Delaware: It’s Good Being Zero?
Oct 13th, 2009 by Timothy Pancoast
Update at end
Governor Minner gave us the brilliant slogan “Delaware, It’s Good Being First,” and indeed we were first, page A1 of the Monday edition of the New York Times. However, based on the article maybe we should change our slogan to “Delaware, It’s Good Being Zero,” as in zero tolerance. Hat Tip to Delaware Dem over at Delaware Liberal for first bringing my attention to the story.
From the New York Times Article:
“NEWARK, Del. — Finding character witnesses when you are 6 years old is not easy. But there was Zachary Christie last week at a school disciplinary committee hearing with his karate instructor and his mother’s fiancé by his side to vouch for him.
Zachary’s offense? Taking a camping utensil that can serve as a knife, fork and spoon to school. He was so excited about recently joining the Cub Scouts that he wanted to use it at lunch. School officials concluded that he had violated their zero-tolerance policy on weapons, and Zachary was suspended and now faces 45 days in the district’s reform school.”
Governor Markell likes to talk about taking advantage of the small size of our state in order to provide better, more responsive service to its customers. Those customers being the citizens and businesses in or state. It would seem that the Christiana School District did not get that memo. Should there be a punishment for bringing a tool that includes a knife to school? Perhaps. Should that punishment include suspension and being sent to a reform school for a month and a half? In my opinon, not a chance.
Our state and our school districts are small enough that we should be very capable of dealing with such situations suitably. Simply applying a “zero tolerance” policy to this situation is lazy administration, and flies in the face of what Governor Markell claims he wants to do in the state. Unless of course customizing our service and policies only applies to bringing businesses into the state to raise our revenue base. How about showing us some of that flexibility and responsiveness Governor?
Update: Board relents on 45 day expulsion. 1st grade boy still gets 3 day suspension for bringing a legal eating utensil to school.
Claims is the operative word as I see no difference from the last administration to this one in substance. Please point out where I am wrong but we debated several issues that have not seen the light of day and it is not because of money.
I am glad the young man is pursuing Scouting, a great program.
Mike Protack
I for one am going to the meeting at Porter Road Elementary School tonight to support the young man. I’ve researched this and am happy to see one of our citizen journailists out in the blog community stepping up to take a stand on this.
This is the problem with a “one size fits all” solution. Kids like young Zachary, so excited about taking a POSITIVE step forward end up violating some policy somewhere. Our children have had their youth stolen from them. When I was a 7 year old boy at least 5 of my cub scout friends did this EXACT same thing everyday. Heck, I wore my baseball spikes to school one day because I was excited to be playing in a game that afternoon.
Today our 6, 7 and 8 year old kids are treated like adults and assumptions of violent intent are made immediately. How, in just 20 years have we allowed the innocence to escape out children? Have we really spiraled this far down? And if we have, shouldn’t we do something to help out children regain that innocence and be allowed to be kids?
What’s next, pencils? When will society realize that it isn’t the weapon, it’s the person and their intent. A young person with bad intent can harm someone just as badly with a sharp pencil as they can with camping utensils.
Let’s remove pencils, blunt objects like staplers, and let’s mandate velcrow shoes so students can’t strangle one another with shoestrings! What’s next?!?!
In all seriousness, I hope that the board will apply a common sense approach to resolving this matter. It’s unfortunate that harmless children with a solid background and track record are being punished by these policies that are in place to address those who have true, negative intentions. Those with negative intentions can harm another person with a pencil as easily as they can with camping utensils.
Reverting decisions of policy indicates that the policy may be failed. Hopefully, this will provide the board with an opportunity to re-evaluate its policy.
Local discretion was taken away in the first place because it was abused. The problem with allowing local discretion is that the white kids get congratulated for their enthusiasm, and the black kids get reform school (h/t jason@DL).
I don’t think Zachary should be suspended, but I honestly don’t know how to make the rules both safe and fair. Any ideas?
I think to get off the hook, Zachary and his parents should have to publish a video essay on why it is not OK to bring a knife to school.
Noman, you are correct that it can be a challenge to navigate the line between fair and safe. However, as Governor Markell says, we are a small state. We also have small school districts. If anyone can navigate that line it should be the state of Delaware and its schools. Because of the small size of our state and our districts we should be able to address these issues well before they head into the national spotlight.
