Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: TwinEng on October 15, 2009, 07:59:18 PM
-
Lansingburgh Senior High School in New York has retaliated against Senior Honor Roll student and Eagle Scout Matthew Whalen for complaining about his 5 day suspension and going to the press. After review, they have decided to increase his suspension to 20 days.
And what was his crime? Locked inside the trunk of his auto in the school's parking lot was Boy Scout Roadside Emergency Kit. Organizations like AAA recommend that all drivers keep an Emergency Kit inside their vehicle. Well, inside this kit, he had a 2 inch pocket knife that his grandfather had given him, as part of his emergency tools.
Whalen, who has applied at several colleges for admission next year, will now have a 20 day suspension for bringing a weapon to school added to his transcript.
Tell me this: What is our country coming to?
Here is a link to the full news story:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,565520,00.html
--
-
It does make ya wonder just what exactly were these " educated adult administrators" THINKING!!!!!!!! :huh
Someone ought to suspend ( by their feet ) them till they get some, COMMON SENSE!!!
Pretty obvious which people involved, are actually acting like an adult :salute
-
"And they were like, 'Well, is it in your car or anything?' And I told them, 'Yeah, it's in my car right now.'
"And they asked me to show it to them."
"I showed it to them, and they told me I had a knife on school property and had to be suspended."
(http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/facepalm.jpg)
that goes for the school and the kid.
-
You know that this all started with Columbine and copycat crimes. Should we really be so surprised that it has come to this?
Anyway, the student's status as an Eagle Scout should have no bearing on how the school disciplines students who break the rules. Blame the stupid rules, not the administrators who have the duty of enforcing them.
-
A 2 inch pocket knife?
A good pair of scissors would be more dangerous....
-
A 2 inch pocket knife?
A good pair of scissors would be more dangerous....
Shhhhhh.
-
Blame the stupid rules, not the administrators who have the duty of enforcing them.
In this case, though, the administrators actually INCREASED the punishment, after they considered all the facts.
They even summoned the police to arrest the boy. However, when the officer arrived, he had to explain to them that the boy had committed no crime.
--
-
A good pair of scissors would be more dangerous....
That's why even high schools still have these.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-MKwlfPDjKg/Ru2kxiIYb8I/AAAAAAAAAEY/zbM9vJXQuZ4/s320/scissors.jpg)
-
A 2 inch pocket knife?
A good pair of scissors would be more dangerous....
Hell, CAP requires around 6-inches for Ground Team to be effective. A 2-inch pocket knife in a roadside emergency kit tells me this admin had something PERSONAL against this kid...
-
the thing Im wondering about is the fact that this wasnt random ......... a kid complained about him having the knife ......... and the administrator knew to ask if he had the knife in his car
so either he at one point had the knife out of his car (in which case he is 100% deserving of any punishment) ....... or one of his "friends" knew he kept a knife locked inside a survival kit inside his trunk and ratted him out
maybe he sent the wrong scout snipe hunting on their last camping trip
-
I hope he gets justice from the school district.
Schools like VMI should recruit him.
-
Bunch of flapping pansies I tell ya. I remember actually taking my hunting rifle to school to give a presentation in my public speaking class on the safety features of said hunting rifle. Also I could not tell you how many times I drove to school with either a rifle, shotgun or pistol in my car and truck after hunting that morning.
If you ask me this all started with the advent of some other pansie filing criminal charges over getting his arse whipped in a fight and then it escalated from there. We had guns readily available 20 years ago but when we wanted to settle our differences we beat the heck out of each other instead of shooting up the school or playground.
-
wait??? you're not allowed a pocket knife at school?
i was a friggin tall skinny geek, and i carried my boyscout knife to school.....and never had any problems whatsoever. 'course that was over 20 years ago though........
-
It does make ya wonder just what exactly were these " educated adult administrators" THINKING!!!!!!!! :huh
Someone ought to suspend ( by their feet ) them till they get some, COMMON SENSE!!!
Pretty obvious which people involved, are actually acting like an adult :salute
If "sense" is so "common", how come so few actually possess it to use it? In this case this statement most definitely applies. Kinda like the 6yo in trouble for having his Swiss Army Knife as part of his Scout Kit. The school said the fork and spoon were ok but it has 2 blades on it. What about the little tree saw thats also on them?
Bunch of flapping pansies I tell ya. I remember actually taking my hunting rifle to school to give a presentation in my public speaking class on the safety features of said hunting rifle. Also I could not tell you how many times I drove to school with either a rifle, shotgun or pistol in my car and truck after hunting that morning.
If you ask me this all started with the advent of some other pansie filing criminal charges over getting his arse whipped in a fight and then it escalated from there. We had guns readily available 20 years ago but when we wanted to settle our differences we beat the heck out of each other instead of shooting up the school or playground.
