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2013/03/30 16:12:34
Subject: Student Suspended For Butter Knife She Brought To Middle School In Packed Lunch
A Massachusetts middle school student was suspended after she brought a butter knife to school in her lunch, Fox 25 Boston reports.
According to the 13-year-old's mother, Morgan LaPlume was taken to the office and handed a one-day suspension after Wamsutta Middle School's assistant principal spotted the butter knife, Attleboro's Sun Chronicle reports.
LaPlume packed the butter knife with her lunch in order to cut a pear, explaining to Fox 25 that she can't bite into the fruit because of her braces.
State Rep. Paul Heroux (D-Attleboro) criticized the school's action, telling Attleboro Patch that this "could have been a teachable moment."
"When a school administrator doesn't feel that he or she can exercise discretion and common sense in their job when working with children who don't always appreciate the concern of a butter knife in schools, the consequence may be that children learn to be more afraid of the law than to respect the law," Heroux wrote to the local blog.
The one-day suspension may seem like the latest in a series of schools taking a zero-tolerance stance on threats to safety following the Dec. 14 mass shooting in Newtown, Conn.; however, Wamsutta Middle School's principal insisted that LaPlume's suspension is consistent with school district policy.
Though the Attleboro Public Schools' student handbook states that students found in possession of a dangerous weapon may be expelled, the rules do not specify whether a butter knife falls into that category.
Students who have brought butter knives to school in past years, prior to the Sandy Hook, received similar punishments. In one such case, a South Carolina high school went so far as to expel a freshman who brought the knife to school after she accidentally locked herself out of her house.
Mannahnin wrote:A lot of folks online (and in emails in other parts of life) use pretty mangled English. The idea is that it takes extra effort and time to write properly, and they’d rather save the time. If you can still be understood, what’s the harm? While most of the time a sloppy post CAN be understood, the use of proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling is generally seen as respectable and desirable on most forums. It demonstrates an effort made to be understood, and to make your post an easy and pleasant read. By making this effort, you can often elicit more positive responses from the community, and instantly mark yourself as someone worth talking to.
insaniak wrote: Every time someone threatens violence over the internet as a result of someone's hypothetical actions at the gaming table, the earth shakes infinitisemally in its orbit as millions of eyeballs behind millions of monitors all roll simultaneously.
2013/03/30 16:44:33
Subject: Student Suspended For Butter Knife She Brought To Middle School In Packed Lunch
This is madness. These zero-tolerance policies always seem so weird to me when taking into account that more dangerous weapons like firearms are such a big and recognized part of American society.
2013/03/30 17:36:37
Subject: Re:Student Suspended For Butter Knife She Brought To Middle School In Packed Lunch
In one such case, a South Carolina high school went so far as to expel a freshman who brought the knife to school after she accidentally locked herself out of her house.
How are the two facts connected?
2013/03/30 17:40:00
Subject: Re:Student Suspended For Butter Knife She Brought To Middle School In Packed Lunch
In one such case, a South Carolina high school went so far as to expel a freshman who brought the knife to school after she accidentally locked herself out of her house.
How are the two facts connected?
Possibly she used it for her breakfast and accidentally pocketed it, only realising when she'd left and locked herself out.
I imagine it'd be something along the lines of "Oh poo, I took this butter knife out with me and I can't put it back". I know I've almost left my house with a mug of tea in hand a few times.
Mandorallen turned back toward the insolently sneering baron. 'My Lord,' The great knight said distantly, 'I find thy face apelike and thy form misshapen. Thy beard, moreover, is an offence against decency, resembling more closely the scabrous fur which doth decorate the hinder portion of a mongrel dog than a proper adornment for a human face. Is it possibly that thy mother, seized by some wild lechery, did dally at some time past with a randy goat?' - Mimbrate Knight Protector Mandorallen.
Excerpt from "Seeress of Kell", Book Five of The Malloreon series by David Eddings.
"You need not fear us, unless you are a dark heart, a vile one who preys on the innocent; I promise, you can’t hide forever in the empty darkness, for we will hunt you down like the animals you are, and pull you into the very bowels of hell." Iron - Within Temptation
2013/03/30 17:44:29
Subject: Student Suspended For Butter Knife She Brought To Middle School In Packed Lunch
To cut a pear! ohhhhhhhh, little princess. She should be taking over ripe bananas or do what the other kids do, throw their fruit away and get something healthy like chocolate or a can Monster.
2013/03/30 17:46:29
Subject: Student Suspended For Butter Knife She Brought To Middle School In Packed Lunch
If the school says no knifes, then no knifes.
I normally think its overboard sometimes, but im willing to bet the kids knew butterknifes are not allowed.
5000pts 6000pts 3000pts
2013/03/30 17:49:14
Subject: Student Suspended For Butter Knife She Brought To Middle School In Packed Lunch
To cut a pear! ohhhhhhhh, little princess. She should be taking over ripe bananas or do what the other kids do, throw their fruit away and get something healthy like chocolate or a can Monster.