Is it any surprise that noman (Jason) resort to the usual race-baiting?
Just still more proof you guys are totally clueless about what goes on in the public schools….
Hube has no ideas.
Anyone else?
Noman, the point is that Delaware and its various school districts are small enough that, while we still need rules, we don’t have to resort to a bunch of one size fits all, zero tolerance policies. The idea you suggest for this specific situation may not be the only option but it is certainly a better fit than the current punishment that would be awarded under the cookie-cutter system.
Actually, I do. None of which involve race-baiting, noman. I’d tell ‘em to you, but to what avail? You and Perry never listen — just race-bait, whine, and offer fairly snarky quips.
“Local discretion was taken away in the first place because it was abused. The problem with allowing local discretion is that the white kids get congratulated for their enthusiasm, and the black kids get reform school ”
noman – I’ve heard about enough of this racist garbage out of the left. Yea, I get it, you people think there is a reason to care about skin color. In fact, you get so uppity over it you make it sound like EVERYONE cares.
Fact – Racism exists in small pockets. It’s only exacerbated by left wing political idealogues who are trying to secure the “black vote” and by hardline groups like the KKK whose legitimacy is nil even today when you liberals try and hold them up as some sort of right wing standard. I see no relation between “race” and “reform school”. The fact is that it’s more likely that a kid from a rough neighborhood (white, black, hispanic, indian, etc.) will have these sorts of intents than one from a more calm neighborhood. I for one am in agreement that we can’t turn our backs on these kids either. We’ve got to clean up the neighborhoods, restore some sense of morality and order to the home situation and ensure these kids have a chance. The truth noman, is that too many minorities live in disaffected communities that are neglected by the residents, the elected officials and the neighbors. I’m not just talking about places like “Eastside” in Wilmington (where 6-8 shootings have taken place since July) either. Places in Bear like Sparrow Run, Glasgow Pines, etc are rough neighborhoods where our little kids (6,7,8 yrs old) are exposed to fighting, weapons, drugs, hardcore violence, (even sex though maybe not directly). When I see a gang of 10 year olds walking around smoking cigarettes and cussing every other word, giving the finger to adults and such I have to question how in the hell we came this far from even the 80′s when we children were rebels…with limits. YouTube, Myspace, Music, TV…we find all kinds of sources of violence and hatred to blame. Even bringing up racism in an age where a BLACK MAN was elected President by being judged not based on the color of his skin but on the content of his character. It’s time we as parents, as adult citizens and as leaders in our communities stood up and took our own lumps. It’s time we stood infront of our kids and said enough is enough. We’ve been deficient..all of us but we can’t be that way anymore.
Fact – The same administrators and teachers that you claim to support (DSEA) can’t be trusted to make a decision about which kid brought the knife to school to cut a cake and which one brought it to school to stab a teacher or student? I for one have a LITTLE more faith in our educators than that. It’s time our educators stood up to the school board and took back some of that “local responsibility”. Our children, educators and administrators do have a right to a safe schools but they also have a responsibility to make the right decisions in how to assess danger. There IS a difference between an honor roll student who brings a knife to school with an uncut cake or a camping utensil to eat lunch and a child with a history of behavioral problems who brings a pocket knife to school.
The cases MUST be judged individually by the folks on the ground. Yes, they have to react and yes they have to consider the source.
Fact: We as parents need to be more involved in every aspect of the things that affect our kids, which these days is everything. We need to be going to these school board meetings all the time. We need to know these people who are making the decisions about what is best for our kids. We need to be involved in out PTA’s and in our neighborhoods. We should know eachother, know the kid down the street.
I know this is a little off topic but here is an example of a parent who isn’t just out of touch, but struggling in many ways… My son was on a field trip that my wife was a chaperone for. Just like when we were kids the field trips require brown bag lunches. Well when they were handing out the lunches my wife discovered that one of the kids was sent on the field trip with nothing but an unpopped bag of microwave popcorn. Really folks? We all struggle, things happen, we lose our jobs, a clerical error results in not receiveing a paycheck, things happen but are we THAT proud that we can’t look to our family, our friends and our neighbors? Are we as family, friends and neighbors that selfish that we don’t think about others? I don’t think we are at heart but I think todays culture has created that in many of us. We’ve got to stop that. Government can’t do it for us. Government growing just makes it worse, it makes us more divissive as we fight for smaller and smaller pieces of pie. We’ve got to do it ourselves. We need to come together as communities and know eachother.
