Zero Tolerance Insanity: Deaf Three-Year-Old’s Hand Sign for His Name Said to Violate “Weapons Policy” [UPDATE: Old Story; Blame Low-Level Patterico Employees in Cincinnati]
[See UPDATE below — it’s an old story. Sorry! — P]
The zero tolerance story to end all zero tolerance stories:
Hunter Spanjer says his name with a certain special hand gesture, but at just three and a half years old, he may have to change it.
“He’s deaf, and his name sign, they say, is a violation of their weapons policy,” explained Hunter’s father, Brian Spanjer.
Grand Island’s “Weapons in Schools” Board Policy 8470 forbids “any instrument…that looks like a weapon,” But a three year-old’s hands?
“Anybody that I have talked to thinks this is absolutely ridiculous. This is not threatening in any way,” said Hunter’s grandmother Janet Logue.
“It’s a symbol. It’s an actual sign, a registered sign, through S.E.E.,” Brian Spanjer said.
S.E.E. stands for Signing Exact English, Hunter’s sign language. Hunter’s name gesture is modified with crossed-fingers to show it is uniquely his own.
“We are working with the parents to come to the best solution we can for the child,” said Jack Sheard, Grand Island Public Schools spokesperson.
I have a solution for you. Shut up and let the kid sign his name. There. Problem solved.
Via MSNNow.com and Dana Pico.
UPDATE: Mea culpa: the story is from August 2012. I found it because of the tweet from Dana Pico and assumed it was a new story. Thanks to a commenter for bringing this to my attention. My defense, similar to Ace’s when he did something like this recently, is: I blame low-level Patterico employees in Cincinnati.
this was resolved already I thought
the child-abusing perverts what run the Grand island school system backed down
happyfeet (8ce051) — 6/3/2013 @ 7:38 pmThe more education somebody has, the stupider they are.
Funeral Guy (51a2fe) — 6/3/2013 @ 7:39 pmOh, for God’s sake.
nk (875f57) — 6/3/2013 @ 7:41 pmHe better not ask for any Bazooka Joe bubble gum. The school will be on lockdown.
Gazzer (2789fc) — 6/3/2013 @ 7:56 pmHere’s your sign.
Icy (c2b266) — 6/3/2013 @ 8:04 pmI for one welcome our new toddler overlords. When they make that gun signy thing, I am frightened.
Ag80 (eb6ffa) — 6/3/2013 @ 8:11 pmSue the bastards and use the money to pay for his college tuition.
SPQR (768505) — 6/3/2013 @ 8:25 pmThis is what we have to show for 40+ years of pouring money and political correctness into education.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 6/3/2013 @ 8:30 pmMeanwhile, in LAPD clownville ….
SPQR (768505) — 6/3/2013 @ 8:43 pmmy friend NG’s kid’s daycare had a fundraiser
they sold cookies and I bought 4 different ones
they’re the kind you have to cook and they’re “gourmet proportioned” which means you get these smallish dough balls to toss onto a cookie sheet
there are 48 smallish dough balls to a package
anyway my house smells like warm peabnut bubber cookies and yours doesn’t
it was only way way later that I wondered in my head
since when do daycares have fundraisers exactly?
this a regular old secular for-profit daycare
I don’t get it
happyfeet (8ce051) — 6/3/2013 @ 8:52 pmActually a year old story. and yes the school board did back down after publicity.
max (131bc0) — 6/3/2013 @ 8:57 pmAversion therapy. It’s like a plan.
Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 6/3/2013 @ 9:11 pmYeah, I was about to say this is essentially brainwashing kids to have a totally irrational aversion to even the idea of guns.
One year I realized that my college class (full of people from out of state) had a problem with guns. Many people in the class were irrationally afraid of guns and disturbingly ignorant of them, even at a basic level. Fortunately, my campus had a gun range with free 50 rounds and a .22 revolver or bolt action rifle to any student who showed up. A lot of students managed to go, and a lot of the people who really needed the experience managed to go (to their credit, they realized this was an educational opportunity).
Unfortunately, the school has since torn down the range and replaced it with a Taco Cabana. I’m not joking.
Anyhow, there is no good reason to criminalize a child making a play gun with his hand (to say nothing of a deaf person saying his name!). This is sheer brainwashing, and everyone on board with that should be fired. Their job is to teach reading, writing, arithmetic, science, history and useful stuff like that. It is not to brainwash politics into children.
Dustin (303dca) — 6/3/2013 @ 10:05 pmWe need to teach everyone the sign for “Vouchers.”
DRJ (a83b8b) — 6/3/2013 @ 10:10 pmMany people in the class were irrationally afraid of guns and disturbingly ignorant of them, even at a basic level.
The natural outgrowth of ignorance is an irrational fear, whether the issue is guns or conservatism.
Dana (292dcf) — 6/3/2013 @ 10:15 pmDustin:
My mom, who graduated from high school in 1961, likes to tell me about how she was on her high school girl’s rifle team. They actually shot live ammo in the firing range that used to be down in the school’s basement. She recalls that the JROTC boys also fired live ammo at the range for target practice.
Can you imagine a public high school allowing that in this day and age?
JVW (23867e) — 6/3/2013 @ 11:06 pmMy wife did the same thing in the 70s in Wisconsin. The kids were encouraged to bring the family gun to school. Nobody died.
Gazzer (2789fc) — 6/3/2013 @ 11:10 pmIt wouldn’t surprise me if the rifle team at my mom’s alma mater (which is mine too for that matter) survived into the 1970s. In fact, it would be an interesting research project to see when these sorts of activities started being discontinued. It may have something to do with Title IX — when my mom was in high school I don’t think there were any varsity teams for girls (maybe track and cross-country), so stuff like the rifle team was one of their few extracurricular outlets.
