Zero Tolerance policies strike again!

[PghTiny]

Link at http://kdka.com/kdkainvestigators/Penn.Hills.student.2.1015164.html

A Penn Hills Middle School student has been expelled for bringing an eyebrow trimmer to school.

Under the Safe School Act, the district says the instrument is a razor and is considered dangerous.

They expelled 15-year-old Taylor Ray Jetter.

The instrument was taken from Taylor's purse at school by security guards. She told them it was harmless but they called it a weapon.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

1. uhh... I used to shave at school with some frequency

I take it I would be expelled now?

[Posteritatis]

2. Nah, you'd be arrested. (nt)

[virginia mountainman]

3. When I was in school ..

1980's to the early 1990's. We where REQUIRED to have a pocket knife, for shop classes..

During hunting season, long arms where common in vehicles in the high school parking lot..

In 1992, I had a loaded Lee Enfield, 303 rifle, I used to deer hunt with It stayed, in my locked car, under a jacket, while I was in school... It was not against school rules, I had it hidden against possible theft, but other folks, had them up in their gun racks, highly visible.

During Turkey Season, I had a pump 12 gauge.

We would get up before dawn, go hunting, than go to school straight from hunting, and if we got a kill, we would get it dressed out, than come to school a little late.

The thing today is, that Kids STILL do it, but they don't park on campus, they just park across the street behind a friendly car dealership, so they don't "run afoul" of Zero Tolerance Bullshit.

[fumsm]

4. Good luck,

I posted the other day on the zero tolerance and the teacher police, teacher union people tried to crush me. The schools shouldn't be responsible, it's the parents and upbringing.

But hey, I agree with you, it is a pathetic law. period.

[YvonneCa]

5. Welcome to DU. You may want to read...

...this before you start bashing teachers:

http://www.edgovblogs.org/duncan/2009/05/secretary-arne-duncan-takes-listening-tour-online-invites-comments-on-raising-standards/

[fumsm]

7. The teachers were bashing me honey

It seems to me the kids are getting lost between the teachers, the unions and the school boards. Our last contract was as greedy as I have ever seen. Sorry, but thats the case. 7.5% demands annually, free health care, pension, etc, etc. They got 4.5%, and screamed all the way to the bank. Held out for 3 months. Kids, what kids. Really screwed the seniors that year. No one cared.

Thats not to say all teachers are bad. But they seem more and more concerned about themselves these days. What ever happened to teaching because you loved teaching others. Now its money honey.

[YvonneCa]

9. I still suggest you read the posts at the...

...link. There is an effort under way to 'scapegoat' teachers for all that is wrong in education and schools...when the reality is that they don't have the power to do half of what they are blamed for. FWIW, most teachers I know LOVE teaching, and love the kids they teach.

As to unions, most progressives support unions...

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. And you were proven wrong many times

Now you come over here to this forum and think you are going to have a receptive audience for your your anti-teacher rants.

Good luck with that plan. LOL

[Catshrink]

15. You may wish to reconsider that.

IIRC, you were the one calling teachers incompetent and making absurd and unsubstantiated statements about responsibilities, time off, etc. Don't throw stones and then whine when you get called on it.

And don't call me honey. That is offensive.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. Way over his head

[YvonneCa]

13. I know...

...:7

[fumsm]

6. Just on the news, eyebrow shaver

Pathetic. 10 days suspension, then expelled. CalLed it a weapon. This policy is totally out of control, being instituted by complete fucking morons. An eyebrow shaver. You couldn't use it as a weapon if you tried, except maybe to stick it in someones eye, which you can also do with a pencil. Better get rid of the pencils. I know where I would stick it.

[snappyturtle]

8. Unbelievable. I am so glad my kids aren't in school today. I would be

a raving maniac if this happened to my daughter. I wonder if the eyebrow trimmer was on the list, I assume they had one, of banded 'weapons'?

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. I think you mean "banned"

And no, an eyebrow trimmer isn't on the banned weapons list in my state.

[LWolf]

12. "Under the Safe School Act..."

Is it unreasonable to suggest that, if you don't like the policy, you attack the Act that gave birth to it, and the people who enacted it, rather than those who are assigned to enforce it?

[earthside]

16. The Law is an Ass

At some level, in a democracy, people are responsible.

Being idiotic, like the school administrators in Penn Hills, cannot be excused by an anal retentive appeal to "just enforcing the law."

Students are not supposed to be robots, and administrators are supposed to have brains.

Suspending and expelling first, then adjudicating the case later is about as un-American as you can get -- and that is what just happened in this case.

This 'zero tolerance' insanity must come to an end, if it doesn't, well, it will be just another nail of cynicism that will destroy our public school system.

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. Well I am not willing to risk losing my teaching certificate because I think a law is stupid

Sorry.

[LWolf]

18. I don't agree with "zero tolerance" policies.

I'm thinking, though, that it's easy to judge those that have to work under bad laws if you don't have to do so yourself. If your livelihood, and that of your family, doesn't depend on your following laws you disagree with.

Like NCLB, for example, which has longer-term, more destructive consequences than "zero tolerance" policies.

There is no "one-size-fits-all" solution to attempting to manage dysfunctional behavior in other people's children. Zero tolerance isn't the answer, but neither is automatic attack of whatever a teacher, or an admin, does when there IS no good option open.

While I wouldn't have chosen to address the situation the way this teacher did, none of my ideas, if you read above, were optimal, either.

This student's behavior was inappropriate and needed to be addressed, regardless of the existence of any "zero tolerance" policy.

How would you address that behavior in the least disruptive manner possible?

[Progressivism]

19. Indeed

Indeed, school administrators ought to be more "Liberal" in their duties. I believe in a benevolent bureaucracy in education.

[earthside]

21. Inappropriate?

This student's behavior was not inappropriate.

An eyebrow trimmer is not a weapon. Period. A sharp pencil has more potential to be a weapon than this 90 percent plastic cosmetic device.

If anyone thinks that an eyebrow trimmer is a weapon ... well, this is why folks talk about schools "dumbing down."

All the teacher or administrator had to do if they felt they had to do something was take the trimmer and put it in their desk draw and tell the student to take it home with her after school.

[LWolf]

22. You are partly correct.

My last 2 lines belong on a different, concurrent thread. The one about the middle school student laying on the floor in front of lockers throwing a tantrum.

My apologies for mixing my threads. The only thing inappropriate about an eyebrow trimmer is expecting to do that kind of personal grooming at school, not the trimmer itself.

I shave, wax, etc. at home before I leave for work. I expect my students to do the same.

As far as whether or not the admin's response was appropriate, see post # 20. As long as that threat is a reality, the admin is not the correct target for criticism.

[donco6]

20. A principal here in Denver was arrested for not complying.

Everyone knew she'd done the right thing, but that didn't stop them from arresting her. Fortunately it worked out after some time. But she could have easily had her entire livelihood destroyed.

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. Bingo!