4th-grader arrested for having scissors at school

[Scooter24]

PHILADELPHIA -- A 10-year-old girl was placed in handcuffs and taken to a police station because she took a pair of scissors to her elementary school.
School district officials said the fourth-grade student did not threaten anyone with the 8-inch shears, but violated a rule that considers scissors to be potential weapons.

Administrators said they were following state law when they called police Thursday, and police said they were following department rules when they handcuffed Porsche Brown and took her away in a patrol wagon.

...

However, school officials suspended her for five days. Administrators will decide at a hearing whether she may return to class, or be expelled to a special disciplinary school.

...

School district officials have promised a crackdown on unruly students this year, and new policies give administrators the power to expel students for infractions as minor as violating the dress code, chronic tardiness or habitual swearing.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2942930

[jmm]

1. Atleast they didn't use a taser on her.

:(

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. How nice. Let's treat kids like criminals

so that maybe they'll turn into criminals? Is this what they are trying to do this?

[roguevalley]

3. a lot of this crap is no kid left behind and columbine laws made

by idiots. the schools get stuck with the rules.

[oneighty]

4. If they come to school sick with the flu

do they hustle them of to jail for bio-terror? Or do they help to make them well?

180

[lectrobyte]

5. Uh, handcuffs on a 10 year old? That's pretty messed up, even

for this country, especially since "the fourth-grade student did not threaten anyone". Amerika Uber Alles! You must Respect mah Authoritah!

[Hav]

6. This evil girl was asking for punishment

I demand the death penealty. And I want it NOW!

[Muzzle Tough]

7. More fascism under the corrupt Bush administration.

When I was a child in the 1970s, my teacher GAVE me scissors in school.

This girl is not a criminal. Placing her in a "specail disciplinary school" will prevent her from being able to receive the kind of education that she needs.

DU parents! Don't let Bush's fascist education policies destroy your kids!

I am a civil libertarian who voted against Bush in 2000 and again in 2004. I am pro-choice on sex, birth control, abortion, and gay marriage. I am against the Cuban embargo, the war on drugs, the Iraq War, the Patriot Act, and privatizing social security.

Many public school systems don't want to teach critical thinking skills. Instead, they want to brainwash students into supporting the military/industrial complex, so they will shop at Wal-Mart, join the military, and never question the dictatorship policies of the Bush administration. The current system teaches students that loyalty to their school football teams at pep rallies is more important than learning critical thinking skills in the classroom.

And now our fascist dictator President wants mandatory testing for "mental illness" for all public school students. Don't you just know that anyone who questions the Bush regime will be labeled as "mentally ill" and put on some sort of mind altering/brainwashing drug, reminiscent of Winston Smith in 1984?

I am opposed to using tax dollars to pay for private school tuition. Bush wants vouchers for private schools so he can force them to adopt his totalitarian fascist right wing tactics. Don't let him do it. Say no to using tax dollars to pay for private schools.

I urge all free thinking liberal parents to home school their children, or send them to a good, decent private school. Montessori schools and Marva Collins schools, and Catholic schools and Jewish schools are examples of good private schools.

[sakabatou]

8. I have taken

large scissors, a metal knife, a plastic knife, a bo staff, chili powder and I have yet to be arrested.

[Yupster]

9. We were required to

bring scissors in the first day.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. There was a long thread on this a week or so ago

and it really says more about the rules than the adults involved.

The nonsense of this story is due to zero tolerance policies. It's explained well in this article - the administratiors were required by law to notify the cops and the cops were following rules when they cuffed the little girl.

I want all the details that so far have been left out of this story:
1. Did this girl have a history of threatening kids?
If she had, then the school did NOT overreact.
2. Had she brought the scissors to school before?
Again, that would change the story here a bit.
3. Why is she being suspended for five days?
This seems excessive and tells me that maybe this isn't the first time this little girl has been in trouble at school.

I also find it interesting that (it appears) the source of this story is the parent and NOT the school or the cops.

I know at face value this story looks awful. But I honestly don't think we know the whole story. I could be wrong, but I am withholding judgment until I hear ALL the details.

[Muzzle Tough]

11. The Nazis in Germany were also "just following the rules."

Please remember that.

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. Then change the rules

but don't come down on teachers and cops for following the rules.

And like I said, I believe there is a LOT more to this story than we know. A 5 day suspension is excessive for an elementary school student. This little girl has a history of discipline problems at school, I would bet on that.

[Muzzle Tough]

24. There are some things that you just don't do to a child.

And putting handcuffs on them and arresting them for bringing a pair of scissors to school is one of them - REGARDLESS of what the rules say.

[proud2BlibKansan]

32. So even if the child threatened someone in the past

it's not okay to react when she brings 8" scissors to school?

[ulysses]

26. but you forget, proud2Blib,

that the application of any inane "zero tolerance" rule applied to public schools means that public schools have utterly failed and should be privatized. Don't forget that next time!