Well spoken, Evan!
Your passion is well placed, as is your desire to work together at the community level on this terrible, age-old societal problem.
On the specific topic here, were I the teacher involved, I would have used the knife to cut the cake, then quietly confiscated the knife, contacted the parents later, and explained the rules. I realize that the teacher is required to report the incident. In my view, there is no rule written that covers every situation; therefore, when judgment is called for, like in this case, use it, even if it means taking a risk.
I have been in this exact situation before, except with a teen aged student. The solution described above worked, even though my administration found out. I venture to say most teachers over their years of teaching have encountered similar dilemmas, and many more challenges. It is part of the job!
Noman, how about legal items used as intended are treated that way. It is not hard. What makes problems is that you liberals act like you have no understanding of what is legal or common sense. The fear should not be based upon something that reminds someone of a weapon. It should be based upon the infliction of violence which is allowed to go on every day.
Tim, I updated your post and moved it to the top. If you want to improve the update, feel free.
Well done.
I would add that these type of rules without discretion and which ignore both common sense and a person’s use of legal items for legal purposes authorized in school makes adults a joke to children. The purpose of education is to teach us discretion and discernment. When children know that what is happening is both stupid and unjust it undermines adult authority.
Perry as usual you have no clue what you are talking about. The original legislation called HB 95 was passed in the 90′s. It requires teachers to report any and all violations to the principal, no exceptions. A teacher could get fired for not reporting this infraction to his/her building supervisor. Depending on who you talk to the principal either has or does not have the ability to forego reporting this infraction to the authorities. A friend of mine who was a principal at multiple schools simply called the police and let them sort out the potential violation.
While this case makes educators look bad, the truth is the current law puts educators between a rock and a hard place. There have been some legislative changes in the last 7 to 8 years giving some flexibility to educators but I don’t blame any educator for erring on the side of caution. Their jobs are on the line.
You have a better chance of staying in a school if you beat the crap out of someone than if you bring a weapon to school and do nothing to your fellow student. Especially if you are designated as Special Ed.
We have now advanced to zero.0.
Waite a second…
Anyways thanks for upgrading my post David.
I am glad to see that the board overturned the most stringent part of the punishment. Even though I think it is sill a little harsh, I can stomach the suspension. The parents are correct though. This needs to be a step in an ongoing process to reform some of these cookie cutter policies. If reform stop here then we will be back in the New York Times again before you know it.
Zero should really relate to the amount of common sense the school board has. They should be suspended for failing to act like intelligent adults. They should also be fined for persecuting a little boy who simply wanted his ‘home stuff’ in his lunch box. Which aspects of his behaviour suggested he was going to go a knife rampage??
So, I was at the SB meeting last night and a young man named (bear with me because it was hard to hear from the back) Devon Hensley stood before the School Board and talked for 3 minutes about how Zero Tolerance Laws/Policies “Disproportionately affect miniorities”. WOAH SILVER!!! I thought that the liberals were arguing in FAVOR of Zero tolerance because LOCAL DISCRETION disproportionately affects minority students…..Another citizen speaker talked about the fact that there is not ONE study that can be found that shows zero tolerance policies as effective policies at decreasing school incidents but there are quite a few that show how they hurt children. He suggested that if the School Board is SO CONCERNED about local administrators discriminating based on race, color, creed, whatever they come up with, perhaps they ought to fire the administrators they find discriminating against the students instead of punishing the students…..A former school board member stood before the board and she excoriated them for being asleep at the wheel and for hijacking the way the Code of Conduct is changed….
The most emotional of the stories I was able to hear (unfortunately I had to leave at 9PM to be home with my own children) came from the mother (and subsequently the child himself) of a 13yr old boy from Kirk Middle School named Kyle. Last year Kyle had to deal with a school bully. He was kicked, punched, beaten and picked on every single day he went to school. He was scared for his life and yet his mother had but one choice at the time, to take him to school and watch him walk away from the car knowing he would come home with yet another bruise. She spoke to the teachers and administrators at Kirk who told her that he was a “tattle-tale” and that “he should fight back”. In January(again it was difficult to hear the exact date), after more than half a year of torment by the bully (who by now I believe had help from others) and ignorance by the teachers/administrators Kyle was the victim of more intimidation. This time it got serious. One of the boys who picked on him brought a pocket knife to school and proceeded to drop it in Kyle’s lap. The thug then went and pointed Kyle out to the teacher as having had a knife. Kyle was scared both of the bully and the teacher but more the bully so he hid the knife. The school suspended and eventually recommended alternative placement (remember, Kyle was a STRAIGHT A STUDENT with NO record of these kinds of incidents in the past). The School Board refused to hear the case even after his mother had the case investigated independently and obtained proof that the bully did drop the knife in Kyle’s lap and that the knife was not Kyle’s.
