What would yo consider appropriate punishment

[Suerreal]

from the school for a fifth grader who brought a "shocking pen" (click the button, and you get a little shock or buzz from the pen) to school and was caught having other kids play with it on a school bus?

[Soonerus]

probably suspension...

[1stTimeCaller]

don't bring it back.

that should be enough

[SoonerTerry]

electric shock....





I hate those frekin things

[yermom]

like it's just an annoying shock?

does the kid have any other history?

i'm guessing the school overreacted ;)

[Soonerus]

What did the school do ???

[Fraggle145]

3 pg Report... the end.

[yermom]

oh god, i forgot about those

[Fraggle145]

oh god, i forgot about those

I will never forget those things... :mad:

[yermom]

i think i only had to write one of them

i HATED writing then

of course, i didn't start school in Owasso until 9th grade

[Fraggle145]

I wrote at least ten every year I was in school from 6th to 9th grade. late in 9th grd and in 10-12 I just took detention or swats.

[Ardmore_Sooner]

don't bring it back.

that should be enough

Agreed

[Penguin]

Take it away from him and give it back at the end of the year.

[afs]

after school study - 1 day.

[Harry Beanbag]

don't bring it back.

that should be enough


Yep

[Hamhock]

does the kid have any other history?




you really can't answer until you know this.

[OKLA21FAN]

lets see here.

bringing a 'taser' to school.

i'm thinking expulsion.


(sadly, some over-reacting/zero tolerance school administrator might actually consider this)

[MamaMia]

One day of detention per volt.

[stoopified]

Write 500 times I will not bring contraband to school ever again.

[Vaevictis]

I've been on the receiving end of these before. The shock is minimal. Discomforting, but no pain at all.

On its own, I don't think any punishment is warranted. Unless he was doing something with it that was disruptive or dangerous, or was harassing someone with it, I don't see it as a problem. (Playing pranks on his buddies doesn't count as "harassment". Chasing someone around to shock them does. Or as an example of "disruption", shocking the bus driver while the driver was driving.)

I mean, holy crap, I've had teachers play worse pranks on me than one of those things.

[sooner_born_1960]

Confiscate it. Make him take it home after school. I'm guessing the school went overboard.

[Suerreal]

The boy is the son of a friend of mine in the Atlanta area.

Note that he was passing it around on the bus and the kids were shocking themselves, not him shocking them.

He does have a history of a prior 3 day suspension for fighting back after another kid hit him.

The punishment for having the shocking pen?

5 day suspension. Oh and since there's only 2 days left after that, don't bring him back since he won't be allowed to participate in any of the activities anyway. And, no, you can't have the pen back.

What makes this even harsher is the fact that Dominic will be going to stay with his dad right after school lets out, and then will be moving to Ohio. So except for a few friends who live near him, he won't see any of his classmates again. And the ASSistant Principal knew all this. The school board won't even consider an appeal of a suspension for less than 10 days. (Tells you how frequently suspensions are given, huh?)

So, the "prize" goes to OKLA21FAN. Zero Tolerance wins again!

[OUDoc]

Kids just can't have any fun anymore.
And, yes, those pens hurt.

[MamaMia]

Suspension is nothing more than a vacation from school for trouble makers. They like it. All this suspension, handcuffing and arresting of kids wouldn't be happening if the parents would have swatted their fannies instead of using that time out crap. Do they not give licks and detention anymore?

My children were very well behaved. I have 'the look'. They still tremble at the mere thought of my 'look'.

[Vaevictis]

No, striking of any kind is generally banned in schools without explicit permission from parents, who are generally never asked.

OTOH, I don't think "striking" is necessarily a requirement. Chain the ****ers on a treadmill for an hour at a just slightly faster than walking rate. Kill two birds with one stone ;)

[Harry Beanbag]

Chain the ****ers on a treadmill for an hour at a just slightly faster than walking rate. Kill two birds with one stone ;)


That's cruel and unusual punishment. I'd rather have my *** beat.

[StoopTroup]

You should go buy some more pens and pass them out to kids after school.

[Penguin]

I have no idea what electric pens you people are talking about.

I have never heard of such a thing.

[olevetonahill]

Glad Im not in skool in these times . Id be permabained :D

[Boffingham]

His teacher could use it on him right after she has sex with him...is that still going on?

[Soonrboy]

depends on how many times I had seen the kid in my office. if he's a constantly pushing the envelope, this may be the last straw. Did he lie about having it? If a kid is honest with me upfront, I tend to be way more lenient than if I have to investigate the situation.

Anything under 10 days is considered a short term suspension, and by law is not a disruption in his education, and thus needs no appeal process.

I hate doing long-term suspensions.

