School Suspensions [and Detentions]
[Guest post by DRJ]
Hot Air is talking about the muddled report that a Houston high school student was suspended for taking down a Mexican flag. I’d rather talk about the Houston-area third grader who received a week-long suspension detention from recess and lunch for having a Jolly Rancher:
“Leighann Adair, 10, was eating lunch Monday when a teacher confiscated the candy. Her parents said she was in tears when she arrived home later that afternoon and handed them the detention notice.
According to the disciplinary referral, she would be separated from other students during lunch and recess through Friday.
Jack Ellis, the superintendent for Brazos Independent School District, declined an on-camera interview. But he said the school was abiding by a state guideline that banned “minimal nutrition” foods.
“Whether or not I agree with the guidelines, we have to follow the rules,” he said.
The state, however, gives each school discretion over how to enforce the policy. Ellis said school officials had decided a stricter punishment was necessary after lesser penalties failed to serve as a deterrent.”
Unfortunately, the lesson Leighann’s Mom learned — and told her child — is that this shows life isn’t fair. Time-out for Mom.
Finally, the Houston Press notes this isn’t the only Jolly Rancher story in the news. What’s up with Jolly Ranchers?
— DRJ
That’s not suspension, it’s detention. But it’s still pretty stupid. Or even very stupid. And I bring my daughter home for lunch and she eats what she wants as much as she wants.
nk (db4a41) — 5/7/2010 @ 8:25 pmTrue. Perhaps I missed the distinction because my days of dealing with suspensions and detentions are long gone. I’ll fix it.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 5/7/2010 @ 9:15 pmMindless adherence to zero-tolerance policies will continue to create acquiescent robots happy to follow the bidding of their masters. In Engalnd they are known as “jobsworths.” They always carry an enormous bunch of keys, and if you ask them to do anything not in the manual, they invariably reply, “That’s more than my job’s worth…”
gazzer (7588eb) — 5/7/2010 @ 10:03 pmActually, I was glad to see this. The quickest way to get rid of a mindless policy is to apply it in an everyday situation and let people see how … mindless … it is.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 5/7/2010 @ 10:07 pmGood point DRJ. Sunlight is always the best policy.
gazzer (7588eb) — 5/7/2010 @ 10:22 pmThe whole intent of zero-tolerance policies or ill-conceived rules and guidelines is to give bureaucracy an out when someone gets annoyed.
As evidenced in this case, those policies usually go wrong and end up causing the exact circumstance they were meant to avoid.
Common sense has a meaning, but it’s damned hard.
Ag80 (f67beb) — 5/7/2010 @ 10:32 pmIt’s really striking how insignificant the role of the parent has become. The question isn’t when did the government feel it necessary to determine what food a parent can provide their child but rather, when did parents abdicate and allow such a usurping of their position? This is really a preposterous situation.
Another curious thing about this, and perhaps we just don’t have a full story, is that the girl’s friend gave her the candy, therefore, shouldn’t she too be punished and sequestered during recess for dealing dope?
Dana (1e5ad4) — 5/7/2010 @ 10:42 pmMaybe they have to catch the kids in the act to punish them.
Here’s another suspension story. This one is a boys Corpus Christi baseball team that made the playoffs and celebrated by cutting their hair in mohawks, and now the school may suspend them for violating a school code. As I recall, there was also a South Texas case involving a kindergarten or preschool student whose parents didn’t want to cut his hair in keeping with the school code. What is it with South Texans and their hair?
DRJ (d43dcd) — 5/7/2010 @ 10:48 pmThis sounds way more like uber-p.c. Cali than Texas. Disappointing.
Dana (1e5ad4) — 5/7/2010 @ 10:58 pmPublic schools are like that everywhere these days, but I haven’t seen so many stories about hair since the 70s.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 5/7/2010 @ 11:17 pmHow many teachers and administrators would survive a zero tolerance policy, I wonder.
nk (db4a41) — 5/8/2010 @ 4:04 amI think this teaches the kiddies a valuable lesson: the liberal pukes of this world will not hesitate in the slightest to restrict freedom, all in the name of doing what’s best for us.
Icy Texan (073b90) — 5/8/2010 @ 4:57 amKids furtively meeting in dark recesses of the schoolgrounds, scoring some “JR”… coppin’ a buzz… jonesin’ for the brain candy… school authorities looking for bright red or green tongues, the telltale signs of addiction… the young addicts progressing to skits’…
The horror… the horror…
GeneralMalaise (3d45b5) — 5/8/2010 @ 6:53 amJolly Ranchers are indeed a big deal in Texas. Check out the JRanchers myspace page for more info about the ultimate South Texas party band.
Neobuzz (a2f3e4) — 5/8/2010 @ 7:35 amAre there no issues in the school district of more importance than whether a child has a piece of candy at lunch?
MD in Philly (ea3785) — 5/8/2010 @ 8:15 amMy wife is a super-liberal Obamamama, and she derided her friends who do homeschooling, until she saw that our daughter had tested at genius-level on things my wife and I had “home-schooled” her at, and at 50%ile on things we had left up to her teacher.
nk (db4a41) — 5/8/2010 @ 8:35 amI do not understand how this did not precipitate physical violence.
Neither this teacher nor Ellis should be returning to work anyplace around children.
EW1(SG) (edc268) — 5/8/2010 @ 8:52 amPublic schools are like that everywhere these days, but I haven’t seen so many stories about hair since the 70s.
I think I would disagree with that…I read a tremendous amount of So. Cal. news and yet to see anything about food products being confiscated from students and punishment doled out for such infractions, which is why it surprises me that that the posted incident was in Texas. I suspect if it’s occurring in Cali, it would be in the northern more nanny-green region. Ironically though, I know a great many elementary school teachers who themselves keep stashes of candy in the classroom to use as student rewards!
Dana (1e5ad4) — 5/8/2010 @ 9:08 amAnother example of the long arm of the federal government reaching out to…strangle us.
I will vote for anyone in November who promises to spend his time repealing these totalitarian regs, starting with Porkulus and Obamacare all the way down to Jolly Rancher bans.
Patricia (160852) — 5/8/2010 @ 9:33 am16.Comment by nk
until she saw that our daughter had tested at genius-level on things my wife and I had “home-schooled” her at, and at 50%ile on things we had left up to her teacher.
Aha, facts and evidence are in your favor.
MD in Philly (ea3785) — 5/8/2010 @ 9:40 amResults should always trump the “best of intentions”.
GeneralMalaise (3d45b5) — 5/8/2010 @ 9:59 amLeighann’s Mom learned the wrong lesson. In this case, it’s not that life isn’t fair, it’s that public school teachers are stupid, arbitrary, and heartless. Time-out for Mom
ropelight (2b194e) — 5/8/2010 @ 10:16 amOn the issue of the government interfering and/or protecting (depending on your pov) America’s youth from themselves, the LAT has an interesting look at it today. (It also references a proposed bill in Cali that would ban the sale of Gatorade on high school campuses).
Dana (1e5ad4) — 5/8/2010 @ 11:26 amCorrection to #22 above. It should read “…it’s that *Leighann’s* public school teachers…”
My apologies to all the intelligent, forbearing, and caring public school teachers who don’t deserve to be maligned.
ropelight (2b194e) — 5/8/2010 @ 11:50 am