Yeah I remember those days,kids having good 'ol fist fights instead of killing each other. You could always shake hands and maybe be friends after.
-
You know that this all started with Columbine and copycat crimes. Should we really be so surprised that it has come to this?
Anyway, the student's status as an Eagle Scout should have no bearing on how the school disciplines students who break the rules. Blame the stupid rules, not the administrators who have the duty of enforcing them.
Well, they had laws on carrying firearms and knives long before Columbine. However, after the Columbine people are over reacting. I wonder if that 7 foot javelin pole can be used as a weapon?
-
Hell, CAP requires around 6-inches for Ground Team to be effective. A 2-inch pocket knife in a roadside emergency kit tells me this admin had something PERSONAL against this kid...
agreed.
-
Well, they had laws on carrying firearms and knives long before Columbine. However, after the Columbine people are over reacting. I wonder if that 7 foot javelin pole can be used as a weapon?
a friggin DESK makes a good weapon.
if i could remember the kid's name that i threw one at so many years ago, i'd reference him as proof. :devil :angel: :bolt:
-
Desks, chairs, books, pencils, you name it and I probably used it in a fight at school. I was getting my butt handed to me one time at school until I picked up a metal folding chair that the coaches would sit on outside in the gym. I got away long enough to grab it and get in one good swing.
-
Big effing deal about being an Eagle Scout, an honor student or having a reputation as
a good kid. Means squat as far as predicting behavior or actions.
"he (17 yr old Spder) seemed like the nice kid that would do everything right, he was in,
he went to cadet training and everything and he was an Eagle Scout."
He hacked up Kimberly Cates of Mont Vernon with a machete and cut the toes off of
her 11 yr old daughter while his accompliss touched them both up with a knife.
http://www.necn.com/Boston/New-England/2009/10/07/Prosecutors-Mont-Vernon/1254921180.html
NOT saying this kid with a knife in his car was going to do the same. I'm pointing out
the utter fallacy and bs about using things like being an eagle scout a new story to whip up an
automatic knee jerk reaction that this kid is being persecuted because he has all A's and helps
little old ladies across the street so he must be a good kid in a bad school.
-
You know that this all started with Columbine and copycat crimes. Should we really be so surprised that it has come to this?
Anyway, the student's status as an Eagle Scout should have no bearing on how the school disciplines students who break the rules. Blame the stupid rules, not the administrators who have the duty of enforcing them.
He is also a Soldier in the United States Army. He is has to live up the standards. He took a oath to protect the citizens of the U.S. He did not deserve to get teh additional 15 days. thats BS
the thing Im wondering about is the fact that this wasnt random ......... a kid complained about him having the knife ......... and the administrator knew to ask if he had the knife in his car
so either he at one point had the knife out of his car (in which case he is 100% deserving of any punishment) ....... or one of his "friends" knew he kept a knife locked inside a survival kit inside his trunk and ratted him out
maybe he sent the wrong scout snipe hunting on their last camping trip
Some school districts are paying students money to turn in people for having weapons and drugs.
-
There is more to this story someone isn't telling.
-
Desks, chairs, books, pencils, you name it and I probably used it in a fight at school. I was getting my butt handed to me one time at school until I picked up a metal folding chair that the coaches would sit on outside in the gym. I got away long enough to grab it and get in one good swing.
:rofl You have to improvise at times. :D
-
:rofl You have to improvise at times. :D
Pencil sharpeners work well in a pinch ..............
-
"Officer, they aren't even weapons...they're jewelry."
(http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp193/dmbear/knifes.jpg)
-
Put a roll of quarter in your fist, thats more lethal then a pocket knife in a car.
-
Stokes, u really do need to get a new avatar! It creeps me out.
-
A 2 inch pocket knife?
A good pair of scissors would be more dangerous....
And #2 pencils. LOOK OUT, they're everywhere!!!! :x
Only thing I have to say is ,why tell anyone you had one in your car? Eagle Scouts aren't brain surgeons. Next time stay away from snitches!
I feel really sorry for the 6 yr. old kid. Who was so happy to be a Cub Scout. He brought his pocket knife equipped with food utensils to school. IMO
-
Stokes, u really do need to get a new avatar! It creeps me out.
All the more reason for me to keep it. :devil
-
It's rainbow coalition gay.
-
All the more reason for me to keep it. :devil
What is that thing? :huh
-
i was a friggin tall skinny geek, and i carried my boyscout knife to school.....and never had any problems whatsoever. 'course that was over 20 years ago though........
