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Showing posts with label ZeroTolerance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ZeroTolerance. Show all posts
Bizarre zero tolerance policy gets Detroit grounds keeper fired

Bizarre zero tolerance policy gets Detroit grounds keeper fired

A grounds keeper and his foreman were both fired.  Chevilott wanted to give the gun to the police, but they didn't arrive so he had to give it to the police after he was done with work.  From Fox News:

A Detroit groundskeeper, who turned in a loaded handgun he found hidden in weeds while working, was fired by the Wayne County Department of Public Services, MyFoxDetroit.com reports.
John Chevilott, who is just two years shy of retirement, found the loaded snub-nosed revolver on May 3 when he and his crew were mowing a lawn in Wayne County. Chevilott secured the gun, waiting for police to drive by so he could hand it over to them. . . .
According to a Wayne County spokeswoman and the rules, employees aren't allowed to possess a weapon on work property.
Chevilott says he didn't bring a weapon to work. He found it on the job. . . .
"Boy disciplined after waving gun-shaped pizza slice"

"Boy disciplined after waving gun-shaped pizza slice"

Zero Tolerance gone mad. The school says that he isn't being punished for having a piece of pizza shaped like a gun, but because he was "making some threatening hand gestures" with the piece of pizza and handled the pizza like a gun.

For the rest of the semester, a Rutherford County elementary student has to eat lunch at the "silent table" for allegedly waving around a slice of pizza some say resembled a gun.

Nicholas Taylor attends David Youree Elementary School in Smyrna, about 30 miles southeast of Nashville.

School leaders say the 10-year-old threatened other students at his lunch table with a piece of pizza with bites out of it so it looked like a gun and when asked about it was initially not truthful.

Nicholas' mother LeAnn calls her son's punishment "absolutely ridiculous" saying he was just playing around and never said anything derogatory or anything about shooting anyone.

"The kid across the table from him said it looked like a gun so he picked it up and started shooting it in the air," she told Nashville's News 2 Investigates.

Taylor said she learned of the incident when the school sent her a note saying her son was threatening other students.

James Evans, spokesperson for the Rutherford County School District, said the boy isn't being punished because he had a piece of pizza shaped like a gun.

He's being punished because "some students reported he was making some threatening hand gestures, that he was shooting other kids at the table and they reported it to a teacher," according to Evans. . . .

What is this world coming to?: "TSA Stops Passenger Over Purse Design"



Can anyone possibly even for an instant think that this design on this purse is a real gun? This story and the picture are from News4Jax.com in Jacksonville, Florida (they have a video of the news story available here). I love the part of the story where it says "after agents figured out that the gun was a fake."

"She was like, 'This is a federal offense because it's in the shape of a gun,'" Gibbs said. "I'm like, 'But it's a design on a purse. How is it a federal offense?'"

After agents figured out the gun was a fake, Gibbs said, TSA told her to check the bag or turn it over.

By the time security wrapped up the inspection, the pregnant teen missed her flight, and Southwest Airlines sent her to Orlando instead, worrying her mother, who was already waiting for her to arrive at JIA.

"Oh, it's terrifying. I was so upset," said Tami Gibbs, the teen's mom. "I was on the phone all the way to Orlando trying to figure out what was going on with her. It was terrifying. I don't ever want to go through it again."

Vanessa and her mom said it's hard to believe anyone could mistake the design on the purse for a real gun because it's just a few inches in size and it's hollow, not to mention Vanessa has taken it on planes before. . . .
Virginia state Supreme Court rules that spit wads are "weapons" and using them is "criminal"

Virginia state Supreme Court rules that spit wads are "weapons" and using them is "criminal"

From WND:

The state Supreme Court in Virginia has let stand a ruling that spit wads are "weapons" and using them is "criminal."

But a public-interest law firm fighting the case says it has asked for a rehearing because of alleged violations of due process of law that occurred in the case.