Plus, where do you draw the line? It's not all cut and dry. If the kid is a good kid and this is the only time he has been in trouble, then I would agree that 5 days seems to be excessive.

[olevetonahill]

depends on how many times I had seen the kid in my office. if he's a constantly pushing the envelope, this may be the last straw. Did he lie about having it? If a kid is honest with me upfront, I tend to be way more lenient than if I have to investigate the situation.

Anything under 10 days is considered a short term suspension, and by law is not a disruption in his education, and thus needs no appeal process.

I hate doing long-term suspensions.

Plus, where do you draw the line? It's not all cut and dry. If the kid is a good kid and this is the only time he has been in trouble, then I would agree that 5 days seems to be excessive.
Hell send the Kid home with a note to the parents, let them smack that ***
Really what in hell did the Kid do that was so wrong ? :confused:

[Soonrboy]

It's not always just one thing...like I said, it depends on how many other times I'd seen the boy in my office and didn't suspend him.

I routinely tell the parents that if this were my boy, I'd be whipping him when he and I got home.

[Frozen Sooner]

OK, folks. What part of "Zero tolerance" is hard to understand?

Did the kid know there was a zero tolerance policy in effect?

Did the kid violate the policy?

Then he deserved to get suspended. Schools implement zero tolerance policies so there's no preferential treatment and no gray area.

We all freak out about schools not seeing the warning signs, but every time schools implement policies designed to catch people who bring weapons to school everyone gets all PO'd because some good kid who was violating the rules gets punished.

[olevetonahill]

Like I said . Im glad I aint in school now .
Id be permabained . hell Kids cant even have a fight , so they hide ther agresiveness till it explodes .
Just sayin .

[usmc-sooner]

I think they should just laugh about it, it's a freaking shock pen not a dangerous weapon. Maybe they should suspend kids for whoopi cushions. That's why those kids at Va Tech had no clue as to what to do, they've been coddled and protected to the point that they've been made weaker because of it.

Why not suspend fat kids? What if they fall on a healthy kid and injure him.

People in this country have gotten real stupid real fast.

[Frozen Sooner]

I think they should just laugh about it, it's a freaking shock pen not a dangerous weapon. Maybe they should suspend kids for whoopi cushions. That's why those kids at Va Tech had no clue as to what to do, they've been coddled and protected to the point that they've been made weaker because of it.

Why not suspend fat kids? What if they fall on a healthy kid and injure him.

People in this country have gotten real stupid real fast.

res ipsa loquitor

[olevetonahill]

I think they should just laugh about it, it's a freaking shock pen not a dangerous weapon. Maybe they should suspend kids for whoopi cushions. That's why those kids at Va Tech had no clue as to what to do, they've been coddled and protected to the point that they've been made weaker because of it.

Why not suspend fat kids? What if they fall on a healthy kid and injure him.

People in this country have gotten real stupid real fast.
What Im screamin
Hell I remember a teach that took 3 differant water pistols from me .as he was walking away I hit him in the back of the head with # 4 :D

[olevetonahill]

res ispsa loquitor
I cant read spanish :confused:

[Frozen Sooner]

Probably woulda helped if I'd've spelled it right. :whoops:

[usmc-sooner]

shock pen meet my nuts

and that speaks for itself.

[olevetonahill]

Probably woulda helped if I'd've spelled it right. :whoops:
Nope I cant read it spelled rite either :P

[Vaevictis]

OK, folks. What part of "Zero tolerance" is hard to understand?

Zero tolerance is easy to understand.

The implementation of a zero tolerance policy that includes a damn shock pen like the kind I'm thinking of... that's hard to understand.

[Vaevictis]

That's cruel and unusual punishment. I'd rather have my *** beat.

Heh, since when does the opinion of the person receiving the punishment matter? :D

[BajaOklahoma]

We have a Zero Tolerance policy in our District. One of the issues it was supposed to address was the lack of equal treatment for everyone. Some principals would punish in a given situation while another principal, facing the same situation would ignore it. And that's not right. So this imperfect policy was set in place.

I wish you guys could spend more time in the schools to see what is really going on. Some of the "good kids" really aren't - think Eddie Haskel.
"Helicopter parents" think they are helping their kids, but their kids lack the skills to cope with a difficult situation, not to mention a failure. Parents automatically believe their child, forgetting that there is more to story - they blow up before all of the information is in. So I would want to hear the rest of the story before I vote.

Best guess would be it was "disruptive" on the bus. Behavior on the bus can affect the saftey of the children, so......

[Frozen Sooner]

Zero tolerance is easy to understand.

The implementation of a zero tolerance policy that includes a damn shock pen like the kind I'm thinking of... that's hard to understand.

