How far Zero Tolerance goes these days.

[Racket_Man]

Story #1
Parents makes cupcakes for son's class. On top of them the Mom puts little Green Army Men to honor WWII soldiers. School admin freaks out

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes...-soldiers.html

The reason given

“These are toys that were commonplace in the past,” she wrote. “However, some parents prohibit all guns as toys. In light of that difference, the school offered to replace the soldiers with another item and the soldiers were returned home with the student.”

“Living in a democratic society entails respect for opposing opinions,” she stated. “In the climate of recent events in schools we walk a delicate balance in teaching non-violence in our buildings and trying to ensure a safe, peaceful atmosphere.”

LITTLE GREEN ARMY MEN are you kidding me?????


Story #2

A 7 year old boy has been suspended from school for 2 days. WHY???? as he was eating his Poptart like breakfast pastery, he bit it into the rough shape of a gun. a teacher notices this and goes nuts

http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/nation...o-shape-of-gun

[HYHYBT]

(First story only) It's not really different than the (also absurd, of course) banning of those inch-long guns that come with GI Joe toys. And, unlike what so often happens with Zero Tolerance, the kid didn't get suspended or expelled.

[MadMike]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again -- the truly scary part is that we're letting these people educate our kids. I am so glad that my son is no longer part of the school system, and I won't be making any more kids to put through it.

[daleduke17]

Here's another great example of stupidity in the schools:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/02/26...ove-marines-t/

And I love the backpedaling the superintendent is doing toward the end of the article.


Also, please, the website is called FoxNews. Use the name correctly, thanks.

[BlaqueKatt]

Also, please, the website is called FoxNews. Use the name correctly, thanks.

the reason no one actually trusts fox "news" is this:

During their appeal, FOX asserted that there are no written rules against distorting news in the media. They argued that, under the First Amendment, broadcasters have the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on public airwaves. Fox attorneys did not dispute Akre’s claim that they pressured her to broadcast a false story, they simply maintained that it was their right to do so.

They are not at all trustworthy, and they will and do lie to get ratings.
source

[Bloodsoul]

A 7 year old boy has been suspended from school for 2 days. WHY???? as he was eating his Poptart like breakfast pastery, he bit it into the rough shape of a gun.

They see gun, I see tonfa.

[daleduke17]

the reason no one actually trusts fox "news" is this:


They are not at all trustworthy, and they will and do lie to get ratings.
source

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local...193622541.html

There's a better link.

[draco664]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again -- the truly scary part is that we're letting these people educate our kids.

Actually, in most of these cases, it's the school *admins* who make these decisions, not the teachers. If you ever want to get a real idea of why schools seem to be struggling for funding even though the amount of $ per child has increased, look at this.

(Summary - Since the 1950s, the number of students in US schools (K-12) has increased by 96%. But the number of school administrators has increased by 702% in that same time. Half the States have more non-teaching staff than teachers in their schools. *That's* where all the money goes...)

[s_stabeler]

um, how do you get twice as many admin staff as teachers? my secondary school had a LOT of non-teaching staff ( 1 school headmaster, 1 school deputy head, 5 faculty heads, 5 faculty deputy heads, 1 first-aid lady (who was very nice, unless you were trying to pull one over on her. put it this way-she had access to find out what % of the time you were off school. be off too often, and you'd better be able to prove you were ill. She took me at my word, because I was so rarely ill) and ~ 10 technicians in science, possibly less ( I never saw more than 3 at the same time) we had about 10 teachers per faculty, so 50 teachers. 2 receptionists IIRC, and two janitors. so 27 admin staff. an american school of the same size apparently has 4 times as many. How?

[Nyoibo]

um, how do you get twice as many admin staff as teachers? my secondary school had a LOT of non-teaching staff

Not all non-teaching staff are at schools, I know it's a bit different as I'm in Australia, but my partners mother is district school admin, the entire office she works in is, none of them are teaching staff but they're still paid from the same funding.

[Seifer]

I don't see a problem with children playing with toy guns because, get this, they're going to play war whether they have real props or not. That's just what little boys do. Boys will improvise if they don't have a real weapon - that's why they enjoy sticks being so readily available. Imagination can turn a stick into a lot of things - swords and guns among that list. Banning toy soldiers on cupcakes is ridiculous.

There's a huge difference between pretending to shoot someone during play, and actually threatening to shoot someone out of anger. If people are worried about boys play-fighting, then instead of treating it like a scary issue, how about teaching them that guns can be dangerous and real guns are NOT for playing? I'd say that's a better lesson than, "GUNS ARE EVIL AND THEREFORE SHOULDN'T EXIST!!!"

[smileyeagle1021]

Not all non-teaching staff are at schools, I know it's a bit different as I'm in Australia, but my partners mother is district school admin, the entire office she works in is, none of them are teaching staff but they're still paid from the same funding.

We have the same thing in the United States... at least in Nevada. Washoe County School District has what is affectionately known as the "green house" which is their administrative offices. This "small" office (the county as a whole has less than half a million, so not a huge school district) is multiple floors over multiple acres.

[s_stabeler]

yes, but to make the numbers match up for non-teaching staff, there would need to be 75 staff at the district just for the one school. Um, efficiency savings, anyone? I'm not saying there aren't large numbers of admin staff, I'm saying there shouldn't be.

And I agree about toy guns- better to allow them, but if necessary explain real guns are dangerous, than to ban them, especially since banning something w/o any explanation rarely meshes well with the average teenage mind.

[TheHuckster]

And I agree about toy guns- better to allow them, but if necessary explain real guns are dangerous, than to ban them, especially since banning something w/o any explanation rarely meshes well with the average teenage mind.

When I went to elementary school in the early 90s, the biggest controversy I remember about toy guns was that they looked too much like the real thing. That was when toy manufacturers started putting those orange fluorescent tips on the muzzle, and usually even blocking the muzzle entirely.

Quite amazing how things change in 20 years, where even G.I. Joes can't have tiny guns without it causing hypersensitivity.

[s_stabeler]

IIRC, the issue with them being too realistic is people can't always tell if the gun someone is brandishing is a toy gun or a real one. it's a particular issue over here in the UK, because if the police shot someone, thinking it was someone waving a real gun about, and it was a toy gun, that policeman will usually be crucified in the media, sometimes on charges too. ( there's usually a demand they are prosecuted, however I think they usually aren't.)