The case has been argued by the Rutherford Institute, which said a tiny plastic pellet shot out of a plastic tube doesn't meet the definition of a "weapon" and a long-term suspension for a 14-year-old honor student is inappropriate.

The argument came in the case of Andrew Mikel II, who was a freshman last school year when he was kicked out of Spotsylvania High School for the remainder of the session under a claim by school officials that the "spit wad" was "violent criminal conduct."

Rita Dunaway, a staff attorney with the Rutherford Institute, argued before the state's high court that the penalty should be reversed and that the school determination that Mikel "possessed" a "weapon" reached too far. . . .
More Zero Tolerance: 9-year-old charged with crime for accidentally bringing toy gun on school bus

More Zero Tolerance: 9-year-old charged with crime for accidentally bringing toy gun on school bus

School Superintendent thinks that the appropriate response to this crime was made.

Police say a 9-year-old elementary school student from Palmer will be summoned to juvenile court to face charges for bringing a toy handgun on the school bus.
Chief Robert Frydryk says the school district has a "zero tolerance policy" regarding weapons. Even though the gun was a toy, it is considered a weapon because it shoots soft plastic projectiles.
Frydryk says there is no indication the Old Mill Pond Elementary School student wanted to hurt anyone. The student's name was not made public.
The incident occurred May 5. The boy told police he forgot he had it in his jacket when he got on the bus. . . .
11-year-old arrested over 'inappropriate' stick figure drawing

11-year-old arrested over 'inappropriate' stick figure drawing

Arrested for a drawing? Pretty sad, but not too surprising over the mindless zero tolerance rules.

ARVADA, Colo. -- An 11-year-old Arvada boy was arrested and hauled away in handcuffs for drawing stick figures in school - something his therapist told him to do.

His parents say they understand what he did was inappropriate, but are outraged by the way Arvada Police handled the case. The parents did not want their real names used.

They say "Tim" is being treated for Attention Deficit Disorder and his therapist told him to draw pictures when he got upset, rather than disrupt the class. So that’s what he did.

Last October, he drew stick figures of himself with a gun, pointed at four other stick figures with the words "teacher must die."

He felt calmer and was throwing the picture away when the teacher saw it and sent him to the principal's office.

The school was aware that the boy was in treatment, determined he was not a threat, notified his parents and sent him back to class. His mother, "Jane" was shocked when Arvada Police showed up at their home later that night. . . .
7-year-old faces criminal charges after bringing a nerf gun to school

7-year-old faces criminal charges after bringing a nerf gun to school

Wow, what a relief! There is no evidence of the 7-year-old with a Nerf gun threatening anyone with violence! I was absolutely sure that he had brought the gun to school to knock off his fellow students.

A 7-year-old child allegedly shot a Nerf-style toy gun in his Hammonton, N.J., school Jan. 18. No one was hurt, but the pint-size softshooter now faces misdemeanor criminal charges.
Hammonton Police began an investigation into the “suspicious activity” at the Hammonton Early Childhood Education Center Jan. 18 after school officials alerted them to the incident.
The "gun" the child brought to school was a $5 toy gun, similar to a Nerf gun, that shoots soft ping pong type balls, according to the school's superintendent.
Officials also say that there was no evidence of anyone being threatened. . . .
Another wacky Zero-tolerence outcome at a public school

Another wacky Zero-tolerence outcome at a public school

Despite what the police officer says, assault is not always criminal assault.

