Delaware 1st grader has 45-day suspension lifted – Yahoo! News
BEAR, Del. – A Delaware first-grader who faced a lengthy punishment for taking his favorite camping utensil to school — a combination folding knife, fork and spoon — got a reprieve Tuesday night when the school board made a hasty change to its strict code of conduct.
The seven-member Christina School Board voted unanimously to reduce the punishment for kindergartners and first-graders who take weapons to school or commit violent offenses to a suspension ranging from three to five days.
While the good news is that Zachary isn’t going to get a suspension for bringing a favorite utensil to school, the bad news is that some still can’t get the distinction between a weapon brought and meant to harm and a combination spoon knife and fork. For instance:
Jennifer Jankowski, who runs the special education programs at Jennie Smith Elementary in Newark, said schools need to be vigilant about protecting students. If Zachary or another student had been hurt by the knife, she said, the district would have taken the blame.
“If we can’t punish him, then what about kids that did bring (a weapon) for bad things?” Jankowski said. “There’s more to the school’s side than just us being mean and not taking this child’s interests into account.”
Seems that Ms. Jankowski can’t distinguish between a kid who brought something to school to eat and a hardened criminal looking to shank schoolmates with whatever comes at hand. And given the fact that she works in special education she of all people should know that you don’t need “punishment” to always correct behavior (if, for instance, he had mistakenly brought daddy’s big bad hunting knife).
