Girl arrested, handcuffed for taking scissors to school

A 10-year-old girl was placed in handcuffs and taken to a police station because she took a pair of scissors to her elementary school. School district officials said the fourth-grade student did not threaten anyone with the 8-inch shears, but violated a rule that considers scissors to be potential weapons.

Administrators said they were following state law when they called police Thursday, and police said they were following department rules when they handcuffed Porsche Brown and took her away in a patrol wagon.

"My daughter cried and cried," said her mother, Rose Jackson. "She had no idea what she did was wrong. I think that was way too harsh."

Police officers decided the girl hadn't committed a crime and let her go.

However, school officials suspended her for five days. Administrators will decide at a hearing whether she may return to class, or be expelled to a special disciplinary school.

The scissors were discovered while students' belongings were being searched for property missing from a teacher's desk.


http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2004-12-11-scissors-arrest_x.htm

And we wonder why kids are becoming criminals at younger ages? We are MAKING them criminals. This kind of thing is totaly crazy IMO.

I agree. Its total b.s.

This is so silly! Teachers and school administration need to be alert concerning abused, depressed, or ill children. A ten year old no less. Had it been HS, might have been a problem.

I had stuck a pair of scissors in my purse while putting flowers on graves. I forgot they were there and went to the post office the next day. I walked through the door and an alarm went off. PO workers said to ignore it, it had been doing that all morning. Later the day I was looking for something in my purse and found them. I shuddered to think what I could have gone through. I will never do that again.

he he.. I got stopped at Windsor Castle in England for having a knife in my pocket (and a fork) we were on a thames river cruise and then went for a windsor castle tour and on the cruise there was a lunch buffet and I had stuck the cutlery in my coat pocket and then nothing looked very good so I didn't eat and forgot about the knife and fork... they took me to a little room but were nice chaps and let me go.

lorann said:

This is so silly! Teachers and school administration need to be alert concerning abused, depressed, or ill children. A ten year old no less. Had it been HS, might have been a problem.

I had stuck a pair of scissors in my purse while putting flowers on graves. I forgot they were there and went to the post office the next day. I walked through the door and an alarm went off. PO workers said to ignore it, it had been doing that all morning. Later the day I was looking for something in my purse and found them. I shuddered to think what I could have gone through. I will never do that again.

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I don't think this is silly at all. :hand: High School? Puleeeeease - 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grade is just about the time these kids start thinking about all this stuff.
Its confusing to them at this age, and if you're going to blame anything, blame the childs environment, TV exposure and to top it off, blame the media.

I was a teaching assistant for a first grade class in the Washington DC area for over three years. I saw and witnessed with my own eyes what some of these children were capable of and 95% of them were boys.

I can understand why this mother would be upset. Surely any parent, whose childs name was printed in the news :doh: for "all the world to see" has every right to be upset.

They handcuffed Porsche Brown and took her away in a patrol wagon.

I do agree the above was a bit extreme. On the other hand we don't have any of the facts as to the "EXACT" reason this action was taken. True?

For those of you who don't have any contact with whats really going on in the public schools these days I can only offer one word of advice, Volunteer for 2-5 hours a week if you possibly can. Lunchtime and recess (primary grades) are the most telling times of all.
I'll never forget the words of advice given to me by the long-time teacher I assisted for and she said- always keep one eye on your back and both eyes on "all the students at all times". Times have changed, trust no one.

She was correct in more ways than I can explain unless you've been there to witness it.

Over reaction by the school - possibly - although as I stated above we don't know any of the other circumstances that surrounded this situation.

This mother certainly has every reason in the world to take re-course against the school district for printing her daughter's name in the news and against the news source that released it, and so she should.

Just my 2 cents.

I have worked in a school and have seen first hand what teachers have to endure. I am surprised that some schools can find enough teachers to fill the slots. That being said, I do not understand why they had to handcuff a 10 year old girl. That is so wrong. This is a child and should have been treated as one.

