"zero tolerance" gone wild, school administrators gone stupid,

[biteme]

I swear these school administrators must pass an incompetence test to get these jobs

Wasn't sure where to put this
but the school board reaction was sure criminal
True he could've put an eye out and what he did was stupid and he does deserve some form of punishment
Seems schools just can’t figure it out
Bulling is OK and they do nothing
But spit wads are a terrorist attack and you’re doomed
And we expect our children to become rational adults in spite of these incompetent daily lessons learned from these so-called educated educators

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...020104097.html

Andrew Mikel II admits it was a stupid thing to do. In December, bored and craving attention, the 14-year-old used a plastic tube to blow small plastic pellets at fellow students in Spotsylvania High School. In one lunch period, he scored three hits.
"They flinched. They looked annoyed," Mikel said.
The school district saw it as more than a childish prank. School officials expelled him for possession and use of a weapon, and they called a deputy sheriff to the scene, said Mikel and his father, Andrew Mikel Sr.
The younger Mikel, a freshman, said he was charged with three counts of misdemeanor assault. The case was first reported by the Web site WorldNetDaily.
Spotsylvania school officials declined to comment on the incident, citing student confidentiality rules. But documents that the school produced when Mikel's father filed a Freedom of Information Act request show internal division over the matter.
The federal Gun-Free Schools Act mandates that schools expel students who take weapons, including hand guns, explosive devices and projectile weapons, to school. E-mail traffic among school officials showed they ruled that Mikel's plastic tube, which was fashioned from a pen casing, met the definition of a projectile weapon because it was "used to intimidate, threaten or harm others."
School officials in some e-mails referred to the plastic casing as a "metal tube." The plastic pellets were called "B-Bs."
"We have an obligation to protect the students in our building from others who pose a threat to the over-all safe learning environment," Russell Davis, principal of Spotsylvania High, wrote to other school officials in one e-mail.
But the school's hearing officer, John Lynn, wrote to administrators that he was "not at all comfortable expelling or suspending this student for the remainder of the year," according to the documents. School officials insisted. When Mikel's father appealed the case, the school board's three-member disciplinary committee upheld the ruling.
"I was just astonished when I heard," said the younger Mikel, who is being home-schooled.
Parents and civil liberties advocates point to the case as an illustration of the excesses of "zero tolerance" disciplinary policies implemented in many school districts across Virginia and the nation. The Rutherford Institute, a Charlottesville civil liberties organization, is appealing the case in state Circuit Court.

[walkingeagle]

Michigan School District Allows Sikh Students to Wear Religious Dagger to School

In the Sikh tradition, the kirpan represents a commitment to fight evil. The dagger is a religious symbol that baptized Sikh males are expected to carry (MyFoxDetroit.com).

A Detroit-area district says it's allowing Sikh students to wear a small, religious dagger to school, MyFoxDetroit.com reports.

The decision by the Plymouth-Canton Community Schools reverses a ban put in place in December after a fourth-grader at a Canton Township elementary school was found with a dull, 3- to 5-inch kirpan.

The kirpan represents a commitment to fight evil in the Sikh tradition. The dagger is a religious symbol that baptized Sikh males are expected to carry.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/02/01...st=latestnews#

[Tundratot]

So, Mikal's dad needs to start a religion where children are expected to carry spit wad shooters. This actually works in prisons. Prisoners are starting religions where they dictate steak and red wine on Friday, or whatever it is the prisoners want.

[walkingeagle]

IIRC, Terry Nichols tried something like that a few months back. I would be interested in seeing how they view something like Boy Scout knives. Not religious in a sense, but it is traditional in the same way. Then again, so is carrying pocket knives for many boys.

[Alf]

That is a good question.

I carried a pocketknife from the time I was 11 or 12 up until -- well, up until today, except when I was in basic training. And my high school teachers not only knew I had it, they frequently borrowed it if they needed a sharp knife to cut something that scissors wouldn't handle.

--Al

[walkingeagle]

IMO, this zero tolerance goes hand in hand with zero common sense!

[MC30]

boo hiss....i wonder what the opinion of the deputy sheriff was?

[walkingeagle]

Here's a bit of a twist on that zero tolerance:

DEA Agent Is Suing Government For Allegedly Releasing Video Of Him Shooting Himself In The Foot

Undercover DEA agent Lee Paige learned the hard, painful way that whatever happens on video… immediately goes on YouTube. Paige is currently attempting to sue the U.S. government for releasing a video of him shooting himself in the foot with a Glock during a presentation about drug education at a Florida community center in 2004.

