Forth-grader suspended, faces expulsion, for Cub Scout utensil kit
Legislator asks leniency for boy suspended over knife
A fourth-grade student at Wakelee Elementary School in the Wolcott School District was suspended for 10 days for violating the school’s zero tolerance policy against weapons. His mother had packed a Boy Scout utensil kit with his lunch.
His mother, Rebecca Glendening, said she thought she had removed the knife attached to the kit, but instead she had mistakenly removed a can-opener tool.
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[State Rep. John] Mazurek, D-Wolcott, is asking Wolcott school officials to reconsider the 10-day-suspension.
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The boy did not violate the policy; his mother did, Mazurek wrote Thursday in a letter to Board of Education members.“What possibly good could come out of this boy serving a 10-day suspension?” wrote Mazurek
The cutting utensil was never taken out but another student recognized the Cub Scout tool and reported Glendening to school authorities. Mazurek is asking the school to show leniency for the student, replacing his ten day suspension with a letter reprimanding his mother.
Meanwhile, the boy’s father, Carl Glendening, picks up his son’s school work each afternoon and delivers it to him to complete at home. The boy also is banned from bi-weekly Cub Scout meetings because the troop meets at Wakelee and he is not allowed on school property during the suspension.
In his letter, Mazurek said he doesn’t believe state statute mandates “lengthy punitive action.” The board should consider the facts of the case before doling out punishment, he wrote. “This case begs for leniency on your part.”
The boy’s expulsion hearing is scheduled for March 9.
Contact information:
Wakalee Principal John Cook
It is a wonder they did not call the swat team in to arrest the young man. The Scouts should find another place to hold meeting as some of their activities may involve using such “deadly weapons”.
Another student alerted school officials when he saw the utensil and recognized it as a Cub Scout tool with a blade.
The kids know the rules, and are conditioned for reporting them. If the school fails to empower kids when they take this brave step, how will they respond in the future. Peer discipline defines leaders. Even if the politicians gets involved they won’t be there for every case.
The student with the kit does not need to be suspended for 10 days and expelled to give the reporter an “atta boy”.
If you are conditioning the public to believe that excessive punishment is effective, empowering a cupie moral authority is ideal. The administration has ‘no choice’, their ‘hands are tied’, and the parents of the cupie doll must defend their child’s action.
“The kids know the rules, and are conditioned for reporting them.”
Somebody’s gotta say it, so I will. The Nazis and Communists conditioned kids to rat out their friends and families, too.
When I was a scout, we were trained how to use knives responsibly. Sounds like being a scout now means that they are eyed with more suspicion, not less.
“…another student recognized the Cub Scout tool and reported Glendening to school authorities.” Wow! I last heard of this in Communist China during their Cultural Revolution and Great Leap Forward. Students ratting out their classmates? What are we teaching our kids?
The knife in the mess kit is a normal table knife. They probably have them in the cafeteria. So, in essence, his offense was having an eating utensil outside the dining area, just like in prison.
What is sad, is I can remeber when I got my first Cub Scout knife. It was so cool, Blue with locking blades and a loop so you could hang it from your belt - which I did when we “Were in Uniform.” (this was mid sixties, bt almost everyone carrie a small pocket knife). The difference then was they were looked as a personal tools not weapons. We also knew if you ever threatened someone with it, even playing aorund your butt was in trouble. Amazing how they weren’t a problem then becuase we were talk to be responsible
How does one get citizenship in Canada??
Canada is just as bad as the United States in regards to zero tolerance. Bureacratic, unthinking stupidity and a CYA attitude even if you have to throw a kid to the wolves is just the nature of the government school beast whether you are in Canada or the US. Government schools are run by bureacrats, and petty ones at that for the most part. They know what side their bread is buttered on. Some government school officials manage to rise above the fray and act in a decent manner, but it seems more and more can’t or won’t. If you go to educationnews.org to the second page, you can check out education stories from around the world. Increasingly, government schools in other countries are implementing these policies.
After reading some of the stories here and on other sites, you begin to wonder how these people sleep at night.
I am the mom who packed the camping spoon / knife. It really was accidental, as I was out of plastic spoons that morning (the purpose of the spoon was for my son to eat his snack pack pudding.) I did not know that there was a knife in that part of the utensil. I was shocked when that moronic principal called to tell me that “my son was eating his pudding with a ‘DEADLY WEAPON’” (Honest to God, that is what the idiot said!) I offered to come and pick it up, but he was hell- bent on proving what a ninny he was. I told him that I’d call the media, but he didn’t believe me. What a tremendous embarrassment to the school, school board, and the Superintendent. My 4th grader took a 10 day suspension and a 1 day “expulsion” over this whole mess. All he learned was that (in addition to being responsible for himself), he was also responsible for MY actions. To make matters even more confusing, while I violated school “policy”, the principal and school board violated STATE LAW when they did not provide my child with either written notice of suspension, or a tutor for his schoolwork. Go figure.
I was just thinking about my Cub Scout knife and how I always carried it, yes, even to school in the forth grade. We even took our new .22 rifles for show and tell after Christmas break. Oh, I forgot I can’t say Christmas. Unbelievable.
the saddest aspect of this is to think over what it TEACHES the children about the school district, and the way some of our schools are run. not even an ATTEMPT at common sense, or an examination of INTENT.