Oversensitive educators are no longer satisfied with mere draconian zero-tolerance rules - they want high schoolers to be recruited to break the rules for educational purposes:
A teenage Civil War buff has been suspended from school and faces serious charges after his replica musket was found in his car trunk at school in the Orange County community of Pine Bush. Joshua Phelps had been at a reenactment with his Civil War costume, including a musket last week. He threw the uniform and equipment into his truck and forgot about it. Tuesday a security guard at the Pine Bush High School saw it and called police.
Phelps was sitting in study hall when the security guard told him to go to the assistant principal. When he was told they saw the rifle he wasn't concerned, thinking they would understand it was part of his costume. But it didn't happen that way. Town of Crawford Police were called and Phelps was cuffed and charged with a misdemeanor charge of criminal possession of a weapon.
His mother, Valerie Michaels, is outraged, saying the school has blown this thing way out of proportion. She also says in the trunk was a costume, shoes, leather belt, powder keg, and a leather cartridge box. Phelps used the costume when taking part of the reenactment of the Battle of Chancellorville which was staged by the 124th New York State Volunteers. The reenactors say they are models of the unit that came from Orange County and fought in the Civil War. High school students were recruited to take part in the reenactors club. Phelps' mother questions why the students are given fake guns if they can be arrested for having them.
Good question. Is this not the stupidest thing you've ever heard of? It is a replica. Of a historical weapon. Which was in his car. After he partipated in a reenactment which involved high school students. Why don't schools just go ahead and ban students for even thinking about anything that might possibly, in any way, have to do with a weapon, of any kind, even if that weapon isn't real, or is used only for education or sporting events?
Oh, wait, they're already doing that:
LONDONDERRY, N.H. (AP) - The school board has voted to ban a photo of a student from the senior section of his high school yearbook because he is posed with a shotgun...
"I don't see anything wrong with the picture,'' Douglass, 17 said at the hearing. "I just want my senior picture in the yearbook.''
Last month the yearbook staff, adviser, principal and superintendent chose to bar the photo from the yearbook, saying the firearm was inappropriate.
Note the violent, filthy, murderous photo of Douglass on the CNN page. Also note that the school had already confiscated Douglass' gun enthusiast magazines.
Joanne Jacobs believes schools should have the right to ban whatever they consider inappropriate when it comes to senior photos - but we also have the right to mock them for being so terrified and ignorant of weaponry that the mere suggestion of it is enough to send them into a panic. Maybe Ms. Sousa's daughter could transfer to Londonderry High.
Posted by kswygert at October 13, 2004 03:37 PM