Schooley sponsored a bill that gave districts more flexibility on punishments, but the law applies to expulsions, not suspensions. She was moved to act after a fifth-grader in the same school district was expelled last year for bringing a birthday cake and a serrated knife to cut it with; the expulsion was overturned.
"A state law can't cover every little circumstance that happens in a school district," she said.
Mackenzie said teachers and administrators have felt compelled to ignore the policy on occasion and he's surprised that didn't happen in Zachary's case.
The American Psychological Association has argued that strict zero-tolerance rules hurt student achievement and can even make schools less safe.
"When that common sense is missing, it sends a message of inconsistency to students, which actually creates a less safe environment," said Kenneth S. Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, a consulting firm. "People have to understand that assessing on a case-by-case basis doesn't automatically equate to being soft or unsafe."
Grrrr!! This poor kid brings a cool folding silverware set to school and they treat him like a violent criminal. How was the kid supposed to know that something that is perfectly safe at home magically becomes extremely dangerous at school? An the "reasonable" people think that he just should have gotten a five day suspension instead?
Another child just got taught a hard life lesson that he won't soon forget. Teachers and other authority figures can't be trusted because they are the most incredibly retarded creatures on the planet. He'd be a fool to listen to anything they ever tried to teach him.
NEWARK, Del. (AP) -- A Delaware first-grader suspended for bringing his favorite camping utensil to school will likely get a reprieve, a school board member said Tuesday.
Zachary Christie, 6, was ordered to spend 45 days in his district's alternative school for troublemakers after he brought a combination folding fork, knife and spoon to eat his lunch at Downes Elementary School in Newark last month.
The knife is banned as a dangerous instrument under the Christina School District's zero-tolerance policy, which officials said required them to expel Zachary or send him to the equivalent of reform school regardless of his age or what he planned to do with the utensil.
Hundreds of people were expected to attend a school board meeting Tuesday night at which member John Mackenzie said the policy would likely be amended. Any change would be retroactive to the beginning of the school year.
"The policy, of course, needs some additional flexibility," Mackenzie told The Associated Press. "Politically, zero tolerance is what everybody clamors for, until we start to realize how harsh zero tolerance can be."
The school district announced Tuesday afternoon that the seven-member board would consider a narrow change that would affect only kindergartners and first-graders and allow for three- to five-day suspensions rather than mandating harsher punishments.
A school district spokeswoman did not return calls seeking comment.
Zachary's mother, Debbie Christie, sought to have her son's suspension reversed but was rebuffed last week by a disciplinary committee. She established a Web site to further his cause and The New York Times reported on it Monday.
The site urged people to contact the district superintendent and school board members, and Mackenzie said he had been deluged by angry calls.
Debbie Christie declined an interview request from The AP, writing in an e-mail that "the family is exhausted."
Zachary said in an interview on CBS' "Early Show" that he understands weapons don't belong in school.
"I agree that they shouldn't bring dangerous weapons to school but I don't think the punishment should be this bad," Zachary said. "It's not fair."
He is being home-schooled for now but said he sometimes misses his friends and wants to go back to Downes.
State Democratic Rep. Terry Schooley sponsored a bill that gave districts more flexibility on punishments, but the law applies to expulsions, not suspensions. She was moved to act after a fifth-grader in the same school district was expelled last year for bringing a birthday cake and a serrated knife to cut it with; the expulsion was overturned.
"A state law can't cover every little circumstance that happens in a school district," she said.
Mackenzie said teachers and administrators have felt compelled to ignore the policy on occasion and he's surprised that didn't happen in Zachary's case.
The American Psychological Association has argued that strict zero-tolerance rules hurt student achievement and can even make schools less safe.
"When that common sense is missing, it sends a message of inconsistency to students, which actually creates a less safe environment," said Kenneth S. Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, a consulting firm. "People have to understand that assessing on a case-by-case basis doesn't automatically equate to being soft or unsafe."
Grrrr!! This poor kid brings a cool folding silverware set to school and they treat him like a violent criminal. How was the kid supposed to know that something that is perfectly safe at home magically becomes extremely dangerous at school? An the "reasonable" people think that he just should have gotten a five day suspension instead?
Another child just got taught a hard life lesson that he won't soon forget. Teachers and other authority figures can't be trusted because they are the most incredibly retarded creatures on the planet. He'd be a fool to listen to anything they ever tried to teach him.