:silly:

[proud2BlibKansan]

29. OK, I won't :)

[elehhhhna]

12. what's netc? Pencils? They're sharp AND have--gasp--lead in them!

(okay graphite but still...)

God/ess help the kid who uses a proractor! Off to the big house!

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. I saw a 1st grader stab a classmate

with a pencil. They had to do surgery to remove the pencil.

[caligirl]

13. Students have 0 rights now, but I'd still sue for emotional distress. n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. I don't think they have a case

if the school rules say the scissors can be considered a weapon. I also think this kid may have a history of problems at school.

[Clarkie1]

16. Handcuffing her is child abuse as far as I am concerned

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. No it's not

it's standard policy for most police depts. to handcuff anyone they take into custody. They do this to PROTECT the detainees. So an argument could be made that in this situation, if the kid wasn't handcuffed, that could be considered abusive.

[Clarkie1]

19. How does handcuffing this child protect her?

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. Keeps her from harming herself

that's why the cops handcuff detainees.

[Clarkie1]

20. Oh wait, I think you were being sarcastic

If so, understand I'm a little slow this evening.

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. No I really wasn't

I think it's barbaric to handcuff a child but if the policy is to handcuff everyone, then this kid would be at risk if she wasn't handcuffed.

[InvisibleBallots]

21. I assume this is a joke

This sort of thing makes me want to put my fingers in my ears and stop paying attention. I don't know whether to be outraged or terrified. I assume that's the point.

[Muzzle Tough]

25. More information from another article on the same incident

According to this other article, the girl did not commit any crime.

Also, she did not have any previous discipline problems, as the scissors were found during a search that applied to all students.

Those of you who assumed that she had previous discipline problems and those of you who defended the police handcuffing her ought to be ashamed of yourselves. This is the USA - we are supposed to be a free country, and people are assumed to be innocent until proven guilty.


http://www.rednova.com/news/display/?id=110530

Police officers decided the girl hadn't committed a crime and let her go.

<snip>

The scissors were discovered while students' belongings were being searched for property missing from a teacher's desk.

[DemBones DemBones]

27. Despite the presumption of innocence, the police handcuff people

they take into custody. I'm not "for" handcuffing 10 year-olds but why did the 10 year-old break school rules by having an 8" pair of scissors in her possession?

Parents demand zero tolerance rules and then complain when their kid is the one who gets in trouble with a zero tolerance rule. If you haven't taught, you wouldn't believe the ridiculous stories that parents come up with to excuse their kid's behavior, all the while insisting that the teacher should "do something" to solve their child's problem. Teachers are blamed for all of society's problems, yet who do the children spend more time with, teachers or parents?

[proud2BlibKansan]

33. Great points

it's hard to see the other side of this story but I honestly believe there is a logical explanation for this incident.

[proud2BlibKansan]

28. And once again I will point out

the only person interviewed and quoted in that article is THE PARENT.

In other words, we don't have all the facts. You should be ashamed of yourself for jumping to a conclusion with the limited information presented so far.

We have no way of knowing what kind of discipline history this child has. I don't believe we can rely on the parent to be honest about this. So until I hear the school's side of the story, I am witholding judgment.

[opihimoimoi]

30. This poor girl will be the butt of crude jokes and sarcasim for

a long time. Long term mental damage is almost a sure thing. To ruin a young girls mind with this crap is a SIN and should not be repeated. WTF are we doing to our own selves. This Paranoia is debilitating our society with BS and Fear.

Osama and his people are LAUGHING AT OUR ANTICS. fOR 19 LIVES AND A FEW BUCKS, Osama and his band of men did more damage to America than they dared hope for. We had failed to address the dude for 10 years and now we pay the price. Bush is minor league when compared to the Osama gang.

This scissor incident is but one one thousands that cut the joy of being alive in our Nation. BushCo has blown it but they act like they are the winners. Its charactoristic of cheerleaders leading the cheer when the score is 47 to 6 in the last quarter and we are losing.

Osama lost 19 men in the attack...15 of them Saudis. We lost 3000 + people and hundreds of billions of dollars. Bush is not a good leader, all we have to do is look at his losing score.

[proud2BlibKansan]

31. If you want to blame anyone/anything

blame Columbine.

These zero tolerance policies have been coming down on us since the school shootings in the late 90s.

Osama may be laughing but I don't blame 9/11 for this nonsense.

And I still say we don't have all the details to this story. I have lots of questions.

[killbotfactory]

34. That's fucking ridiculous

But I guess she learned an important lesson about law and order.

[Forced Into Exile]

35. Maybe a Redistribution of Wealth?

Q U O T E :
However, school officials suspended her for five days. Administrators will decide at a hearing whether she may return to class, or be expelled to a special disciplinary school.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ADA, average daily attendance {$}, may not be high enough to keep the special disciplinary school rolling along; maybe they needed, requested, a couple more students.