I must be some kind of super-genius, then, 'cause ASD had a zero-tolerance policy back when I was in school and I somehow managed to make it through without running afoul of it once. I guess that's because I never brought a weapon or drugs to school. See, I didn't think "Zero Tolerance" meant "Zero Tolerance except for things that don't really hurt all that much."

[MamaMia]

This is one of those subjects that would be fun to know what Dean thinks. :D

[olevetonahill]

This is one of those subjects that would be fun to know what Dean thinks. :D
Im thinking
Randomly put Dean and Or me in a class room and watch the lil turds squirm . !

[Vaevictis]

I must be some kind of super-genius, then, 'cause ASD had a zero-tolerance policy back when I was in school and I somehow managed to make it through without running afoul of it once. I guess that's because I never brought a weapon or drugs to school. See, I didn't think "Zero Tolerance" meant "Zero Tolerance except for things that don't really hurt all that much."

You can't just shock someone with it, they have to pick it up and press the activating button on the end. It's a gag in the same tradition as a jack-in-the-box. And even so, it's about the same level of discomfort as tasting the voltage on a 9V battery. You get zapped, and you go, "Wow, that was unpleasant."

These things are only weapons in the sense that ALL pointy objects are weapons. But you don't see the other kids at the school getting suspended for carrying around pens and pencils. Which is why I think applying a zero tolerance policy to this thing is stupid: The most dangerous part about the device is that it's a pointy object, and it's a pointy object that every kid is expected to have! Zero tolerance in such a case implies every kid should be sent home. Obviously, that just doesn't make any sense.

[olevetonahill]

Me an V agree :D
Dayum cant we let the kids Be kids ?
how old was this Kid 10 , 11 ?
Im starting to Hate what America is becoming !:eek:

[usmc-sooner]

You can't just shock someone with it, they have to pick it up and press the activating button on the end. It's a gag in the same tradition as a jack-in-the-box. And even so, it's about the same level of discomfort as tasting the voltage on a 9V battery. You get zapped, and you go, "Wow, that was unpleasant."

These things are only weapons in the sense that ALL pointy objects are weapons. But you don't see the other kids at the school getting suspended for carrying around pens and pencils. Which is why I think applying a zero tolerance policy to this thing is stupid: The most dangerous part about the device is that it's a pointy object, and it's a pointy object that every kid is expected to have! Zero tolerance in such a case implies every kid should be sent home. Obviously, that just doesn't make any sense.

you obviously have common sense, most dont.

[goingoneight]

They actually punish kids for these???

[Suerreal]

Thanks for the reality check, y'all. About what I expected.

I'm sorry if this offends any school teachers or administrators, but if they want to be considered professionals, that does mean exercising judgment, not hiding behind some zero tolerance policy. If they want to call themselves educators, they need to educate kids kids about living in a world with shades of gray, not an ivory tower "everything is black and white" fantasy world.

The difference between a shocking pen and a handgun should be as obvious to an assistant principal as it is to an 11 year old. It's really sad when it isn't.

Interestingly the assistant principal who chose to hide behind the "We're following policy" crap was telling at best a partial truth. It's a little bit scary, but the Cobb County discipline policy actually has a section that specifically addresses shocking items.

R. PHYSICAL OFFENSES:
(snip)
2. Students may not possess or use any device designed to produce a mild electrical shock.
(Level 1-2)
The penalty for a Level 2 offense (2 is MORE serious than 1)?

B. Level 2 Discipline:
• Level 2 discipline offenses are intermediate acts of misconduct.
• Students should be referred to an administrator.
• Consequences range from an administrative conference to five (5) days Out-of-School
Suspension (OSS) and/or restitution.

So suspension was NOT the only option the policy called for. The assistant principal chose to use the higher level category, AND the most severe punishment in the range for that level infraction.

Yeah, there's undoubtedly another side to this story, but to hide behind "policy" from responsibility for decisions made in following the policy is cowardly and dishonest.

- Sue

[Vaevictis]

The difference between a shocking pen and a handgun should be as obvious to an assistant principal as it is to an 11 year old. It's really sad when it isn't.

Well, to be fair, the fact that the maximum punishment for what happened was 5 days suspension does indicate that they recognize the difference between the shocking pen and a hand-gun.

At my high school, the immediate result of possession of a hand-gun at any school function was:
1. Permanent expulsion.
2. Every police officer at the school was given your dossier for review, and they memorized your face, who your friends were, and made sure you were never at any school function. (The county assigned a police detail to each school at all times, and usually to school functions also.)
3. Referral to local district attorney for charges.

But yeah, as I said before, unless he was somehow harassing other students or being disruptive in general, I don't see how anything more than a few sessions of detention and confiscation of the item is reasonable.