I am shocked she was not using a fruit knife and fork. Perhaps that would have counted as two weapons, though.
To cut a pear! ohhhhhhhh, little princess. She should be taking over ripe bananas or do what the other kids do, throw their fruit away and get something healthy like chocolate or a can Monster.
I am shocked she was not using a fruit knife and fork. Perhaps that would have counted as two weapons, though.
At least she would've had the extra attack from them.
Mandorallen turned back toward the insolently sneering baron. 'My Lord,' The great knight said distantly, 'I find thy face apelike and thy form misshapen. Thy beard, moreover, is an offence against decency, resembling more closely the scabrous fur which doth decorate the hinder portion of a mongrel dog than a proper adornment for a human face. Is it possibly that thy mother, seized by some wild lechery, did dally at some time past with a randy goat?' - Mimbrate Knight Protector Mandorallen.
Excerpt from "Seeress of Kell", Book Five of The Malloreon series by David Eddings.
"You need not fear us, unless you are a dark heart, a vile one who preys on the innocent; I promise, you can’t hide forever in the empty darkness, for we will hunt you down like the animals you are, and pull you into the very bowels of hell." Iron - Within Temptation
2013/03/30 18:06:58
Subject: Student Suspended For Butter Knife She Brought To Middle School In Packed Lunch
These kinds of rulings can be extremely arbitrary, also. I think we've all seen cases where one day one student gets busted and the next another slides for the same "offense". Then we end up with students rightly learning not to trust the judgements of the teachers or school administrators and losing respect for them.
My opinion, anyway.
2013/03/30 18:24:55
Subject: Student Suspended For Butter Knife She Brought To Middle School In Packed Lunch
KalashnikovMarine wrote: I forgot my actual knife in my pocket all the time in HS and never got busted with it...
I was just joking! Pleasedon'tstabme!
Mandorallen turned back toward the insolently sneering baron. 'My Lord,' The great knight said distantly, 'I find thy face apelike and thy form misshapen. Thy beard, moreover, is an offence against decency, resembling more closely the scabrous fur which doth decorate the hinder portion of a mongrel dog than a proper adornment for a human face. Is it possibly that thy mother, seized by some wild lechery, did dally at some time past with a randy goat?' - Mimbrate Knight Protector Mandorallen.
Excerpt from "Seeress of Kell", Book Five of The Malloreon series by David Eddings.
"You need not fear us, unless you are a dark heart, a vile one who preys on the innocent; I promise, you can’t hide forever in the empty darkness, for we will hunt you down like the animals you are, and pull you into the very bowels of hell." Iron - Within Temptation
2013/03/30 18:35:53
Subject: Re:Student Suspended For Butter Knife She Brought To Middle School In Packed Lunch
Relapse wrote: These kinds of rulings can be extremely arbitrary, also. I think we've all seen cases where one day one student gets busted and the next another slides for the same "offense". Then we end up with students rightly learning not to trust the judgements of the teachers or school administrators and losing respect for them.
My opinion, anyway.
Isn't that a normal part of education?
I remember quite early on thinking what a shambles school was in so many ways, and looking forwards to entering the grown-up world where everything would be run on proper lines.
Relapse wrote: These kinds of rulings can be extremely arbitrary, also. I think we've all seen cases where one day one student gets busted and the next another slides for the same "offense". Then we end up with students rightly learning not to trust the judgements of the teachers or school administrators and losing respect for them.
My opinion, anyway.
Isn't that a normal part of education?
I remember quite early on thinking what a shambles school was in so many ways, and looking forwards to entering the grown-up world where everything would be run on proper lines.
How naive I was!
We've all traveled that road, eh?
2013/03/30 19:13:02
Subject: Student Suspended For Butter Knife She Brought To Middle School In Packed Lunch
Relapse wrote: These kinds of rulings can be extremely arbitrary, also. I think we've all seen cases where one day one student gets busted and the next another slides for the same "offense". Then we end up with students rightly learning not to trust the judgements of the teachers or school administrators and losing respect for them.
My opinion, anyway.
Quite a bit of that has to do with the narrow and distorted view of the world that children/students have. They aren't privy to the full discussions and actions of staff, nor do they know the full history of other pupils. And even if treated in exactly the same way, they'll always complain that they were treated less fairly, it's human nature.
2013/03/30 19:34:02
Subject: Student Suspended For Butter Knife She Brought To Middle School In Packed Lunch
Relapse wrote: These kinds of rulings can be extremely arbitrary, also. I think we've all seen cases where one day one student gets busted and the next another slides for the same "offense". Then we end up with students rightly learning not to trust the judgements of the teachers or school administrators and losing respect for them.
My opinion, anyway.
Quite a bit of that has to do with the narrow and distorted view of the world that children/students have. They aren't privy to the full discussions and actions of staff, nor do they know the full history of other pupils. And even if treated in exactly the same way, they'll always complain that they were treated less fairly, it's human nature.
It could be a fair statement to also say it can result from a combination of that and other instances where a teacher, for whatever reason, favors one student over another.
