Devoted Reader and fellow vacciniumcorymbosumparthenophobe Erin (trust me, she knows what that long word means) sent along this tale of a horrible, violent student at Maple Grove (MN) High School (registration required). The student, Jake Trembath, has been suspended for an entire year, and good riddance. I mean, what was he thinking? Serving on the student council, playing lacrosse, and attending Bible class every morning - sure, those are fine things, but obviously they shouldn't outweigh having a cap gun accidently left in one's car while it was parked on school grounds:
As a result of finding a toy cap gun -- "painted to look more real," a school report said -- in Jake's car last week, Maple Grove school officials suspended the teen and have begun expulsion proceedings. Jake said the toy doesn't belong to him and he didn't know it was there.
The school officials aren't budging, because, according to the kid's father, "I think they believe that if they yield on Jake, the next kid who says 'I didn't know' will get off, too." Of course! Why, if you allow the innocent transportation of a pop gun, next thing you know, kids will be sneaking in water guns, slingshots, and those big Nerf bats. It'll be Columbine all over again.
Strangely, though, this school policy isn't doing much to create a quieter campus with more docile students - in fact, it appears to be creating the opposite situation:
Jake's friends and classmates have rallied. On Friday, Jake's sister Whitney brought home a petition signed by more than 300 students. It said: "Help Jake! We think that Jake was expelled for an unjust reason." Some are wearing "Free Jake" T-shirts to school, Whitney said...
For Jake, the anger is growing. He's been booted off the student council, his name has been removed from the banner lauding the Homecoming court. For a kid who recalls his last time in trouble as sitting in the principal's office for "flicking a staple" in the seventh grade, this is a hard lesson.
Jake should be mad. This is utterly ridiculous. These types of policies don't make kids feel safe on campus; instead, the students now walk on eggshells, fearful that Grandpa's fish knife or little Bobby's cap gun will find its way into their cars or their bookbags, and completely torch everything they've been working for so hard.
Local resident and uber-columnist James Lileks has more on the story. He has a delightfully precocious three-year-old daughter, and I believe he's starting to worry how her experiences with the public school system will develop:
Some cultural notes: We have one of those “zero tolerance” cases here, and I’m sure you can guess the details. Kid’s friends are playing around with cap gun. The gun migrates to the car in the course of weekend tomfoolery. Kid drives to school. Security guard notices gun in car while trolling the lot and peering through windows. Kid - who is a good student, and attends Bible class every morning for class - gets in trouble. And by “trouble” I mean he is suspended for the entire year.
For having a cap gun in his car in the parking lot...
Makes me wonder when my first lovely interaction with the public school system will be, and what form it will take. I should get it out of the way on day one: What’s your position on cap guns?
1. “We regard them as a violation of our zero tolerance policy, and will expel for the remainder of the year any student who has one.”
2. “Once a year we pass them out and the class reenacts the Charge of the First Minnesota at Gettysburg.”
James is much more in favor of the second answer, as am I.
Posted by kswygert at September 22, 2003 09:43 AM