Weapons policy lacks good sense
At Spokane Public Schools, just about anything can be considered a weapon now.
A pencil, for example, could violate the district’s no-tolerance policy for weapons if a third-grader held it like a small rifle, looked down its yellow paint surface to the dangerous lead at the end, pointed at another youngster, and uttered: “Bang, you’re dead.” A book, particularly one of those heavy science ones without many illustrations, could be considered a weapon if someone bashed another student over the head with it during chemistry class. Paper clips. Rulers. Compasses. Schools are teeming with potential weapons under the new revision to the Spokane schools’ no-tolerance policy.
On Wednesday, the board of directors adopted the following wording as a catch-all term for “weapons” not covered by the first 22 specific discipline categories: “Items that are used as weapons, or in a threatening manner, that are not legally defined as dangerous weapons.” Under the “weapons/other” category, a finger cocked in the form of a handgun and pointed at a school friend across the playground could be considered a Rule 23 offense. That same finger drawn slowly across a throat by a student who’s looking sternly at another could be considered a death threat and lead to a suspension.
Rather than consider ways to tighten regulatory screws further, school officials should add a 24th category for administrators and teachers who have the ability to judge between a bona fide weapon and threat and the myriad marginal ones that occur daily. Maybe they could call the category “weapons/common sense.” Under this category, local educators could override the other weapons rules when it’s clear, to reasonable people, that a student had no intention of harming anyone or he couldn’t have done so if he wanted to with the “weapons/other” with which he was caught.
As the zero tolerance policy stands now, educators aren’t required to be practical when an incident occurs that violates the ever-expanding no tolerance rules. They react by the book. Sometimes, they react inappropriately. Bemiss Elementary, of course, is the local poster child for the miscarriage of school discipline.
In January 2004, three third-grade boys were disciplined for bringing tiny plastic toy guns onto Bemiss grounds and playing with them during lunch. One boy was accused of using his 2-inch plastic GI Joe gun in a threatening manner. If that’s possible. All three received short suspensions. The heavy-handed reaction by the elementary made national headlines when one 8-year-old’s mother complained.
A month later, three Rogers High students were suspended for 2 ½ days and forced to attend crisis counseling for opining flippantly that annoying people should be killed.
In this post-Columbine era, educators must be alert to legitimate threats and behavior that could escalate into violence. And they have to intervene promptly when circumstances call for it. But they should also be on their guard against heavy-handedness that can sour students about school. The new rule that broadens the definition of weapons can be abused easily.
Autopilot formulas are no substitute for professional discretion and common sense.