The family of a Virginia teen suspended for the remainder of the school year for shooting plastic "spitwads" at students in the hallway is targeting the school district's zero-tolerance policy, claiming that it's "criminalizing childish behavior."
Andrew Mikel II, a freshman honor student at Spotsylvania High School who also is active in Junior ROTC, is filling an appeal to be reinstated and have his record cleared after school officials suspended him for using what appeared to be the hollow body of a pen to blow small plastic balls at three students during his lunch period last December.
The 14-year-old initially was hit with a 10-day suspension, but the Spotsylvania County School Board later voted to extend the punishment for the rest of the school year, citing the Student Code of Conduct's requirement that a student found with "any type of weapon, or object used to intimidate, threaten or harm others" be "expelled for a minimum of 365 days" unless "special circumstances exist."
The district also referred the case to the Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office, which charged him with three counts of misdemeanor assault.
As result Mikel entered a diversion program – which includes community service and substance abuse and anger management counseling – to avoid prosecution, but his father says his damaged record has shattered his hopes of attending the U.S. Naval Academy after graduation.
Capt. Liz Scott Spotsylvania Sherriff's Office says while Mikel's punishment may be controversial, "assault is assault is assault." . . .


UPDATE: Yet another story from New Jersey is here.

A 7-year-old child allegedly shot a Nerf-style toy gun in his Hammonton, N.J., school Jan. 18. No one was hurt, but the pint-size softshooter now faces misdemeanor criminal charges.
Hammonton Police began an investigation into the “suspicious activity” at the Hammonton Early Childhood Education Center Jan. 18 after school officials alerted them to the incident.
The "gun" the child brought to school was a $5 toy gun, similar to a Nerf gun, that shoots soft ping pong type balls, according to the school's superintendent.
Officials also say that there was no evidence of anyone being threatened. The child's mother told school officials that she didn't know her son brought the toy to school. . . .
Bizarre zero tolerance case: "Gun Gesture Gets 1st-Grader Suspended"

Bizarre zero tolerance case: "Gun Gesture Gets 1st-Grader Suspended"

This is too bizarre:

Lydia Fox says the principal at Parkview Elementary called her earlier this month to say her 7-year-old son had misbehaved during a school assembly by pretending he was shooting a gun.

Fox says the principal told her the boy would be placed in in-school suspension for the rest of that day and threatened a longer suspension if it happened again.

Midwest City-Del City Schools spokeswoman Stacey Boyer confirmed the incident and says the district's policy is to "address the disruption of the learning environment." Boyer says Fox's son "has repeatedly used his hands to simulate a gun." . . .
4th grader in trouble for bringing Lego policeman to school

4th grader in trouble for bringing Lego policeman to school

The young boy was playing with Lego. His father is a retired police officer. There is no differentiation between something that could be confused to be a real gun and something that is so obviously a toy.

A tiny toy led to big trouble for one fourth-grade New York City boy.

Patrick Timoney, a 9-year-old student at PS 52 in Staten Island, N.Y., was in the school cafeteria Tuesday playing with LEGOs when he was taken to the principal’s office and threatened with suspension. One of his toys was a LEGO policeman that holds a 2-inch plastic gun. The school has a no-tolerance policy when it comes to toy guns.

“[The gun] was so little,” the boy told WNBC. “I wouldn’t really think that the principal would cause a lot of commotion just for a little gun.”

The boy’s mother, Laura Timoney, 44, was fuming over the issue.

“You don’t traumatize a child who loved to go to school, who wanted to be early every day to school, you don’t make him cry, you don’t make him fill out statements,” she told WNBC, holding back tears. “You don’t do it.”

Pat Timoney, the boy’s father and a retired police officer, was also upset, saying that he’s dealt with people who use imitation weapons as a way to threaten others and commit crimes, and that this situation is different, considering the pinky-size gun in question. . . .


Thanks very much to Chris Klemm for this link.
Zero tolerance policy nails student who thought that he was following the rules on guns near school

Zero tolerance policy nails student who thought that he was following the rules on guns near school

Unloaded guns in a locked car off of school property get student in a lot of trouble because of zero tolerance policy. Here is an editorial from the NewsReview in Chico, California:

By now the story of Gary Tudesko, the Willows High School junior who was expelled after Interquest search dogs sniffed out two unloaded shotguns in his pickup, has spread far and wide, thanks to the Internet. Both the National Rifle Association and the California Rifle and Pistol Association Legal Foundation have come to the youth’s aid.