JVW (23867e) — 6/3/2013 @ 11:17 pmI have the one finger peace sign for those jokers…
Chris (e72dbe) — 6/4/2013 @ 12:28 am“Zero tolerance” policies really mean “zero intelligence.” They say that the teachers, principals, and disciplinary officials in a school system aren’t smart enough to use their discretion, so they are given none.
IIRC, these policies originated when minority parents complained of unequal punishments, but spread – as only bad ideas can do so rapidly – into multiple unrelated areas.
The effect is similar to mandatory sentences for drugs and other specific crimes. By removing all discretion from judges and parole and probation officials, the prisons and jails become filled to capacity with inmates who pose less of a danger to society than those who are set free to make room for the mandatory inmates.
Estragon (19fa04) — 6/4/2013 @ 2:58 amLeftists back in the 1960’s began taking over private and especially public sector K-12 education. They became entrenched in the 1970’s. By the 1990’s they were entrenched in high-level administrative positions within school boards and districts. Now the unemployment and underemployment rates among young people are at Grapes of Wrath levels and the so-called “youth vote” to a material extent is a lock step voting bloc for Democrats. Connect the dots.
William Scalia (89a442) — 6/4/2013 @ 3:17 amThanks!
At some point, you have to wonder just how these highly-edumacated professionals can’t see just how fornicating stupid this stuff has gotten. Does college simply remove all common sense from people these days?
The grateful Dana (3e4784) — 6/4/2013 @ 4:41 amJVW and Gazzer, I was shooting at the University of Illinois at Chicago rifle range in-between classes through 1979. All I had to do was buy the ammunition. In 1981 both my opponent and I brought real pistols into a mock trial at the courts building. Nobody said boo. Wouldn’t dare do that now.
nk (875f57) — 6/4/2013 @ 4:59 amBoth houses of the Illinois legislature just passed “shall issue” concealed carry, BTW. Took a little arm-twisting from the Seventh Circuit and it still has to get by Quinn’s veto. Still ….
nk (875f57) — 6/4/2013 @ 5:07 amEstragon wrote:
Judging by some of the recent stories, the claim that teachers and principals aren’t smart enough to use their discretion seems to have been proven.
The snarky Dana (3e4784) — 6/4/2013 @ 5:56 amQuestion for the lawyers: Does a person have a Ninth Amendment right to his own name? A First Amendment right to say (or sign) it?
W. J. J. Hoge (9c4b9d) — 6/4/2013 @ 7:20 amAre hands listed among instruments that can be used as weapons?
If not, then he did not violate any rules.
Michael Ejercito (2e0217) — 6/4/2013 @ 7:25 amZero tolerance equals zero common sense.
Kevin P. (1df29c) — 6/4/2013 @ 7:32 amUPDATE: Mea culpa: the story is from August 2012. I found it because of the tweet from Dana Pico and assumed it was a new story. Thanks to a commenter for bringing this to my attention. My defense, similar to Ace’s when he did something like this recently, is: I blame low-level Patterico employees in Cincinnati.
Patterico (9c670f) — 6/4/2013 @ 7:44 amAll 88 of them, Patterico?
SPQR (768505) — 6/4/2013 @ 7:55 amSPQR,
Yes, a couple of them, as I said.
Patterico (9c670f) — 6/4/2013 @ 7:56 amIt’s unthinkable and it was already getting that way when we took advantage of the range at my university a few years ago (the ROTC used that one as well). And it was an educational facility well worth using by those who had already been indoctrinated that guns are mysterious and scary and invoking them is like saying “Voldemort” (for example, a child making the shape out of a pop-tart) is reprehensible.
America is full of guns. Everyone should take a gun safety class and understand how to safely handle a gun, how they work, etc. It’s just basic life skills. It’s also a lot of fun, and it’s sad that a lot of kids these days will grow up with a phobia of something useful and fun. Every mentally healthy American should own a couple of guns. It’s a national tradition that deters evil in many ways.
Dustin (303dca) — 6/4/2013 @ 8:31 amComment by nk (875f57) — 6/4/2013 @ 5:07 am
If Quinn signs that, IL will have a more reasonable CCW law than does CA, and without the mag restrictions too.
askeptic (b8ab92) — 6/4/2013 @ 3:40 pmI don’t know if I believe you, Patterico, maybe if one of the memos had Lerner’s signature on it …
SPQR (6b2dff) — 6/4/2013 @ 5:03 pmHey, askeptic. Did you hear about the LAPD contingent which was sent to Iraq a couple of months ago to train Iraqi police and to search for weapons of mass destruction? They just reported back, “Have secured weapons of mass destruction, request clarification on whom we’re supposed to find them on”.
nk (875f57) — 6/4/2013 @ 5:56 pmnk, ROFL, although if any police had “throw down” WMD’s my bet on the department would have been Chicago.
SPQR (768505) — 6/4/2013 @ 6:07 pmHere, I have a new sign that he can show them for his name.
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peedoffamerican (ee1de0) — 6/4/2013 @ 6:59 pm………………..,/¯../
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http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Edmonds-students-suspended-for-using-Nerf-gun-at-school-210013811.html
http://pro.wmal-af.tritonflex.com/common/page.php?pt=WMAL+EXCLUSIVE%3A+11-Yr-Old+Suspended+From+School+For+Merely+TALKING+About+Guns&id=26543&is_corp=0
More of that there zero tolerance crap.
peedoffamerican (ee1de0) — 6/4/2013 @ 10:02 pmTurning and turning in the widening gyre
peedoffamerican (ee1de0) — 6/4/2013 @ 10:05 pmThe falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Oops wrong thread.
peedoffamerican (ee1de0) — 6/4/2013 @ 10:13 pm