Middle schooler expelled for a minimum of a year for paring knife
Suburban district expels student
A White Pine Middle School student was found with a paring knife in his posession. This fruit knife with a short, flexible blade is a deadly weapon according to Saginaw Township policy. The School Board moved quickly to expel the dangerous child.
A bus driver spotted the item while the student waited outside the school for his ride home in early April, said Superintendent Jerry L. Seese.
“He didn’t threaten anybody with it, but the board is taking a zero-tolerance stance,” Seese said.
Thank goodness for zero tolerance. White Pine’s oranges and apples may now breath a little easier.
Additional contact info:
Principal Bonnie Eaves
School Board President Marianne Bird
School Board Vice President Nancy Cotcamp
School Board Secretary Francisco Borja
School Board Treasurer Judith Lincoln
School Board Trustee Lisa Hall
School Board Trustee Donald McAnelly
School Board Trustee Barbara Russell
I think a key problem with all of these weapon related situations is that people are labeling everything as a weapon. Toy replicas are not weapons, they are toys. An Exacto knife is not a deadly weapon, its an art tool. The one inch blade, though sharp, can’t penetrate deep enough to kill unless it’s used to commit suicide by cutting surface arteries. A paring knife… if the blade is over 3 inches, it could be dangerous but then so are all writing instruments, except chalk and crayons (too soft).
So, a weapon is something designed and made to inflict harm. Anything can inflict harm. It’s the intent of the design and manufacture to inflict harm that makes it a weapon. Heck, kids could inflict deadly harm with a gym sock stuffed with a soda can… makes a nice cudgle. A shoestring makes a nice garrot. Intent makes the weapon.
You make a good point, Brian. It makes me think of the game “Clue.” The candlestick is only a weapon because it’s used to commit murder. If they made zero tolerance “Schoolhouse Clue” you’d have Little Bobby Baker, with the boy scout spoon/knife combo, in the cafeteria–expel him for at least a year. It doesn’t matter that there was no assault–unless that’s what you call cutting up his chicken fried steak.
I ran across a zero tolerance weapons policy once, that defined weapons as “guns, knives, swords, clubs, bows, crossbows or anything that may be used to harm another living creature.” The penalty for possessing any such item was instantaneous expulsion (no suspension, no lesser penalty, no extenuating circumstances, just permanent expulsion). The way it was written it banned everything from butter knives in the dining area to pencils at a writing desk. It was so broad that closing your hand into a fist, for any reason meant instant expulsion (since that would make YOU a weapon capable of harming someone…heck, the wording of the policy would even have banned cooking lobster).
I am surprised that zero intelligence has not picked up the story about the kid who brought the super-sized burrito to school and the whole place was put on lockdown. They thought it was a bomb. The middle schooler was on the Jimmy Kimmel show. I believe the incident happened in Clovis New Mexico. Goes to show how paranoid the world has become and how the story of Chicken Little has a more prominent place in our culture more than ever.
Right here.
Bergman - Actually, your hand can be made into a weapon without closing it into a fist. Especially if you have nails (I’ve accidentally clawed myself quite often).