I have no patience for zero tolerance rules, so this story has me reeling:
Boyfriend and girlfriend, 15-year-olds Brandon Kizi and Andra Ferguson are both asthma sufferers and both students at Caney Creek High School. At least, they were, until Andra began suffering an asthma attack at school.
“I couldn’t breathe, and I was just very short of breath,” recalled Andra. “My chest was tightened up and it was hurting.”
Brandon described the incident. “Her face was turning a little reddish-pink and she looked pale, as far as I could see. I loaned her my inhaler. I walked her to the nurse’s office and loaned her my inhaler.”
That’s when the trouble started. The school nurse called the school police, who arrested Brandon. They charged him with a felony, namely distributing a dangerous drug for loaning out his prescription inhaler. Andra’s mother thinks that’s wrong. “His (inhaler) is the very same thing. And he has had my permission to give her that medication any time she forgets it,” said Sandra Ferguson.
Is our children learning? Yes- they are learning we are not serious at all. For a whole lot of fun with zero tolerance idiocy, check out this website: Losing My Tolerance for Zero Tolerance.
Full disclosure- I carried a pocket knife and aspirin in school. Lots of my friends even had *GASP* shotguns and rifles and compound bows and hunting knives in their trunks. Crazy, aren’t I?
(via TalkLeft)
cameron
As an asthma sufferer, I can say this is TRULY BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!
I believe it is called http://www.thisistrue.com
i used to get daiy updates from this guy. He is big on doing away with zero tolerence.
Check him out.
Harry
I went to high school in rural Georgia during the late 70s we had a class, taught for credit toward graduation, on firearms and firearm safey. In this class we actually had target practice with real by god ammo. No one that I went to high school with was murdered by a gun during that time. And what about building the bomb in chemistry class? Didn’t everybody?
Kimmitt
Insane.
scott h.
Another argument for vouchers…
David Perron
I actually know the (recently) former chairman of the board of trustees of Hillsdale; the man doesn’t have a racist bone in his body. “Know”, in this case, means I used to hang out with his daughter a lot in high school and during college break, but haven’t seen the guy in a decade or so.
David Perron
Whoops, wrong thread.
Kimmitt
Another argument for vouchers…
Er, these policies are put into place at the direct request of parents, who demand them or threaten suit. Why would vouchers be relevant, unless what you’re implying is that the insane parents would self-select for schools with zero-tolerance and would not demand that good schools without zero-tolerance change their policies when they switch over.
SDN
Kimmitt:
The simple reason is that voucher money is used to pay for private schools. One of the clauses in every private school I’ve ever seen says that you will agree with how we enforce our rules or leave. The Idiotarian parents might be able to try to sue, but if they get a judge who believes in contracts they’ll probably lose.
M. Scott Eiland
I have a standing proposed remedy for school administrators who do this sort of thing–sue them until they have no assets left but their blood–which they can sell to avoid starvation. Sooner or later, they’ll learn.
Alan E Brain
I thought I’d fact-check, so wrote an e-mail to the principal. Here’s his reply (he gave me permission to quote him):
physics geek
There’s an update to this story at http://www.click2houston.com/news/2547143/detail.html
The student is being expelled, but no criminal charges are being pressed. And my wife wonders why I don’t want to send our children to public school.