To the untrained mind it may seem like Kyle’s case would be a case against local discretion. I believe it’s an idictment of both a zero tolerance policy that ignores the facts and an educational system that is devoid of just about all morality and decency. Out schools aren’t safe havens anymore. Even as far back as the 90′s when I was in High School the hallways could turn into war zones if the mood struck people. Today though, today it’s a constant struggle in almost every middle school through high school. It gets worse the more disaffected the feeder neighborhoods but all of our public schools fall short. Stop the political destruction of our schools. Stop removing morality, honesty, decency and innocence from our schools in order to achieve your political goals. Save the damn children. Give them SOMEWHERE they can go and not be bombarded by drugs, violence, sex, gangs, weapons, and adult content. Enough is enough.
I now nominate Evan to be school board President.
We have to know what we do not tolerate for zero tolerance not to be zero sense.
What we do not tolerate is evil. We do not tolerate children or adults who would harm the children under our protection. It is not eating with an eating utensil that should bother us. The problem is much like the gun control debate, we put our rage against objects so we can avoid confronting evil. Which is more of a threat to the well being of the children, a kid with a legal eating utensil using it to eat or a bully beating kids up with no weapons, poking fun of them, and stealing their snack money? We crack down on the wrong people.
Bring butcher knives or guns into the school without clearance is a problem, bringing a butter knife in the lunch pail is not. I have no problem with holding the knife at a teacher’s desk or office, but I do have a problem with treating it like a weapon with no intent shown. It is like the Delaware child suspended for cutting out a gun shape in art class. We need to get a grip. Evan and all of the commentors made good points.
Thanks Tim!
Look, it’s a subject (and I have many) that I am really passionate about. Our kids are being robbed of the right to define themselves by all sides and their education politicized and it’s been going on for years, since the government took over schools. The level of beauracracy in our schools is crazy out of control and the outright ignorance of points of view is a disgrace.
You can’t teach the theory of evolution in school and not mention that some people believe in creation. You simply cannot only accept one side of any well thought out argument in a school enviornment. I mean that sincerely and maybe neither side wants to hear it but there must be time spent on the theory of Creation, the theory of Evolution and the theory of Intelligent Design (some would call this a cross between Evolution and Creation). The kids should be tested on all the theories to show that they have understood the subject matter, retained the information and what the different positions are but they should not be demanded to agree to any one side. I’m not suggesting we indoctrinate children into any particular religion but we can’t ignore the hundreds of millions of Americans who recognize some form of creation. All sides have a right to be heard but no side has a right to a monopoly on being taught in schools. Enough is enough.
The same goes for Global Warming. The children should be taught both sides and the TRUTH should be taught. Children should be learning in school about the changes in temperature that occurred long before humans even inhabited the earth much less burned fossil fuels. They should learn about how the Earth’s climate is cyclical to a large extent and there are warming and cooling trends traced back many millions of years. They should also be learning about how fossil fuels CAN harm the atmosphere and the science behind how we are learning more about our impact on the enviornment. They should learn about how they can help to be good stewards of the planet but they should also hear about the positive steps nations (INCLUDING AND ESPECIALLY OURS) are taking to increase awareness and help individuals make informed choices about climate change. Our kids should not be indoctrinated by one side into believing that evil American Corporations who spew toxins into the air in an effort to poison people and destroy the Earth because it’s simply not the truth (at least not the whole truth).
..the white kids get congratulated for their enthusiasm, and the black kids get reform school…
You are stunningly politically-correct. Fascist.
[...] challenging Daryll Scott in the 31st RD. Poliquin and Smith in, Wagner out. Timothy Pancoast on the Zero Tolerance idiocy in Christina last week. David on the Castle v. O’Donnell race, and his divided loyalties. [...]