9 year old in cuffs?

[Cheesehead]

A 2 inch penknife is a tool, not a weapon. As a society we need to back off on the zero tolerance. Should he have taken the knife in the first place? Of course not. Should he have taken it to school? Of course not. Parents should punish him as they see appropriate for taking the knife, but the school should not be involved. The police should not be involved. There were no threats and no brandishing. The boy was being a boy. 30 or 40 years ago this was a non-issue. It should be a non-issue today.

 

[iobidder]

They probably said that to scare him into not doing it again. Imagine being 9 and the police telling you they were going to arrest you, you wouldn't want to engage in that behavior again.

Idle threats sir are sometimes very effective. Sounds like the officer did his job.

EDIT: After re-reading sounds like the school over reacted.

+One

 

[Dogabutila]

Your kid basically got swatted. Somebody needs to teach the other kid that snitches get stitches.

 

[zoostation]

I think I'd talk to the school and see exactly what was said first before getting too upset. They may have indeed overreacted, but then again kids at that young age can also get pretty upset by even an informal chat with someone like the principal and just focus on the worst possible message from the conversation.

I ran, in fact wrote the first SOP's, for an SRO program for a system of 70,000 students. I found administrators to be all over the map in terms of common sense and the ability to deal with incidents like these appropriately. Some were great, many were mediocre, and some I think couldn't make a decision between having orange juice or coffee with breakfast without consulting a manual and their area director first.

 

[Brychan]

What is wrong with school personnel now days, when I was in 6th grade my principle had a talk with me about pocket knives, he needed to cut something and I had forgotten mine at home and he told me I should always have one in my pocket. Of course he didn't mention that he had also forgotten his at home.

 

[Ab_Normal]

So they brought a sheriff in off of the street to intimidate a 9YO instead of looking for 'real' criminals? Niiiiccccceeeee...

 

[Yme]

Like others have said, schools have a zero tolerance police when it comes to weapons. If he'd have actually had the knife on school grounds, they would have suspended him. They don't care if it was an accident or not. The problem here is little tattle tale who knew he didn't have the knife anymore, but no doubt mouthed off anyway just to get attention.

agreed.

 

[iSHOOT]

Do I think they over reacted? Oh yea, big time. and no they had no business speaking on something about something that had nothing to do with them (off school grounds) but maybe they thought it was a good opportunity to nip that one in case it would have gone somewhere in the future...what I would have freaked about is that no one called me to ask how we should handle it.

 

[EL1227]

Tell your kid he is not in trouble (any further trouble after the dojang that is). Explain to him how school officials are under enormous pressure due to school violence and that is what provoked the Principals response.

Like others have said, schools have a zero tolerance police when it comes to weapons. If he'd have actually had the knife on school grounds, they would have suspended him. They don't care if it was an accident or not. The problem here is little tattle tale who knew he didn't have the knife anymore, but no doubt mouthed off anyway just to get attention.

I think I'd talk to the school and see exactly what was said first before getting too upset. They may have indeed overreacted, but then again kids at that young age can also get pretty upset by even an informal chat with someone like the principal and just focus on the worst possible message from the conversation.

I ran, in fact wrote the first SOP's, for an SRO program for a system of 70,000 students. I found administrators to be all over the map in terms of common sense and the ability to deal with incidents like these appropriately. Some were great, many were mediocre, and some I think couldn't make a decision between having orange juice or coffee with breakfast without consulting a manual and their area director first.

All of the above, and:

It's the nature of nanny'ism. They know better and by intimidating and punishing the innocent while coddling the guilty they believe they are doing their job. There's not a whole lot you can do about it in the immediacy of the incident, but ...

First:

Explain to your kid the new 'facts of life'. He did nothing wrong EXCEPT that he exercised poor judgement in where he carried the knife. Even rifling his grandfather's junk drawer was small potatoes compared to the overreaction he got from school. Bottom line, tell him to be careful what you say and do outside of home, especially when it comes to weapons, no matter how small or insignificant. Tell him NOT to retaliate against the snitch, but to be aware of who his 'friends' are, and what they, or their parents think about 'weapons'.

Second:

Attend school meetings and suggest, maybe even demand, better guidelines for dealing with 'minor' incidents, and especially hearsay. The school overreacted and hiding behind a 'zero tolerance' policy doesn't make them less responsible. Get your neighbors to come and support you ... safety in numbers.

