Monday, September 17, 2007

Now This Really Grinds My Gears

A school officer found a Swiss Army knife in Chandler’s car’s console. Under the school’s zero tolerance policy it was an automatic suspension for Chandler.

The next day, the Chandlers found out Will had also been charged with a felony.


I just sent the following email to the Superintendent of Cobb County Schools:

What in the world is wrong with Cobb Schools that they would destroy a young man's life over this?

Whoever possesses such rigid lack of judgment and discretion that the rules supplant the reason for the rules--educating young people--ought to be ashamed of themselves.

This is like a bad reenactment of "Les Miserables."

Stop this evil foolishness at once and get real. Good grief.
[Via KABA Newslinks]

17 comments:

Voolfie said...

Zero tolerance = Zero intelligence.

Why we insist on trying to prevent - in our children - behavior which we (the so-called "adults")will not address in ourselves is beyond me.

Mark said...

I just did a quick search. In Gerogia in safe DrugFree/Weapon Free School zone, any knife with a blade in excess of 2 inches is banned and the carrying of such a felony. Stupid law. My multi-tool has a 3 1/4 inch knife blade on it, but it's a "TOOL" not a weapon. I'm trying to post link.

http://pweb.netcom.com/~brlevine/ga.txt

hope that worked

Anonymous said...

Welcome to the Future,

Now they "own him".

The people who voted for this legislation should be put on trial.

That is not "law" that they created.

BobG said...

What kind of jackasses pass an idiot law like that?

Anonymous said...

I found a post on Digg about this. Apparently this is the principal's email address:

Ed.Thayer@cobbk12.org

I just got done sending this idiot a letter describing what I thought of his Zero Intelligence policy.

Anonymous said...

(Another) Anonymous says:

"The people who voted for this legislation should be put on trial."

You're a merciful man. I have much worse ideas about what should be done to them, but I won't say them here.

Anonymous said...

The whole zero tolerance issue is the law of GA. specifically so that the school will not have to make a decision. Because if they made a decision and let a white person get by with something that a black person (or vice versa) didn't get by with, there would be a firestorm that they don't want to deal with. Nothing ever gets to stand on merit or circumstance. It is all cut and dried and there is no recourse. An email to the principal will get the response "Well, we'd (I'd) like to be able to do something, but it's the law." Sam/GA

Anonymous said...

At least the politicians could brag that they were "tough on crime."

Time for some jury nullification.

Anonymous said...

Allowing children to attend state schools is becoming too dangerous.

Either they can be attacked by a felon, or be made into one with insane laws ... or a mis-statement by a child can result in termination of the parent's rights.

Homeschooling is starting to look like the only safe course.

Vinnie said...

I pay taxes so my school can have an administrator to make the tough decisions. Zero tolerance policies are enforceable by a minimum wage clerk with a rubber stamp. Stop paying the principal of any school with any ZT policy. See how quick this problem goes away.
Hope exists! My son got to pick a prize from the prize closet at his public kindergarten. He picked a plastic spring powered gun that shoots a 3' foam ball.

Anonymous said...

Superintedent Sanderson;

I have read with complete incredulity that the Cobb County Schools have suspended Mr. Chandler and that he has been booked into Cobb County Jail on Felony Weapons charges. All of this for bringing a Swiss Army knife to school in his cars console. You have taken the Districts zero tolerance policy to Kafkaesque ludicracy.

With over 31 years in Education you should surely know that back in your day, it was considered perfectly normal for a boy to have a pocket knife with him wherever he went. What happened to reason? What happened to Good Old Country values? What happened to Sanity? It must not exist anymore at the Cobb County School Board. Are you really going to destroy a young mans life over this?

I read with great interest that the Cobb County Distrcit Focus plan's position on student achievement states:
"Students are the #1 priority in the Cobb County School District; they are why our schools exist." The school district policy you have enacted seems like it is designed to turn students into criminals. Maybe your schools exist to fill the Cobb County Jail?

How about a new Core Value for your District Focus Plan.

"Cobb County Schools-Turning Students into Felons is our specialty"

Anonymous said...

I'm not a lawyer but this case doesn't have a chance for a jury trial.

I think that the SCOTUS ruled that a defendant has to be facing at least 6 month in prison to be able to get a jury trial ( and a chance of jury nullification)

Basically, the people that voted in the crew that passed this law have completely no understanding that there is a correlation between reality and what they drop into the ballot box.

Lenin called it "governing by the mandate of the cooks" (female cooks to be precise).

Anonymous said...

What was the coppers PC for searching the vehicle? The subject was not in custody at the time. Did the student give permission to search? This whole deal smells to high heaven!!

Anonymous said...

Kristopher said:

"Allowing children to attend state schools is becoming too dangerous.

Either they can be attacked by a felon, or be made into one with insane laws ... or a mis-statement by a child can result in termination of the parent's rights.

Homeschooling is starting to look like the only safe course.


That is dead-on, unfortunately. I am unwilling to turn my children over to the state for 7hrs per day. That is 7 hours per day of opportunity for either great harm to occur, or for them to accidentally violate some arbitrary state law, or for them to accidently get my parental rights nullified. That's too much risk, especially when it comes to children.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, this is becoming a common trait among our nation's schools. School board members, by law, have to be brainwashed at state level indoctrinations before they can serve. They are for the most part taught to comply with what they are told to do from superintendants & state authorities. Corruption is common among school administrations. These are places of heaven for petty tyrants. And teachers & taxpayers just keep complying. Unless we have another revolution soon this nation will be past the point of no return to a dictatorship.
Agpilot60

Anonymous said...

This is the response I got from Thayer.
"Since you don't have any of the facts, why would you make statements as such? I
have a response for you but I choose not to stoop to your low level of
ignorance."

Ed Thayer, Principal
Wheeler High School
Phone: 770-578-3266
Fax: 770-578-3268
ed.thayer@cobbk12.org

AgPilot60

Anonymous said...

This is my response to Mr. Thayer not stooping to my level of ignorance.

Mr.. Thayer,
I have enough facts from here:

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/14043836/detail.html

and here:

http://waronguns.blogspot.com/2007/09/now-this-really-grinds-my-gears.html

AND, I have an extensive experience with school administrators and their loony behavior. There is absolutely no reason for a charge of any kind for a student to have a knife in the console of his vehicle, especially a Swiss Army knife.

Since I graduated from high school 41 years ago I have seen public schools go from educational institutions to baby sitting institutions with little regard for teaching and lots of regard for turning out politically correct graduates that don't even have fundamental skills. Twenty five years ago, most ordinary high school students had more ability and could achieve more than the advanced placement students can now. I hardly ever hire high school graduates anymore as they just don't have fundamental thinking and creative skills. Many college graduates in general just barely meet the requirements for entry level workers, but they sure know how to cheat and demand more pay for less productive work. Most do not even have the simplest extrapolation skills. A good example of this is watching Jay Leno's "interviews on the street". College students and graduates don't even know the most fundamental facts of history or how our government works.

Instead of "stooping down to my level of ignorance", how about crawling out of the cesspool of political correctness and collectivism and come up into the real world. I suspect my "level of ignorance"is not anywhere near where you think it is.

AgPilot 60