Like many Willows youths, Gary is a hunter, and last November he and a friend went duck hunting before school. Returning just as classes were starting, and knowing that guns weren’t allowed on campus, Gary parked his pickup on nearby Willow Street, with the two shotguns unloaded and the doors locked. The dogs, after finding no drugs or guns on campus, had searched the surrounding area and located his vehicle.

As it turned out, there is nothing in the student handbook about unloaded weapons in locked vehicles off campus, and Gary had no way of knowing it was a no-no. Nevertheless, Willows High School officials kicked him out of school—a decision subsequently upheld by the Willows Unified School District board. In their determination to carry out a zero-tolerance policy, these officials defied common sense.

Let’s hope the Glenn County Board of Education, which will hear the matter on appeal at 10 a.m. on Jan. 15, acts reasonably and lets Gary Tudesko return to school.
Zero tolerance: two-inch pocket knife in car may derail Eagle Scout's Life

Zero tolerance: two-inch pocket knife in car may derail Eagle Scout's Life

How nutsy can these rules be? This incident occurred in Albany, NY.

High school senior Matthew Whalen is the kind of student any parent would want.

He's an Eagle Scout, on the honor roll, taking Advanced Placement classes, and never been in trouble with the law. He's received commendations from the City of Troy and the Boy Scouts of America for saving a woman's life, and this past summer, he completed Army basic training. All of it was accomplished before the age of 17.

"I'm just trying to do what I can while I can," Matthew says.

His goal is to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, a dream since he was in grade school.

"I have a first-grade yearbook that says I want to be driving tanks in the Army," Matthew says. "I mean, this is something that I know I've always wanted to do."

But the dream could be in jeopardy, thanks to a two-inch pocket knife that officials at Lansingburgh Senior High School found in Matthew's locked car last month. The pocket knife was a gift from his grandfather, Robert Whalen, who's the Hoosick Falls Police Chief. Matthew says he kept the knife in a side compartment and never tried showing it off or threatening anyone with it. Instead it was a part of the survival kit that was his car.

"My car is designed in a way that if I ever broke down, I'd be OK," Whalen explains. "I have a sleeping bag. I have bottled water. I have an MRE. I believe it's better to be prepared and not need it than need it and not have it."

Matthew says school officials approached him on Sept. 21, asking if he had a weapon on him. When Matthew answered he did not, he says the officials asked if he had a knife in his car. Matthew said it was a pocket knife, and took officials to his car when asked. He also turned over the pocket knife when asked. . . .


Cub Scout suspended for bringing an eating utensil to school. The poor boy faces 45 days in reform school. The video from Fox News is here.
Maxim has a piece up at Fox News on strange case where a teacher reported a student to the police because the student discussed defensive gun uses

Maxim has a piece up at Fox News on strange case where a teacher reported a student to the police because the student discussed defensive gun uses

The piece at Fox News starts this way:

A professor in Connecticut reported one of her students to the police after he gave a class presentation on why students and teachers should be allowed to carry concealed weapons on campus. Now, free speech activists say the professor’s actions are what really need to be investigated.

Last October, John Wahlberg and two classmates at Central Connecticut State University gave an oral presentation for a communications class taught by Professor Paula Anderson. The assignment was to discuss a “relevant issue in the media,” and the students presented their view that the death toll in the April 2007 Virginia Tech shooting massacre would have been lower if professors and students had been carrying guns. . . . .
Teacher put on leave for having a picture of her shooting on her personal website

Teacher put on leave for having a picture of her shooting on her personal website

What possible explanation can the schools have for caring whether a woman has a gun in her own personal life off the job? This story is really outrageous.

BEAVER DAM (WKOW) -- Beaver Dam school officials placed a middle school teacher on administrative leave after discovering a photograph of the teacher with a gun on the teacher's Facebook page.