 

[JR9390]

Schools over-react anytime there's a mention of a knife on school grounds. The fact that they called the police even though there was no crime committed is a little odd.

 

[fivepointstar]

A 2 inch penknife is a tool, not a weapon. As a society we need to back off on the zero tolerance. Should he have taken the knife in the first place? Of course not. Should he have taken it to school? Of course not. .

(again playing devils advocate)

isn't it tools called "box cutters" that crashed planes into WTC, Pentagon, and in PA? huh i'm just sayin

 

[fivepointstar]

They probably said that to scare him into not doing it again. Imagine being 9 and the police telling you they were going to arrest you, you wouldn't want to engage in that behavior again.

Idle threats sir are sometimes very effective. Sounds like the officer did his job.

EDIT: After re-reading sounds like the school over reacted.

I concur

 

[teratos]

The problem is that the school was reacting to something that did not occur to something which occurred on school property and was not against the rules of the place where the kid was. It does sound like the kid had it in his backpack, which would not have been a good thing if he were caught. There is no indication the school was aware that he had the knife while in school. That is over-reaching. You can't bring the police in to tell a kid "If you do here what you do at home, we will put you in handcuffs".

 

[fivepointstar]

here is my problem....

School adminstrators are Educators....they make horrible policy enforcement officers b/c they lack discretion.

(this is my personal opinion and do not reflect any one elses. I just want to make that clear)

 

[EL1227]

It's my opinion too ...

here is my problem....

School adminstrators are Educators....they make horrible policy enforcement officers b/c they lack discretion.

(this is my personal opinion and do not reflect any one elses. I just want to make that clear)

School board elections are even more important than national elections because their policies affect you and your children on a personal level, and this is just one small example.

However, allowing school administrators/educators to use 'policy' as a cop-out shouldn't go unchallenged. Put them 'between a rock and a hard place' when it comes to their policy interpretations/actions versus actual policy, and make it known to school boards that they are accountable to you as parents when setting guidelines, especially zero-tolerance ones.

 

[Redcobra]

So they brought a sheriff in off of the street to intimidate a 9YO instead of looking for 'real' criminals? Niiiiccccceeeee...

Your papers please. The Nazis are everywhere.
I am glad I am old and will die before the US becomes the Police State it appears to headed towards.

If I had a young child today, I would have him or her home schooled, whatever it took. The schools today are simply warehouse gulags.

 

[Cheesehead]

(again playing devils advocate)

isn't it tools called "box cutters" that crashed planes into WTC, Pentagon, and in PA? huh i'm just sayin

I'm an airline pilot, so you're hitting me kind of close to home. The boxcutters did not crash the airplanes. Those terrorists would have taken the airplanes with screwdrivers, broken bottles, or any other makeshift weapons. The problem is we let terrorists in the country, and then on the airplanes. They knew the people on the airplanes were not armed. The problem was the PEOPLE, not the tools. We need to stop "blaming" inanimate objects like boxcutters, knives and GUNS, and return to dealing with the real problems. A 9 year old boy with a penknife is not really a problem, and not really a criminal.

 

[Blaster229]

I'm an airline pilot, so you're hitting me kind of close to home. The boxcutters did not crash the airplanes. Those terrorists would have taken the airplanes with screwdrivers, broken bottles, or any other makeshift weapons. The problem is we let terrorists in the country, and then on the airplanes. They knew the people on the airplanes were not armed. The problem was the PEOPLE, not the tools. We need to stop "blaming" inanimate objects like boxcutters, knives and GUNS, and return to dealing with the real problems. A 9 year old boy with a penknife is not really a problem, and not really a criminal.

I'm pretty sure I agree.

Sent from my phone from somewhere in the world.

 

[Blaster229]

This is one of the reasons why police look bad. When as a kid there is some sort of"infraction", parents, etc... Are quick to tell the kid " I'm going to get the police to arrest you". They have no choice but to think cops are bad. Same goes for the cops who follow this lead. They aren't helping matters.

Sent from my phone from somewhere in the world.

 

[X-Factor]

I'd write a letter to the principal cc'd to the school board about the situation. They have no business threatening your child because of what he does off school grounds. Then I would make sure he NEVER brings a knife to school.

This. I'd be pissed.