Police handcuff Georgia kindergartner for tantrum

The question I always want answered in situations like this is probable cause.

And I would suspect in most cases, there was no probable cause to take these actions. It's the slippery slope of the "zero tolerance" dictum. You see nail clippers, you ruin a kid's life.

But I want to know if school officials had some reason to believe that the butter knife or nail clippers were being brought to school to inflict harm. It's not totally beyond the realm. Was it common sense to take action, or wasn't it?

 

When my wife was getting her bachelor's degree in special ed, she had to take a course where they were taught how to restrain a child (or teenager) acting violently so that they could not harm themselves or others. She had to practice on me, and the moves ranged from locking their arms from behind to takedown moves. I doubt she's had to use it more than 3-4 times in a 13-year career, but it comes up. And having someone trained like that may not prevent lawsuits but can go a long way in defending them.

 

The incident with the kid and the butter knife, I remember his mom being on The View and running the knife across her skin to basically show how it was nothing even remotely resembling a weapon.

There are countless similar incidents with pocket knives, and those are actually sharp.

 

At last. Thank you.

 

They also have knives in the cafeteria that any child can use. They will even wash it for them when they are done and store it overnight.

Allowing knives from home is a bad idea.

Everyone in America, or hopefully almost everyone, has heard about "zero tolerance." People should not fly their hands in the air when it bites them in the ass.

But a shrewed, and possibly stupid, administrator would have taken the knife from the child and asked the parent to come in and pick it up explaining how a simple butter knife, just like this one, can get their child booted from school. Especially if they see a knife like this one again. Doing that could very easily cost the admin their job.

 

http://www.mandtsystem.com/resources/faqs/

TEA Baggers refer to stuff like this as "fat" in the school budget.

 

As are nurses and psychologists.

 

Music, art, foreign languages ...

 

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