Yet another Zero-Tolerance Makes Zero-Sense school case.

Started by AllieCat, May 10, 2010, 01:47:25 PM

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AllieCat

Where a 10 year old gets a week's detention because a fellow student had given her a jolly rancher candy.

http://www.khou.com/news/Candy-Gets-Third-Grader-A-Weeks-Detention-93033319.html

The school’s principal and superintendent said they were simply complying with a state law that limits junk food in schools. Jack Ellis, the superintendent for Brazos Independent School District, declined an on-camera interview. But he said the school was abiding by a state guideline that banned “minimal nutrition” foods.

It doesn't restrict what the parents allow the kid to have.. but another kid giving them a jolly rancher=a week's detention??

So glad I don't have kids. The urge to punch the idiot administrators of the school would be overwhelming.. (can you tell I had a problem with my school officials growing up? :D

Wolfy

O_o That's a bit harsh.

and it's funny...

Because a Jolly Rancher has more nutrition than school food anyway!

http://www.instantrimshot.com/

Serephino

This law was probably put in place to deal with childhood obesity, but this isn't the way to do it.  I don't like how much schools are sticking their noses into a family's business.  This is just....  I probably would've smacked the shit out of the principal too. 

And yeah... I remember going to school in the morning and having funnel cakes for breakfast.  What they should do is pay attention to what they serve and leave the rest to parents. 

Callie Del Noire

Quote from: Sparkling Angel on May 10, 2010, 10:17:53 PM
This law was probably put in place to deal with childhood obesity, but this isn't the way to do it.  I don't like how much schools are sticking their noses into a family's business.  This is just....  I probably would've smacked the shit out of the principal too. 

And yeah... I remember going to school in the morning and having funnel cakes for breakfast.  What they should do is pay attention to what they serve and leave the rest to parents. 


I'm kind of curious to what sort of flack they'd give a kid who brings her own meals if they want to give as much grief about a jolly rancher. What would they do if it's something the teacher feels is 'unhealthy'. The mind boggles.

Trieste


DarklingAlice

That's just...weird. The policy is not against having candy in schools. They state that if a parent had sent the candy it would be okay. So the problem is with the actual transfer of candy from student to student? The hell?
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Oniya

As the parent of a school-aged child, I'm confronted with certain concerns whenever 'room snacks' are involved.  My school isn't nearly as draconian as this one, but I'm very aware of the fact that there are kids out there with allergies and the like.  So, when my daughter's birthday rolled around and she asked me to bake cookies, I  made the decision to make a simple sugar cookie with nonpariels instead of, say, peanut butter cookies or chocolate chip cookies. 

Kids are told very specifically not to trade food from packed lunches, since it's assumed that they don't necessarily know that little Jimmy has a life-threatening peanut allergy, or Cindy breaks out in a rash from strawberries.  Parents are simply told to be 'careful'.
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Revolverman

So, when are we going to admit schools are just Prisons for kids?

Amberghylles

Quote from: Revolverman on May 11, 2010, 02:31:57 PM
So, when are we going to admit schools are just Prisons for kids?

The origins of the modern American school were basically designed to train children to be the next generation of labor.  They have summer off to work the farm and are taught to sit still for hours on end doing repetitive and boring tasks while they learn to read and write and do basic math so they can understand instructions and carry out factory labor.

This all sounds to me like someone (who most likely never actually worked as a teacher or administrator) handed down a set of semi-enforceable rules and mandated that the school try to enforce them.  They want to keep junk food out of the school, worthy enough goal and most likely the menu in the cafeteria is better under it.  But you can't tell a parent what they can or can't feed their child, now can you?   

I'm not sure what possessed someone to decide to enforce it in this particular incident, but my guess is that someone was overworked, stressed, and in too much of a hurry to do more than follow the letter of the law.   


Wolfy

Quote from: Amberghylles on May 11, 2010, 03:21:16 PM
The origins of the modern American school were basically designed to train children to be the next generation of labor.  They have summer off to work the farm and are taught to sit still for hours on end doing repetitive and boring tasks while they learn to read and write and do basic math so they can understand instructions and carry out factory labor.

This all sounds to me like someone (who most likely never actually worked as a teacher or administrator) handed down a set of semi-enforceable rules and mandated that the school try to enforce them.  They want to keep junk food out of the school, worthy enough goal and most likely the menu in the cafeteria is better under it.  But you can't tell a parent what they can or can't feed their child, now can you?   

I'm not sure what possessed someone to decide to enforce it in this particular incident, but my guess is that someone was overworked, stressed, and in too much of a hurry to do more than follow the letter of the law.   

Except for Wealthy Private schools...

those places are like heaven for children. >_>

You like Dinosaurs? Well they have the money and resources to make everything that you learn related to dinosaurs in someway, while still giving you the education you need in math, science, etc.

Public schools are dog **** in comparison. >->

I think it's because they place too much emphasis on Test Scores and getting more funding...if they didn't spend so much damn funding on the sports program, they wouldn't have a damn problem. *rage*