I never leave the house without my knife. Never. Granted, I most often use it for things like breaking down boxes at work, cutting strings on my uniform, etc. But that isn't why I purchased it and not why I carry it. The local Academy Liaison Officer (United States Air Force Academy) did his interview with me the other day, and one of the first things he asked was "You're a white kid growing up in Hawaii. That doesn't cause any problems for you?" He was awestruck to find out that no, I haven't been hospitalized growing up in Pearl City, though I was VERY careful not to say exactly why.
-
Put a roll of quarter in your fist, thats more lethal then a pocket knife in a car.
I can attest to the deadliness of a handful of spare change. That's how I got my second suspension after breaking the nose of some chunky kid during my years at a rich middle school. He even started it too! Fist fights are still the better way to settle things than knifes are; a punch is less likely to cause the guy to bleed to death than a knife mark is. Less evidence too, as it heals up fairly quickly. :devil
-
You people are so violent. I shall pray for you. :pray
-
What is that thing? :huh
:D (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UpHsZPlzA4) <--Click
-
when we wanted to settle our differences we beat the heck out of each other instead of shooting up the school or playground.
Was just telling my son this the other day. We used to carry our pocket knives to school and whittle sticks during recess. We never even thought to cut someone with them in a fight. Man, the world has changed. :old:
-
He should have immediately marched right into the school, grabbed one of these (http://img.diytrade.com/cdimg/812685/7171977/0/1224643965/A4_paper_cutter.jpg), broke it off, and whacked that school official into little pieces, thus ridding the earth of another idiot.
-
I'm sure that's what you told your kids how way to handle it right Drip?!
-
I always carry a small knife with me when I'm flying, but that's mostly because of my survival training. Also, we usually didn't fly with a survival kit in the T-37 so that knife was my only bit of equipment I'd have after an ejection, beyond some flares and the minimalist kit (mirror, a bit of wire, etc) they put in the parachute harness.
It's not big enough to be intimidating if I tried to use it in self defense, and it isn't even particularly sharp anymore. I'd buy another one but gerber discontinued the model and the replacement designs are either smaller or thicker, so I haven't found a good replacement to buy.
I occasionally took a small pocketknife to school as a kid, but it just wasn't a big deal. I'm pretty sure lots of people had weapons on campus but nobody ever got shot, stabbed, or even beaten with sticks. The only fights were with fists and feet, and I don't remember anyone getting killed in fights off campus either. The only guy who got busted was the one selling fireworks at school... He had enough stuff in his backpack to blow up a row of lockers so the school got a bit upset when they found his stash. Even then, it didn't make the news and he only got a few days suspension. Nowadays he'd have the feds pressing terrorism charges.
Makes you wonder if the people making those rules aren't just stupid, but might actually be mentally retarded or have some sort of mental disorder. A 14 year old selling fireworks at school just isn't cause for great alarm, but you can bet people would call the FBI and anti-terrorist folks and they'd over-react in a big way.
-
Was just telling my son this the other day. We used to carry our pocket knives to school and whittle sticks during recess. We never even thought to cut someone with them in a fight. Man, the world has changed. :old:
Not only that, all the boys that were old enough to drive to school (15) in their dads truck or their own, all had shotguns or rifles in the window rack especially during hunting season.
Never did anyone ever pull a knife or a readily available gun in a fight.
-
Take into account that Gran Theft Auto, Call of Duty, and EXTREME emo-ness weren't around back then. Not to mention semi-widespread use of heavy drugs (not just your "innocent weed" sort of stuff) and booze.
It's not only the attitudes towards weapons that's changed. The kids themselves have. I don't really know what's brought it about, but some of us are just...strange. Like the big fascination with repeatedly lighting a lighter in the back of a classroom that was so prevalent in my class. We had a couple kids that nearly killed each other in Metals one year.
I'd give anything to have been born back when school was an easier place to be. I'd surely take the beatings that were prevalent back then over the constant worry I had the last two years of Erika's drugged out drunkard of a boyfriend bringing one of his many weapons to school in a bombed-out fit to rid the problem from his life that I represented.
-
And zero tolerance continues to be an issue. We the voting public have a say in all this. Although at this point you'll need to be talking to your state representatives since its mostly state laws causing all this nonsense.
-
Consistency is a squeak
Tronsky
-
A few years ago I was student teaching at a middle school on Long Island, NY. I had attended that same school a little over 20 years ago (it was pretty rough back then too). I remember the year I graduated HS, a student was shot during a high school basketball game.
Now there are metal detectors and frequent visits by police at this middle school. A trick gang members (Latino kings and MS-13 mostly) use to get by the police and metal detectors is to hide weapons (knives and shanks mostly) on the soccer fields. The students would go out for gym and pick up the knives and bring them back into the school through the gym locker room (no metal detectors). Every time there was a fire drill, we teachers would find hidden weapons on school property and turn them into the police.
