FL - Student Arrested After Cutting Food With Knife

[TaylorJ4]

My daughter attended a magnet school for junior high. This was basically an inner city school that received grant money to start a specialized program in the attempt to attract "non-minority" students to attend inner city schools-our school system's attempt to desegregate.

Anyway, this school had a lot of discipline problems. They also had a very strict dress code. I received a call at work one day from my daughter who was sobbing. I rushed to the school only to be told she was being given detention for violating the dress code. Her infraction? She wore a hair bow in a non-approved color....

 

[Mr. E]

When did people get the idea that a child will automatically strike out violently in anger? I think the average kid knows how to act...it is just the few crazies who make everybody think any child is ready and willing to stab, kill, beat up, etc. I teach adolescents, and their emotions are on high every single day. Yet the only kids who get into trouble are the kids who are walking around looking for trouble. The rest of the kids deal with their problems/issues non-violently and move on. When did our society move into the "Oh, my God, she's got a knife! Get the pepper spray!" mentality?

 

[STEADFAST]

While I think having this girl arrested was going a little overboard, she does deserve to be punished for bringing a knife to school. . .

This wasn't a plastic knife... this was a steak knife. A steak knife can kill. This young girl knew the rules... she broke them. She should have received suspension, not arrest, but she does deserve some punishment. . .

Speaking as a parent, I'd want my child's school to protect my child while in their custody. Getting rid of weapons (yes, even a steak knife) is a priority to me.

I completely agree, MR. The rules and the punishments have to be the same for all the students, regardless of their different levels of responsibility, peacefulness, grade point average or of how tender or tough their lunch meat may be.

And I definitely do not think students should be allowed to carry steak knives around school. Of all the utensils commonly used for eating, steak knives -- unlike spoons, forks and butter knives -- are also very commonly used for murdering.

 

[MagicRose99]

When did people get the idea that a child will automatically strike out violently in anger? I think the average kid knows how to act...it is just the few crazies who make everybody think any child is ready and willing to stab, kill, beat up, etc. I teach adolescents, and their emotions are on high every single day. Yet the only kids who get into trouble are the kids who are walking around looking for trouble. The rest of the kids deal with their problems/issues non-violently and move on. When did our society move into the "Oh, my God, she's got a knife! Get the pepper spray!" mentality?

Who said anything about "automatically"?!?!?! I said it COULD happen...

Please, do not put words in my mouth, thank you.

 

[Linda7NJ]

What seems to be missing in our schools is common sense. I don't understand how a nail clipper or a plastic knife could ever be a weapon. If it is a usually well-behaved child who is eating steak with a knife, I would just tell her it isn't allowed, take it until school is out, or call her parents to come pick it up. Arrest people for really serious offenses. Don't do it on ridiculous charges.

When I first began doing foster care I sent my 16 yr old foster daughter to school with a knife to cut the skin off her apple. ( She hated the skin)

Thankfully common sense prevailed and that's exactly what happened. I had to go to the school to pick up my knife and listen to a list of all the banned articles.

 

[Paladin]

I'm probably in the minority here... but...

While I think having this girl arrested was going a little overboard, she does deserve to be punished for bringing a knife to school. It takes one second of losing one's temper to stab someone... especially a young child who doesn't have control over one's emotions as an adult does (or at least should).

This wasn't a plastic knife... this was a steak knife. A steak knife can kill. This young girl knew the rules... she broke them. She should have received suspension, not arrest, but she does deserve some punishment. (At every school I've ever dealt with, every year at the beginning of the school year, each child is given a handbook to read and rules to acknowledge. I'm positive that "no weapons" is one of the major rules.)

Speaking as a parent, I'd want my child's school to protect my child while in their custody. Getting rid of weapons (yes, even a steak knife) is a priority to me.

She doesn't need to be punished. She needs to be told that she shouldn't bring a steak knife to school, why that policy is in place, and then let her be.

 

[nappy2]

She doesn't need to be punished. She needs to be told that she shouldn't bring a steak knife to school, why that policy is in place, and then let her be.

The school cant make it that simple [like it should be] no they have to put on a big show at this little girls expense! Like I said before a bunch of B.S

 

[southcitymom]

I'm not sure why you've decided she has no parents or bad ones. Could you explain? They seem to have raised a little girl who is a good student, described by school officials as a responsible 5th grader, who is capable of packing her own lunches. Nothing there smacks of bad parenthood to me. Even if the parents didn't dig through the child's lunch every morning, the little girl was a 'responsible' child.....the parents had probably decided long ago that this child was perfectly capable of packing her own lunch.

Everything I've read about this girl's parents leads me to believe they are doing a terrific job.

Shame on this school and shame on "zero tolerance" as a policy. Ridiculous.

 

[sherri79]

you know you can be stabbed with a fork. it is actually a weapon pretending to be a utensil. it comes with a handle and multiple spears. what is wrong with the police and school. she should have been charged with 2 weapons.

/sarcasm off

 

[MagicRose99]

She doesn't need to be punished. She needs to be told that she shouldn't bring a steak knife to school, why that policy is in place, and then let her be.

