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Girl suspended for bringing rocks to school
Categories: Kids 8-11, Health & Safety, In The News, Education
If you've been reading ParentDish for long, then you know that kids are finding new and exciting ways to get themselves suspended from school all the time. Taking calls from parents stationed in Iraq, smelling their own shirt, and sporting a trendy haircut have all caused school suspensions, along with a permanent mark on school records. Sometimes, the consequences fit the crime. Sometimes, schools go too far in trying to enforce a "zero tolerance" policy. Take the case of a nine-year-old Milwaukee girl who recently received a three-day suspension for taking rocks, a hammer, and a screwdriver to school. When the bus driver discovered her with the items, the police were called and a threat assessment team was assembled.
The thing is, the girl didn't take the items to school to hurt anybody. Instead, she wanted to share her new hobby with friends. She'd recently discovered that you could crack open rocks with a hammer and find shinier rocks inside. The police determined that she had no intention of hurting anyone, but the threat assessment team says that due to details that can't be shared with the public, they deemed the suspension appropriate.
It's sad that schools feel the need to clamp down so hard on students who make simple mistakes but mean no harm. What do you think about this case -- does she deserve a three-day suspension or is the school district overreacting?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sandyone 5-06-2008 @ 2:27PM
well, tim robbins *did* bust out of prison with similar tools, you know.
Reply
eugene 5-06-2008 @ 3:38PM
Young David did kill a giant with nothing morer than some rocks and a sling so potentially we were looking at a paradigm shifting school attack here. Not only should that little girl be suspended by I propose strict anti rock laws. Rocks are far to easily obtained in this country.
The school did the right thing, now I call upon all parents to take immediate action, look around your homes and make sure no dangerous rocks are within reach of children. Oh, the horror, the horror.
And for all you sarcam challenged people, yes, I'm being sarcastic, so please no more hate mail saying I should be forced to work in quarries or something.
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Meagan 5-06-2008 @ 6:35PM
You should be forced to work in quarries!
Personally I don't think the steps you suggest go far enough. We should abolish rocks nation wide, anyone found to be knowingly or unknowingly in possession of rocks (ignorance of the law is no excuse) should be fined and imprisoned.
There could be some difficulty enforcing this though, as I'm sure if we look deep enough we'll find that due to corruptions rocks can be found even on government property, sometimes in plain sight.
We like to think our parks and playgrounds are safe, but those places are some of the worst offenders.
Mel 5-06-2008 @ 7:16PM
Dude, public school "educators" and administrators are a special (ed.) breed.
Reply
ninainindia 5-06-2008 @ 10:01PM
What kind of person would even think of calling the police? Must be something wrong with that busdriver. If I were the police I would charge him for the unnecesary costs made. I would think the police and that special team have better things to do.
Reply
Derek 5-07-2008 @ 9:01AM
Personally, I think we send our kids to school in a Hannibal Lector lock-up type device.
We should just assume they mean themselves and others harm. Seriously any and every object that surrounds them could be and probably will be used as a weapon at some point in time by someone.
So we should just take the pre-cautions and assume the worst of every child in the nation and lock them all away...
Then we can ban people from having any more children and that will solve everything.
Reply
Kelly 5-07-2008 @ 3:15PM
Wouldn't be nice if there was still a place for common sense in this world?
Reply