For those of you, who grew up in relatively nice communities, truly be thankful. In some places around this country, I don’t think you have any idea how bad it actually is. Also, be aware much of these problems of stabbings and shootings in schools never make it to the national media. There are places that have higher death tolls and violence than Columbine, granted not in a single incident, but over relatively short periods of time.
For instance, my home town.
http://www.newsday.com/news/cops-gang-tension-triggered-brawl-at-brentwood-school-1.1308076
-
School violence rates continue to decrease overall though. Media makes it sound worse than it is.
-
Not only that, all the boys that were old enough to drive to school (15) in their dads truck or their own, all had shotguns or rifles in the window rack especially during hunting season.
Never did anyone ever pull a knife or a readily available gun in a fight.
Yup
-
For those of you, who grew up in relatively nice communities, truly be thankful. In some places around this country, I don’t think you have any idea how bad it actually is. Also, be aware much of these problems of stabbings and shootings in schools never make it to the national media. There are places that have higher death tolls and violence than Columbine, granted not in a single incident, but over relatively short periods of time.
* Michael Swan (16, Male), Student, Fatality
Shooter
Jason Michael Smith (15, Male), Student
Occurred on May 24, 1993
shot in head with 9-mm automatic by 15-year-old Jason Michael Smith, who had been bullied by the victim
Mike Swan was a pretty good friend of mine growing up, in a middle/upper class town of about 1500 in Pennsylvania. Apparently, he got into an argument and threw this Smith kid into a locker. "Bullied" is a misrepresentation. Smith apparently started talking, and it escalated until Mike threw him, and embarrassed him. The kid went home, got his dad's 9mm and went back to school. Walked up behind Mike in biology class, and shot him in the head, without a single word.
It's not just the rough neighborhoods.
-
Mike Swan was a pretty good friend of mine growing up, in a middle/upper class town of about 1500 in Pennsylvania. Apparently, he got into an argument and threw this Smith kid into a locker. "Bullied" is a misrepresentation. Smith apparently started talking, and it escalated until Mike threw him, and embarrassed him. The kid went home, got his dad's 9mm and went back to school. Walked up behind Mike in biology class, and shot him in the head, without a single word.
It's not just the rough neighborhoods.
There is a bit more to the story than that, but your point came across well.
On another note, Pennsburg alone has about 3,300 residents. That is not including Red Hill, East Greenville, Green Lane, Palm, etc..
Ask me how I know these things :D
-
In any society where there is a high degree of status anxiety, there are going to be killings over honor. The more concerned people are with the opinions of others, the greater the likelihood of murder over a trifle.
-
OMG ... Von is SMITH!
-
Actually.......
Upper Perkiomen High School class of 1992.
The student he is referring to rode MY mom's bus, therefore I spoke to him quite often.
I also worked with HIS mom for a few years.
His point is valid, though. It's also ironic that we moved out of Philly, to a little hick town like that just to get away from those types of things........ :noid
-
When I was in High scool a few years ago a fellow eagle scout in my troop got nailed for exactly the same thing, it was the hugest event to hit our campus in a long time. He was a Eagle scout, the president of the AS, and the star of our drama dept, and he got nailed with a 1 inch saftey knife. It wasnt even a pocket knife, it was a SAFTEY KNIFE. He was expelled for his last semester of hs on the terms of a 0 tol policy, he did not graduate from a normal hs, he was dropped from going to stanford, It was ridiculous.
But at the same time, I could tell you the location of every weed smoking location, or gang location, or drinking location, or where to take your gf when you ditch class. And I know this because the low life of the school were there doing that every day of the year for the 4 years i was there. but thank god we nailed the greatest most abitious student off the entire school.
And now im glad to see it again
-
Yup
Difference is now, example:
Some little punk is startin some mess with me. I bow up to him (I'm 6'3'', and the usual thing that'll happen at high school is somebody a grade lower, a foot shorter, will get all cocky), and 4 things will happen:
1. I kick his ass
2. he backs down
3. he pulls a knife
4. He threatens to get his "homies" or whatever he calls them.
Georgetown is mostly a poser school, with bloods and crips, black gangs, full of mexicans and whites. And all will gladly pull a knife, or jump you instead of fightin' like a man.
-
There is a bit more to the story than that, but your point came across well.
On another note, Pennsburg alone has about 3,300 residents. That is not including Red Hill, East Greenville, Green Lane, Palm, etc..
Ask me how I know these things :D
Pretty amazing, small world. I was best friends with both of his cousins (we grew up on the same road) in Green Lane. Spent a lot of time around Mike, most of every summer, as a matter of fact.
If we had lived one street over, we all would have gone to UP instead of Boyertown.