LadyLuck said:

I have worked in a school and have seen first hand what teachers have to endure. I am surprised that some schools can find enough teachers to fill the slots. That being said, I do not understand why they had to handcuff a 10 year old girl. That is so wrong. This is a child and should have been treated as one.

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In other related news, "boys, 10, plotted to ambush and rob ATM users". These 10 years olds aren't always as innocent as people would like to think. I'm sure with hindsight, the force may have been excessive, but in this day and age, it's better to be safe than sorry. The girl is just a victim of the times.

I took a year off and volunteered at my kids' school every day. We must be living in Leave it to Beaver Land because the absolute worst thing that I've ever heard done at their school was a kid saying a curse word. I can't imagine sending my kids to school in a place as bad as ya'll are talking about.

I think it has more to do with the parents of the students at those schools than anything else. Goes back to same ole thing...lack of parental responsibility. But then, when the courts take away parental responsibility at every chance, many times the parents are left with no control over the child...so what is the answer now?

Good question Timex. I can't stand it when parents blindly stick up for their kids no matter what. Shoot, back in my day (in the olden days ) if an adult told us to do something, we wouldn't dare talk back or my mom would let us have it!!! LOL Driving home one afternoon, I came across two little boys fighting in the street. Bikes were thrown down and they were rolling around in the grass. I pulled my car over and told them to knock it off!!! Then the biger of the two (slightly) got on his bike and rode off and I told the other kid I'd follow him until he got home.

But one other time, I was visiting some friends in an apartment complex and two kids were pushing each other. One really big one and one small kid. I told the bigger kid to stop it and the little one looked me in the face and told me to "mind your business b!tch!!!!! LOL Can you believe that? I said fine, get the snot beat out of you and walked away!!!

"School district officials have promised a crackdown on unruly students this year, and new policies give administrators the power to expel students for infractions as minor as violating the dress code, chronic tardiness or habitual swearing."

Administrators say the steps are needed to regain control over a notoriously unruly school system, but some parents have complained that discipline has been overly harsh and that school officials have been too quick to call police about minor problems. "

Sometimes you need to take drastic measures to keep kids safe. I would like to think the district sent out notices to parents regarding the crackdown. "School district officials said the fourth-grade student did not threaten anyone with the 8-inch shears, but violated a rule that considers scissors to be potential weapons." You can bet that if this child had a previous record...handcuffs would be used....sounds like they are actually being non-discriminitive in their school policies. If those are the rules set forth---then the unhappy parents should get their butts into their school's board meetings and make change happen. I can bet you none of the parents bothered to go...which is probably why the district's notoriously unruly school system needs to go this more severe route.
Parents need to pay attention-their children do need to be protected-and need to have their parents involved!!! Is handcuffs the answer? Maybe, if that is the only way to get some parents attention...
My hope is that more parents will get involved with the school. While she may not have posed a threat directly...another student could have borrowed/stolen and used them to threaten or hurt...which is probably why they do not allow certain items like the 8 inch scissors. To those parents there that don't like this--GET INVOLVED, know the policies, TALK to your child about the consequences. Thankfully no one was hurt, and hopefully the students previous records (which we have no idea what they may contain) will have her back in the public school asap.

BTW, I have a 4th grader...and he can't play with over 1/2 the kids in his class because of: liars, cheaters, stealers...and those that have said threatening things (such as I will kill you), as well as having one child put his hands on my son's throat choking him (thank god I was there!!!)---because he saw that "sleeper hold" on the wrestling show.

Actually, this is just more proof of our public school system failing IMO. Its one more reason why I support a voucher program. At least that way the parents that had students that were not law breakers could choose to send their kids to a different school, where a child could still be viewed as a child. There are many public schools I would never let my kids set foot in, and no amount of money is going to fix those schools.

I am for vouchers too-anything that will keep children safe while they learn.