It's a Fork, It's a Spoon, It's a...Weapon? BLOG #8

You may have already heard this story, but if not, get this....6 year old Zachary Christie was suspended from school because of a Cub Scout utensil! Zachary could also face 45 days of reform school! Imagine trying to find character witnesses at a disciplinary hearing for this case!!

Zachary recently joined Cub Scouts and wanted to take his Cub Scout utensil to school. Why? Because it serves as a knife, fork, and spoon and he was SUPER excited to use it. Would you let your six year old bring it to school? Well, if you said no, you're not the only one. The reason Zachary's "punishment" is so severe is due to an incident that occurred at this same school last year....

A grandmother sent a birthday cake and a knife to school with her third-grade granddaughter. The teacher cut the cake with the knife and served it to the students. The teacher then called the principal and informed him about the knife. The third-grader was EXPELLED for a YEAR!

Christina School District in Newark, Delaware adopted zero-tolerance policies for possession of any weapons on school grounds. Zachary's Cub Scout utensil had a knife in it, therefore, school officials had no choice but to suspend him. Are school policies going too far? He's a first grader after all! "It just seems unfair," Zachary said, while practicing his lower-case letters with his mom.

Obviously, there's two ways we can look at this situation. Zero-tolerance means....zero-tolerance, no exceptions. Think of Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings. How about trying to decipher between innocent pranks and mistakes to more serious threats. We must protect the students.

Then there's the question of....are schools going too far? Because of the zero-tolerance policy, school suspensions and expulsions have increased dramatically over the last few years. These students are then often put on the streets or other places where behaviors could worsen. In Baltimore about 12% of the city's enrollment were suspended in 2006-2007. Ronnie Casella, an associate professor of education who has written about school violence added, "There's no evidence that zero-policies make schools safer.

So, what IS the answer? Zero-tolerance? Or be flexible and "tolerate" some mishaps? Maybe programs and support groups are the answer. How about adult mentorships?

* Seventh-grade girl expelled for using a utility knife to cut windows out of a paper house for a class projects.
* 13 year old boy suspended and attended reform school for 45 days after another student dropped a pocket knife in his lap.

* 86% of public schools reported at least one violent crime in 2005-2006. Maybe this is our answer. We must protect our students....right? Do we want to take chances?