In April of 2006, Paige filed a complaint alleging that the video’s release harmed his reputation after it appeared online and was broadcast on several television news shows. According to Paige, the DEA possessed sole footage from the talk and, therefore, someone within the department must have put it online or released it to the media. In fact, his lawyers claimed someone within the DEA “with animosity for Paige” had released the video on purpose and with malicious intent. At the time, lawyers for the government felt Paige did not provide evidence to back up his claims, and the identity of the person responsible for circulating the video remains unknown. A mystery is afoot, one might say.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/dea-a...f-in-the-foot/

[walkingeagle]

[Alf]

Here's a bit of a twist on that zero tolerance:

DEA Agent Is Suing Government For Allegedly Releasing Video Of Him Shooting Himself In The Foot

I've seen that video.

"There is noone else in this room professional enough to carry this gun" . . . . . BANG!

I have carried both single- and double-action revolvers in calibers from 22 to 44 Magnum as well as the Beretta M-9/10 and 92FS-B and the Colt Commander and Government Model in 45 ACP, and the closest I have ever come to a negligent discharge was when I was trying the single action trigger on a 38 and had it go off before I had the sights aligned on the target. That taught me the wisdom of "Keep your boogerhooks off the bang switch until your sights are aligned on the target", but I didn't put holes in anything important. But since I haven't carried a Glock I guess that means I'm not a pro.

[/sarcasm]

More to the point, his own hubris is what damaged his reputation as well as leading directly to his damaging his foot.

--Al

[walkingeagle]

"Keep your boogerhooks off the bang switch until your sights are aligned on the target"

A good lesson to learn, though it would be great to see people teaching beginners that trick right off the bat!

And I personally prefer the 1911 to pretty much anything. It just feels right in my hand!

[Alf]

A good lesson to learn, though it would be great to see people teaching beginners that trick right off the bat!

Yeah. After shooting it exclusively double action for six months I got complacent, put my finger on the trigger after I cocked it, and wound up punching an off-center hole in the backstop at the range. Nothing injured except my pride.

And I personally prefer the 1911 to pretty much anything. It just feels right in my hand!

That's why I don't have the Beretta any more. It felt like shooting a 2x4 -- and I have big hands. There is a lot to be said for the L- and N-Frame s+w, though.

--Al

[walkingeagle]

Nothing wrong with a little pride injury every now and again. They tend to keep us in check!

I rarely venture away from the tried and true unless I'm playing with someone else's toys. I like S&W products, I just won't buy one myself. The last time I played with one was 20 years ago. I've sleansed the majority of what I had and kept an old GI Colt revolver and a Citori over/under. I don't even keep them in the house. I've put a major halt to buying anything around this area with all the dope fiends running about with their midnight salvage operations!

[Marv]

All this fucking 'zero tolerance' shit is going too far. There has been something over here in Blighty that if someone (in a workplace) finds something which someone else has said even remotely 'offensive', they can lodge a complaint, and the person who dared to utter those words could be fired from their job. It is totalitarianism. Pure and simple.

ETA: I can't find the original article I wanted, but this gives some idea: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/ar...egal-line.html

[CasperGirl]

I do have to give the DEA guy some credit.................he didn't totally freak out after he done it. He remained calm and was checking on everyone else in the class room. I can't say I would have remained that calm.

[Athena]

Meanwhile, a 7 year old in Philly is facing criminal charges for bringing a Nerf-style gun to school.

Zero-tolerance policies were dreamed up by stupid politicians and lazy administrators.

[walkingeagle]

I do have to give the DEA guy some credit.................he didn't totally freak out after he done it. He remained calm and was checking on everyone else in the class room. I can't say I would have remained that calm.

CREDITS ASS! Aside from working for the DEA, which I hold reservations about anyway, he is supposed to be a Glock 40 EXPERT. There is a whole lot of problem in my mind when you are supposed to be teaching children and you screw up like this. Stepping into a zero tolerance area compounds the problem! I want my kids to learn about guns(if they choose to), from someone who actually knows about SAFETY! I forced my girls to learn how to work on cars, but guns are something they have to come to me about. I grew up around them. I was in the military an became a light weapons specialist. These guys are CLUELESS! There were no NEGLIGENT discharges that I heard of in the military. And a miss was not exactly rare, but they do happen.