Felony Weapons in your Camping Gear
Yes, this DOES relate to food. Sort of. Fear not.
While at work yesterday I got a call from Bean’s school. This never bodes well. It was the assistant principal. “This is a big deal, but it isn’t a big deal,” she said. OK…
It turns out that yesterday, he got off the bus and walked into the cafeteria, where he was going to eat breakfast. He asked the assistant principal if he could show her something. He had taken his camping mess kit cutlery to school with him. He asked if he was allowed to eat with his cutlery.
Here’s where you see the effects of “zero-tolerance” policies complete with mandated punishment come into play. The Asst Principal was required by the rules of my school district to confiscate the cutlery. She was required to fill out a police report, as this was felony weapons possession. She was required to suspend him from school. She was required to set up a tribunal hearing for the infraction. For a knife, fork, and spoon that Bean asked if he could use.
The cutlery in question, a/k/a felony weapons... The point is pokey, but the blade would bruise you before cutting you. Use on bananas for optimal results.
When she called me, she explained that his punishment was the lightest she could give as set forth by the district guidelines. I told her I did appreciate that. “But he is a fifth grader, and he should know better than to bring a knife to school.” Here is were I politely disagreed. This cutlery set wasn’t a “knife” in his mind, it was eating utensils. He knows what a real knife is and this simply didn’t qualify. You see, he HAS a knife. A real honest-to-goodness cut-your-fingers-off knife. He has done his knife safety badge in Cub Scouts and he knows where and when he can bring it out. It’s not a show-off piece. It’s a tool used for specific tasks.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not supporting weapons in school. But I also don’t support “zero tolerance” policies of ANY type. This sort of mandated punishment attempts to put a student taking an aspirin at lunch on the same moral level with one smoking pot out back while skipping gym. It takes any room for judgment or wisdom away from those who should be demonstrating such higher-order human functions to the children they are teaching. The only judgment it teaches the kids is “Don’t get caught” when doing something perfectly acceptable in any situation other than public school. To my way of thinking, that undermines the very authority the administrators are trying to cultivate.
The county sheriff did find it unnecessary to come collect the knife, fork, and spoon, and asked that the Asst Principal just return it to me or Mr Click. I had been told that the item would have to be turned over to the police in the course of the investigation. Apparently the sheriff’s office was satisfied with taking a brief report over the phone.
My 10 year old is suspended today. I had to explain that he should not have taken the utensils to school. I am not angry with him. And this is an example where the punishment hardly fits the crime. And that the world is full of injustices, little ones and terrible ones. That’s always a hard lesson for little boys to learn.
When I told TW about this yesterday, she of course saw the injustice of the situation. But then she pointed out something I hadn’t thought of… The Green Moms are sending their children to school with mess kits to reduce environmental impact. The REALLY Green Moms will likely not be using plastic, since that is a petroleum-based product, and could contribute to the ingestion of toxins. That leaves wood and metals as the durable choices for lunchboxes and mess kits. Will we be seeing more of this sort of thing as the demand for using durable goods as opposed to disposables increases? It’s a bigger question than me and the Bean. What do you think?
Posted: August 21st, 2009 under Sort of About Food.
Tags: Bean, school
Comments
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Time August 22, 2009 at 9:30 am
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Comment from Condo Blues
Time August 24, 2009 at 2:04 pm
The suspension was for the knife portion of the mess kit, right? I can understand why the school had to confiscate and enforce the knife rule because from the photo the blade style makes it look like it’s a sharp blade like a jackknife. At least the authorities involved had the sense to realize that it your son wasn’t trying to harm anyone and that the knife wasn’t sharp enough to do damage – except maybe to a soft stick of butter. What would have happened if he brought a regular butter knife in his lunch box to eat with – same thing? Or do they provide butter knives in the school cafeteria?
Comment from ClickMichelle
Time August 24, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Under zero-tolerance, a knife is a knife is a knife is a knife. I think if they stopped to draw a distinction between a butter knife and a pointy-but-dull mess knit knife, it would defeat the purpose of the zero-tolerance policies in place all over the country. (It would also make good sense, but that is beside the point.)
Bean isn’t the first kid this has happened to. I’m a former FL girl and this happened there too, shortly before I relocated. http://www.clickorlando.com/news/14857286/detail.html Only there, the child was actually arrested and charged. The School spokesperson was pretty unapologetic about the whole thing, even while admitting the girl did nothing wrong, and was just eating her lunch.
Here’s the actual infraction: Possession of a knife on school property, the bus, the bus stop, or at any school event (e.g., Bowie, Dirk, lockblade, hunting, pen, pocket, switchblade, utility—knives of any size; straight edge razor, double-edge razor, or retractable razor).
No mention of butter knives, but I’d imagine they’d have to closely resemble a mayonnaise spreader and have limited usefulness in order to be deemed “not a weapon”.
Comment from GrumpyOldGit
Time September 24, 2009 at 12:00 pm
My Dad gave me a penknife when I was 11. I am 59 now and still carry one to school (Where I work. I didn’t want you to think I am still a pupil.). I will be giving one to my grandson when he is 11.
Comment from Chris W
Time September 24, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Zero-tolerance was one of the worst things to come out after the Columbine High incident. 9/11 just reinforced a bad decision, and it may be decades before we see common sense return to our school systems!
Comment from Derek
Time September 24, 2009 at 2:36 pm
You’re absolutely right on all aspects of the “No Tolerance” issue. It’s insanely unbalanced to the “crime” they’re claiming.
I have 2 sons in Boy Scouts and they clearly understand the role of knives. They are tools and only tools. Only in the hands of the untrained or malicious do they become weapons. The same can be said for any item. Imagine what would happen if any of these policy makers watched Matt Damon stab his foe with a ballpoint pen in the movie ‘Borne Identity.
Comment from Chuck
Time September 24, 2009 at 2:43 pm
I hope you made sure to tell your son why he was suspended, including their narrow mindedness toward utensils and such, and how they made a big thing out of something that should not have even come up, especially after he got their permission to bring it to class.
I say this because your son needs to be told the whole truth. If he is mature enough to carry a knife, he is old enough to know that there are people out there trying their hardest to steal his freedom from him.
Chuck
Comment from Mike
Time September 24, 2009 at 10:45 pm
America…too dumb to live?
Comment from Valgard
Time September 25, 2009 at 3:36 am
I personally feel they should rethink their “no tolerance” policy. Then again I got “caught” multiple times throughout my school career and I only had my knife confiscated by the teacher once (in middle school) and was not suspended or any punishment other than a call to my mother. I carried a decent sized pocket knife nearly every day of high school and while I made sure to never use it in front of administrators there were a few teachers that didn’t care if I had a knife because they saw me as a responsible person that wouldn’t use it to try and stab another student or take hostages or some other such insane thing.
Comment from evanism
Time September 26, 2009 at 1:37 am
hehe, the USA is a stupid country. You abrogate your rights to “authorities” and this is the insanity that ensues. You should worry, as it will get A LOT worse before it gets better. No point getting angry either, as you will then be seen as a radical and marginalised. Hehe, you CANT WIN.
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Time August 22, 2009 at 7:12 am
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