WyBlog

Zero tolerance policies are the result of zero common sense

To an education bureaucrat six-year-old Zachary Christie is Public Enemy #1. The Delaware first-grader recently joined the Cub Scouts and was so proud of his new camping gear that he took a combination eating utensil to school to use at lunch.

The knife-fork-spoon gadget ran afoul of the Christina School District code of conduct which includes a zero-tolerance policy on weapons, including "knives".

Little Zachary was suspended from school for his brazen violation of the regulations, and sentenced by his school board to spend 45 days in the district's reform school.

After his parents raised a ruckus and bloggers took up Zachary's cause the school board quickly reconsidered and "revised" their policy. The punishment for kindergarteners and first graders is now reduced to a 5 day suspension. So the absurd policy still stands, but Zachary's sentence has been commuted to "time served".

This is supposed to make everyone feel better? They didn't inject one iota of common sense into their Code of Conduct; they just punted on punishing a kid who made them look foolish. The next victim of their idiocy probably won't be so fortunate.

Fausta notes the rational for this kind of idiocy is the fear of being labeled discriminatory. Well that, and the notion that only law enforcement is qualified to determine if something like a spork poses a threat to the welfare of other students.

According to HelpZachary.com the three top honchos in his school district all have doctorate-level degrees (presumably in education). And between them they don't have the common sense of a six-year-old?

I guess something I've long suspected really is true; when someone graduates from teacher's college he leaves his common sense behind, in a box, never to be seen again.

And the stupidity goes all the way to the top floor:

"There is no parent who wants to get a phone call where they hear that their child no longer has two good seeing eyes because there was a scuffle and someone pulled out a knife," said George Evans, the president of the Christina district's school board. He defended the decision, but added that the board might adjust the rules when it comes to younger children like Zachary.

Good grief man! That is some amazingly muddle-headed and cowardly thinking masquerading as self-righteous claptrap you're spouting. Were you elected to lead or obfuscate?

Long before this incident something else was "suspended" in the Christiana School District — common sense. Unfortunately it's in distressingly short supply in many public schools around the nation. Bureaucrats hide behind regulations and policies so they don't have to actually make tough decisions.

It's easier for them to treat every kid uniformly than it is to bother taking the time to see each one as an individual. So then, why should these school administrators command lavish salaries if they're not going to earn them by exercising a little discretion?

School boards could save their towns a lot of money by replacing their highly paid administrators with some blanket policies downloaded from StupidPolicies-R-us.com and a chimpanzee to enforce them.

So long as the chimp doesn't decide to get a doctorate in education.

Posted at 10:28 by Chris Wysocki   [/rants]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |
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