Earlier this morning, I wrote about how I was a little stumped when it comes to posting things. My father-in-law passed away last week, and the last week has been something of a blur. I figured it would take a couple of days to get back into some kind of groove. I was wrong. All it took was about 5 minutes of browsing stories before I ran across this example of colossal stupidity in Gwinnett County, Georgia, perpetrated in the name of “keeping the schools safe for our children:”
I’m afraid we’re busy wiping out the last vestiges of common sense from our society. It looks like no school administrator can ever make a decision based on common sense; instead, he has to look in a book, and find a moronic round-hole rule into which he must pound his square-peg incident. A stern “Jack, you need to be careful what you bring to school” message won’t do; we have to administer the prescribed punishment, even if it doesn’t fit the “crime.”
From 11Alive in Atlanta:
A Gwinnett County family is baffled that their teenager was disciplined after he reported to his teacher that he accidently brought a small pocket knife to school.
“I hate that Jack felt like he did was he was supposed to do, and for him these are dire consequences,” said Angie Persyn, the teen’s mother.
Thirteen-year-old Jack Persyn was at Chess Club before the start of classes at Lanier Middle School in Gwinnett County when he discovered an inch-and-a-half long knife in a bag he brought to school. The military style bag was given to him as a Christmas gift from his aunt, who bought it at a yard sale.
The disciplinary report written by administrators at Lanier Middle states that the 8th grader “accidentally” brought the knife to school and that he “immediately self-reported” the weapon to his teacher.
Still, Jack was punished with four days of in-school suspension.
It’s a great lesson for young Jack, right? If you do the right thing, you’re still going to be punished – because “we want the other children to know they’ll be safe at school.” Next time, Jack, you might consider just keeping your mouth shut, and not alerting the school administration morons that you accidentally brought a “weapon” to school.
