The Saga of the Suspended 6-Year-Old
Last week, 6-year-old Zachary Christie, a student at Downes Elementary School in Newark, Del., decided to bring a camping utensil that can serve as a fork, spoon, bottle opener, and folding knife to school to use at lunch. He had recently joined the Cub Scouts and was excited to use the tool, but when it was handed over to the principal, he received a 45-day suspension in the district's reform school. The school board has since overturned the decision, the Associated Press reports, but the episode could lead the district—and other schools across the country with zero-tolerance policies—to re-evaluate such procedures.
The decision by school officials to suspend Zachary was based on the district's zero-tolerance policy on weapons. Despite protests from Zachary and his family, administrators at the Christina School District initially defended the punishment, saying they had no choice. Last night's unanimous school board vote let Zachary return to school today and reduced the punishment for kindergartners or first graders who take potential weapons to school or commit violent offenses to a suspension ranging from three to five days.
But not everyone believes the district went too far. Jill Kneisley, who runs the special-education programs at Jennie Smith Elementary in Newark, told the AP that if Zachary or another student had been hurt by the knife, the district would have taken the blame. There is also concern among school leaders that softening the disciplinary terms might send an inconsistent or biased message to other students.
Zachary's mother started a website, helpzachary.com, to recruit supporters to pressure the school board and superintendent to reverse the decision. After last night's vote, she wrote, "It is our hope that by working with the school board and local lawmakers, we'll be able to overturn and do away with all zero-tolerance policies and put into place policies that will take into consideration a student's age, intent, disciplinary history, and other circumstances that arise on a case by case basis."
Many districts nationwide have adopted zero-tolerance policies on weapons to combat student violence after the Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings, but debate has grown over whether the policies have become too severe. Education experts say the policies were initially treated more subjectively, but when studies revealed that under this system more African-Americans were expelled or suspended than other students for the same offenses, officials removed discretion from the disciplinary policies.
The Delaware district says more changes to its code of conduct are possible in the coming months.
What do you think? Should school officials exercise more discretion in handling such cases, especially when the "offender" is so young? Or is a rule a rule, and it's too dicey to assess the circumstances on a case-by-case basis?
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Tags: education | K-12 education
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Reader Comments
weapon?
This incident brings up a salient question: what constitutes as a weapon?
If a boy scout multi-tool is a "weapon", then what of pencils, scissors, or compasses? All of those items could (and probably have) be used to harm others. Zero tolerance policies make no sense. cases need to be judged on a case-by-case basis.
Zero Tollerance
There is no way to make the punishment fit the crime in the case of younger children without doing it on a case by case basis, especially a 5 or 6 year old. A little kid like that can easily accidentally break some kind of rule for which there is zero tolerance without even meaning to or realizing they are doing anything wrong as in the case of Zachary. My younger brother who is now 60 told me about bringing a sharp kitchen knife to school, when he was 5, in kindergarten. He knew that he wasn't supposed to play with knives, but he didn't bring it to use as a weapon. He just thought it was a cool thing to play with. He accidentally hurt himself and didn't tell anyone even though it hurt a lot, because he knew he would get into trouble. He was a really good kid and always his teachers darlings all through school and a straight A student to boot, but even he wasn't a perfect child. He just did what he thought was a very small thing that he shouldn't of. If it had been today and he was caught he would have been suspended, I am sure. It is a crazy world. What does a mom do when her 5 or 6 year old plays when a knife and he shouldn't, but is basically a good and non-violent kid. He gets in trouble and is punished maybe with a timeout or having to give up a favorite toy or something, but she doesn't treat him like a juvenile to deliquent or go for counseling, because she understands that it isn't the worst thing in the world. If a 5 or 6 year old child or any other child is the violent type then maybe they don't belong in school with normal kids anyway and a weapon is just an escalation of the problem. Once kids are of an age to understand zero tolerance rules, maybe it is okay for the most part, except in a case where a student in front of witnesses has attacked another student and the only way that student can keep from getting even more seriously injured is to fight back. A person should be allowed to defend themselves. When my daughter was in 3rd grade a little boy was attacked in front of many students and having his head banged against a steal locker by the attacking student. He had to defend himself, but he still got in trouble because of the school's zero tolerance fighting policy. That is wrong. The school officials knew what had happened and they still punished this poor little kid who was already injured from getting his head banged against a steal locker. People just need to show some common sense.
Blame the Parents
What is a six year old child doing with a knife? I'm sure his mother and father do not let him play with the knives in their kitchen. Why would they allow him to take a knife to school? Bad parenting explains this child's misfortune.
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