2013/03/30 19:36:45
Subject: Student Suspended For Butter Knife She Brought To Middle School In Packed Lunch
It doesn't really matter. If pupils see each other being treated differently "before the law" at school, they quickly come to distrust arbitrary authority.
Relapse wrote: These kinds of rulings can be extremely arbitrary, also. I think we've all seen cases where one day one student gets busted and the next another slides for the same "offense". Then we end up with students rightly learning not to trust the judgements of the teachers or school administrators and losing respect for them.
My opinion, anyway.
Quite a bit of that has to do with the narrow and distorted view of the world that children/students have. They aren't privy to the full discussions and actions of staff, nor do they know the full history of other pupils. And even if treated in exactly the same way, they'll always complain that they were treated less fairly, it's human nature.
It could be a fair statement to also say it can result from a combination of that and other instances where a teacher, for whatever reason, favors one student over another.
Which again, kind of goes to the "narrow and distorted view of the world that children/students have".
I know that there were students in a course I had my senior year that thought myself and another senior were favored students because we were allowed to come in late and essentially use the class as an extended lunch period.
The reality was that it was a class that contained material from another course that we had already taken, and due to a push in the way that the school was classifying the courses for graduation the majority of seniors were essentially forced to retake a course they had already completed.
2013/03/30 19:45:12
Subject: Student Suspended For Butter Knife She Brought To Middle School In Packed Lunch
Kilkrazy wrote: It doesn't really matter. If pupils see each other being treated differently "before the law" at school, they quickly come to distrust arbitrary authority.
Which is a good thing, in my view.
For me the ultimate demonstration of that was when I was 10 and a teacher named Hanscomb had another student summon me to his classroom. When I walked into the otherwise empty room, he grabbed me, threw me against a wall, then against a desk that he proceeded to slam me down into.
The crime? I had forgotten to put my name on a science test that I had scored a 95 on.
I contrasted that to his behavior with other students that had done the same thing where he just told them to remember to sign their name.
I guess maybe I just forgot to sign my name on a bad day for him.
2013/03/30 19:55:15
Subject: Student Suspended For Butter Knife She Brought To Middle School In Packed Lunch
I was always favored among my my teachers and staff, I got away with skipping class(Only Gym really). I even remember i got lunch detention for going off campus(to get lunch at my house, which is a 2 minute walk) when the punishment is weekend school.
5000pts 6000pts 3000pts
2013/03/30 19:59:45
Subject: Re:Student Suspended For Butter Knife She Brought To Middle School In Packed Lunch
As to the topic, I just wish parents would force the school boards to quit this asinine crap. If your policy mandates that a12 year old girl needs to be suspended for bring in a knife to cut up a piece of fruit for lunch, the policy needs to be looked at. It is time people remember they have some say too. Next election cycle, destroy the existing school board. Vote down every measure that adds to your taxes to increase their funding. Cease any and all community support to them until they adopt standards and policies that make sense and can be applied in a common sense manner. Quit accepting this crap.
Every time a terrorist dies a Paratrooper gets his wings.
2013/03/30 20:08:33
Subject: Student Suspended For Butter Knife She Brought To Middle School In Packed Lunch
Instead, nobody eats. After all, eating food could cause choking!
Mandorallen turned back toward the insolently sneering baron. 'My Lord,' The great knight said distantly, 'I find thy face apelike and thy form misshapen. Thy beard, moreover, is an offence against decency, resembling more closely the scabrous fur which doth decorate the hinder portion of a mongrel dog than a proper adornment for a human face. Is it possibly that thy mother, seized by some wild lechery, did dally at some time past with a randy goat?' - Mimbrate Knight Protector Mandorallen.
Excerpt from "Seeress of Kell", Book Five of The Malloreon series by David Eddings.
"You need not fear us, unless you are a dark heart, a vile one who preys on the innocent; I promise, you can’t hide forever in the empty darkness, for we will hunt you down like the animals you are, and pull you into the very bowels of hell." Iron - Within Temptation
2013/03/30 20:13:38
Subject: Student Suspended For Butter Knife She Brought To Middle School In Packed Lunch
It could be a fair statement to also say it can result from a combination of that and other instances where a teacher, for whatever reason, favors one student over another.
It isn't just teachers. People naturally favor their preconceptions. The good kid couldn't have done a bad thing, because he's the good kid. The good team couldn't have done a bad thing, because its the good team. The good employee couldn't have done a bad thing, because he's the good employee...ad nauseum.
Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh.
2013/03/30 20:22:59
Subject: Student Suspended For Butter Knife She Brought To Middle School In Packed Lunch
It could be a fair statement to also say it can result from a combination of that and other instances where a teacher, for whatever reason, favors one student over another.
It isn't just teachers. People naturally favor their preconceptions. The good kid couldn't have done a bad thing, because he's the good kid. The good team couldn't have done a bad thing, because its the good team. The good employee couldn't have done a bad thing, because he's the good employee...ad nauseum.
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Iron Hands 
Adepts of Pestilence 
Tallaran Desert Raiders 
Grey Knight Teleport Assault Force
