Anthracite: Just take a second to remember what political party is supported actively by the majority of these teachers coming up with and implementing these ridiculous “no tolerance” policies.
Sorry, but that is dead wrong. Teachers don’t come up with these rules. Some of them hate them as much as students (because they’re supposed to enforce them). It’s school board members and (sometimes) administrators who come up with these rules. Big difference.
What I hate about zero-tolerance is that it removes the need for anyone in power to think criticaly about the situation. Things are automatic; automatic suspensions and sometimes automatic reccomendations for expulsion. About two years ago in Montgomery County, Maryland (I think it was that county, it was in the DC metro area, anyway), a six year old kid was suspended and reccomended for expulsion for bringing a green toy gun to school. (Another parent snitched him out when she saw he had it at the bus stop. Bitch.)
Now, the kid was obviously not expelled. Why? No one in their right mind would expel a six year old for that. This, of course, begs the question why the hell do the rules regulate that he must be reccomended for expulsion?
Because it’s easier to refer to a rule book than it is to actually think.
The worst case of stupid rule application (and one which is now explicitly forbidden by court injunction) involved a child who had had a spinal injury and was therefore on a respiratory. He had to have medical supplies in case his tracheostomy tube became blocked. The school said that those supplies had to be kept in the nurse’s office. One time, his tube in fact became blocked. Because it took so long to find the nurse and get the nurse to open up the office, the kid nearly died. The parents sued the school (under the Individuals with Disabilities Act) and was able to get an order prohibiting the school from enforcing its stupid zero-tolerance rule as applied to their child because the policy interfered with the “provision of special education to a child with a disability”; he is now allowed to carry his medical supplies on his wheelchair.
The stupid thing is that the parents had to go to court over this.
Teachers and teachers unions are often the ones actively supporting this and proposing it to the school boards. And here in KC, most of these policies are being proposed, put into place, and enforced by the school administration after having been given just the authority to do so by the school board. And they are the ones enforcing it with such mindless, insane vigor.
Teachers have well shown their ability to go on strike and to refuse to follow board policies they disagree with. Any teacher who tells a diabetic they cannot have their insulin, or an asthmatic they cannot have their inhaler, is either criminally stupid or malicious.
Remember - these are the same people that will shut down an entire school district over a dispute with a pay raise or retirement. Surely this is a little more important?
My anger at this is really stemming from being a diabetic, who wonders why a teacher who restricts or denies access to a diabetic child’s medicine is not in prison for endangering that child’s health or life. Instead of being hailed by a lock-step group of teachers for “making our schools safe”.
Another reason why my daughters (should I have them) will go to private school.
Many states make petty theft a felony when the defendant has previously been convicted of petty theft. After all, we must protect our vital national pizza supply.
I just have to say, I don’t have kids. But if I did, there is no WAY I’d send them to school. Homeschool all the way. What a terrible way to live for anyone.
Johnny L.A.: You don’t get out much, do you? Anthracite is talking about the Democrats. They’re the party of unions. In Michigan, the rivalry between our Republican governor and the teacher’s unions is extremely bitter, and I think I can safely say that most people think the teacher’s union needs to be sent back to kindergarden.
If I were in charge, I’d implement term limits for the people on the school board. Restrictive ones, too, like only one or two terms and then that’s it. You can never be on the school board again. And it would be a requirement that all people on the school board must have children in public schools while they serve.
actually, Diceman, wasn’t it Michigan’s Republican controlled legisilature that enacted several “no tolerance” policies for ALL schools? including one for incidents of “verbal violence”?
Zette: Yikes. Homeschooling? The idiocy at public schools is ridiculous, but you learn more than they teach you at school. Namely, social skills. Kids need to be around kids of the same age to learn the social skills necessary to survive in our society.
Anthracite: And here in KC, most of these policies are being proposed, put into place, and enforced by the school administration after having been given just the authority to do so by the school board.
Administration does not equal teachers. In my area, teachers had nothing to do with the rules and regulations we lived under. Some were dictated by the school board (the major ones, like drug and weapon zero-tolerance laws), others were policies our administration came up with. Oh, and in Virginia, the school board is largly Republican.
I live in norhtern Virginia, spent all of my years in public school in Fairfax County. Must be the difference in areas, since not once in the time that I went to school did we ever have a teacher strike, nor have I even heard of one that happened in my area. (Could be that compared to most county’s in the country, Fairfax pays their teachers well, which is kinda sad.)
Remember - these are the same people that will shut down an entire school district over a dispute with a pay raise or retirement. Surely this is a little more important?
Like I said, it’s different where I went to school. We never even had the threat of a teacher strike.
As a general rule, “zero tolerance” laws are Republican creations, whether they be in the classroom or on the streets. I’m sure there are exceptions, but my experience is that it’s the Republicans, and not the Democrats, who want to throw everyone in jail.
Actually, right now, “zero-tolerance” rules and laws are being created by both Republicans and Democrats. Or, more correctly, by the idiots involved in both of these camps.
But they can only do this because most of the American population will let them do it. Everyone wants these rules, supposedly. Just ask them, they’ll tell you.
The problem is that there aren’t enough intelligent people to go out and rally against such rules. <sigh>
When I was in middle school one of my friends was sent to the principal’s office for saying that he would “kill someone and eat their bones” ( a joke from a simpsons episode: the one where Mr.Burns is told that people think of him as an ogre and he says “I’ll kill them and eat their bones!”). Just about two weeks ago someone in my Spanish class was sent to the office where police officers surrounded him; the charge: at lunch he commented that because of the way they pack all the students into the pep-rallies, if someone wanted to bomb the school that would probably be where they would attack.
As an athsmatic, all I can say is this: The first funeral that is the result of a diabetic shock, anaphylaxis or athsma attack NOT being addressed properly because the fucking school nurse is at LUNCH, will pretty much be the end of this zero tolerance bullshit. Sorry, but I’VE GOT zero tolerance for administrators who refuse to admit that in some cases, you can’t just calmly discuss the merits of letting a child leave gym class because they need their meds.
Filled with self-righteous indignation, I remain …
Hey, people, tone it down here, OK? I’ve never yet had to move a thread to the BBQ Pit. I’d rather it stay that way for as long as possible. This is not the place for laying blame, be it on the Republicans, the Democrats, the teachers, the administrators, or the legislature as a whole.