She broke the rules... she needs to be punished for breaking the rules. There are consequences for actions when one does wrong.

 

[kgeaux]

She broke the rules... she needs to be punished for breaking the rules. There are consequences for actions when one does wrong.

I'm really not convinced this girl knew she was breaking the rules. The original article states that she had brought the knife to school other times in the past and no action was taken against her.....the article doesn't even say she was warned not to bring the knife again. She brought it, she used it, nobody said anything. Until this particular day, when suddenly all hell breaks loose. (Makes me wonder if a superviser was on campus or something.)

Either way, don't you think there should be degrees of punishment? Should a good student, sitting quietly cutting her meat, be held to the EXACT same punishment as a wild-eyed kid who is holding the knife in a threatening manner? There is just no common sense in zero tolerance, IMO. And I do see danger in the policy: when a good kid is excessively punished and CRIMINALIZED for something as simple as clipping her nails or cutting her meat, we've done something traumatic to that child's view of herself and her view of the world. We have MADE a criminal out of a good kid in the present tense, and if she digests that information, we just might have made a criminal out of a good kid in the future, if you get my point.

I know when my kids were younger, certain actions on their parts warrented time outs, other actions called for a swift swat on the hiney. THAT is what is needed here, someone with a brain to actually discern the threat or lack thereof in these situations and act accordingly.

 

[nappy2]

I'm not sure why you've decided she has no parents or bad ones. Could you explain? They seem to have raised a little girl who is a good student, described by school officials as a responsible 5th grader, who is capable of packing her own lunches. Nothing there smacks of bad parenthood to me. Even if the parents didn't dig through the child's lunch every morning, the little girl was a 'responsible' child.....the parents had probably decided long ago that this child was perfectly capable of packing her own lunch.

First of all thank you for your post and for you opinion!
I just personally feel a 10 year old should be more supervised . I also think the parents should be making her lunch for her and know what she is eatting and what she is putting the the lunch bag .

 

[Mr. E]

Who said anything about "automatically"?!?!?! I said it COULD happen...

Please, do not put words in my mouth, thank you.

I wasn't responding to you. I was speaking in general terms.

 

[Linda7NJ]

First of all thank you for your post and for you opinion!
I just personally feel a 10 year old should be more supervised . I also think the parents should be making her lunch for her and know what she is eating and what she is putting the the lunch bag .

My own son just turned 10 and he is perfectly capable of packing his own lunch and has been doing so for quite sometime now. He makes excellent choices when it comes to food and what he drinks. He's also a very responsible child.

Thankfully he attends a private school where an eating utensil is not considered a weapon.

 

[southcitymom]

My own son just turned 10 and he is perfectly capable of packing his own lunch and has been doing so for quite sometime now. He makes excellent choices when it comes to food and what he drinks. He's also a very responsible child.

Thankfully he attends a private school where an eating utensil is not considered a weapon.

Good on you! If my sons aren't packing their own lunches by 10, I'd seriously want to reevaluate some of my parenting choices.

 

[bnhall]

Someone could have easily taken the knife out of her bag and used it for bad purposes. I've seen someone get stabbed in the leg with a fork in a high school cafeteria. She shouldn't have been arrested, but she should not have the knife at school.

 

[Linda7NJ]

Someone could have easily taken the knife out of her bag and used it for bad purposes. I've seen someone get stabbed in the leg with a fork in a high school cafeteria. She shouldn't have been arrested, but she should not have the knife at school.

That's ridiculous! But you're okay with forks? Following that logic knives should be banned from restaurants because some nut may take one off your table and do harm to someone else.

ooooh wait...it's all about protecting the children.....then let's ban children from restaurants too!

 

[MagicRose99]

That's ridiculous! But you're okay with forks? Following that logic knives should be banned from restaurants because some nut may take one off your table and do harm to someone else.

ooooh wait...it's all about protecting the children.....then let's ban children from restaurants too!

Talk about ridiculous...

 

[believe09]

I bet the difference on this day was the presence of a steak knife. In any case, the idea that the child would be made an example because of a zero tolerance policy seems to be the key to this issue. We need a one size fits all rule in school for what reason? These are not adults, these are kids and it is all about shades of grey with them I think. What lesson has she learned from this experience? Most likely to be terrified of her school administrators, her local police department and possibly her parents. Hmmmm-now while I agree that 10 year olds are capable of packing lunches, I think I might have made it clear to mine that steak knives are not a utensil of choice, but who knows? In any case, has zero tolerance captured any criminals in the making in schools, not unlike the security checks at airports? Or is it smoke and mirrors so that parents/teachers can fool themselves into thinking their schools are somehow safer??

 

[southcitymom]

Or is it smoke and mirrors so that parents/teachers can fool themselves into thinking their schools are somehow safer??

Bingo, believe. You hit the nail on the head. That's exactly what "zero tolerance" is! We'll do something ridiculous just to be seen doing something. I spend half my life doing this and the other half doing this :crazy: ......God save me from the people who want to save me.....