In the photo, teacher Betsy Ramsdale is training a rifle at the camera.

Ramsdale emailed 27 News in response to our inquiries saying she "removed the photo immediately" and that she is not "interested in any controversy." Ramsdale did not comment on her motivation for posting the photo.

Schools superintendent Donald Childs told 27 News he is unaware of any sinister intent on the teacher's part and said the use of the photo "appears to be poor judgment."

Childs said the Facebook photo was brought to the attention of school district officials by a concerned staff member at Beaver Dam Middle School.

Ramsdale's biography on the school district website states she is in her first year of teaching at the middle school. Department of Public Instruction records show Ramsdale has been licensed to teach since 1996.

Middle school parent Jennifer Buzzell said the teacher's decision to post the photograph was concerning.

"I don't think it's appropriate," Buzzell told 27 News. "I'm not sure why this would be on the computer at all."

"I don't see anything wrong with it," school parent Mark Hagstrom said. "She's on her time to do what she wants."

School parent Chad Van Loo said the photograph sends the wrong message. . . .
Boy suspended for broken pencil sharpener

Boy suspended for broken pencil sharpener

This is a horrible and heartbreaking situation. What is being done to this good boy is really horrible.

Island fourth grader suspended for using broken pencil sharpener
By DANIEL BROWNSTEIN
dbrownstein@islandpacket.com
843-706-8125
Published Thursday, September 11, 2008

A 10-year-old Hilton Head Island boy has been suspended from school for having something most students carry in their supply boxes: a pencil sharpener.

The problem was his sharpener had broken, but he decided to use it anyway.

A teacher at Hilton Head Island International Baccalaureate Elementary School noticed the boy had what appeared to be a small razor blade during class on Tuesday, according to a Beaufort County sheriff's report.

It was obvious that the blade was the metal insert commonly found in a child's small, plastic pencil sharpener, the deputy noted.

The boy -- a fourth-grader described as a well-behaved and good student -- cried during the meeting with his mom, the deputy and the school's assistant principal.

He had no criminal intent in having the blade at school, the sheriff's report stated, but was suspended for at least two days and could face further disciplinary action.

District spokesman Randy Wall said school administrators are stuck in the precarious position between the district's zero tolerance policy against having weapons at school and common sense.

"We're always going to do something to make sure the child understands the seriousness of having something that could potentially harm another student, but we're going to be reasonable," he said.
Wacky Zero Tolerance Policy in Schools

Wacky Zero Tolerance Policy in Schools

Where do these public school officials come from?

Suspended For Buying Candy In School
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) ― The New Haven schools superintendent said Wednesday that he will review a principal's decision to suspend an eighth-grade student for buying candy in school.

Michael Sheridan was stripped of his title as class vice president, barred from attending an honors student dinner and suspended for a day after buying a bag of Skittles from a classmate.

The New Haven school system banned candy sales in 2003 as part of a districtwide school wellness policy, said school spokeswoman Catherine Sullivan-DeCarlo.

Shelli Sheridan, Michael's mother, told the New Haven Register that he is a top student with no previous disciplinary problems.

"It's too much. It's too unfair," she said. "He's never even had a detention."

Superintendent Reginald Mayo said Wednesday that Sheridan Middle School principal Eleanor Turner just wanted to keep students safe. . . .
Another Zero Tolerance Case at a Public School Gone Wrong

Another Zero Tolerance Case at a Public School Gone Wrong

Paul Huebl discusses another zero tolerance outrage at a public school:

GRAYSLAKE, Il. Christopher Berger, 18, is an honor student at Grayslake Central High School who faces an adult criminal record for the rest of his life. Why you ask? It seems that school officials found the lad’s jacket on school property, searched the pockets and found a small multi-tool that contained a knife blade. Police were called and in addition to school punishment Berger was charged with Reckless Conduct and now needs a lawyer. . . .
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