Zero Tolerance goes one way
Broward Officials Investigate Alleged Knife Incident
Zero Tolerance is a system to be on students only, as evidenced by this incredible tale from Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in the Broward County School System. Lynn Deering, an anatomy and physiology instructor, stabbed a student’s desk with a pocketknife.
The students told school administrators that Deering showed them a knife during Wednesday’s class and then plunged it into a stack of papers on a student’s desk.
Donzelli says they don’t have all the specifics but that they’ve determined Deering may not have used the knife appropriately.
Stabbing a student’s desk “may not” have been an appropriate use?
What would have happened if a student had taken a pocketknife and “plunged it into a stack of papers on a student’s desk”? Arrest with handcuffs, felony weapons charges and immediate suspension pending expulsion is what we’ve come to expect. The Broward County Discipline Policy is a bit more lenient. According to their terminology her acts were possession of a Class B weapon and aggravated assault. The punishment for each of these is:
Enter incident on L-panel
Mandatory 10 days Suspension
Referral to Special Investigation Unit (SIU) and/or Law Enforcement
If she was a student she would have been automatically suspended for 20 days and had the cops called on her. What has actually happened to Deering? She has been reassigned, no charges have been filed and the school system is covering for her with terms like “may not have used the knife appropriately”.
(Tip credit to Craig Bell)
Maybe an interested party (students or parents) should contact the county district attorney and let him/her investigate. Also contact their child welfare department and let them investigate (although from what I’ve heard about Florida’s child welfare dept., that might be a waste of time.)
Parents don’t see the hypocrisy here? How come they aren’t bombarding the school board with questions?
Oh, I know, free babysitting and all that — even when the babysitter might be a dangerous lunatic.
I wonder where she practiced these methods in the past.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/11056321.htm
It was a dramatic — and wrong-headed — way to get a class to behave, the Broward School District contends.
District officials say a science teacher at Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland was irate at two girls who were talking in the class. So the teacher, Lynn Deering, took an 11-inch knife and plunged it into one of their desks.
Deering, 57, has been a teacher for more than two decades, but this is her first year with the Broward School District. The incident occured in an anatomy class attended by juniors and seniors.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office is deferring to the school system, a spokesman said.
I like this one better:
http://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/022605/loc_20050226006.shtml
Teacher accused of firing airsoft gun at student
Web-posted Feb 26, 2005
By STEPHEN FRYE
Of The Daily Oakland Press
A teacher at Rochester Hills Christian Academy has been named in a misdemeanor arrest warrant, charging him with firing an airsoft gun at a student.
Airsoft guns fire plastic pellets.
According to police reports, the teacher - Lewis Charles Burch, 49, of Utica - told the disruptive class in December, “I’ll have peace in my classroom if I have to kill everyone to get it,” said Chief Deputy Oakland County Prosecutor Deborah Carley.
An argument in the classroom sparked the incident, she said.
Burch then pulled out the airsoft gun and fired it about a half dozen times towards several students, Carley said, targeting one student in particular. The 17-year-old male student dove for cover, she said.
The arrest warrant charges Burch with assault and battery, a misdemeanor carrying up to 93 days in jail.
Carley said Burch was suspended by the school for four days.
If he had struck the teenager, Burch could have faced more serious charges, if there had been an injury.
“Freedom for me, but not for thee” is the root of all evil.
If the student perceived a threat, then this was an Assualt. If touched, then Battery. Plain simple - go to the District Attorney - the ELECTED ONE and demand he/she act on it.
well as a 15 year old mail student i know what i would have done if that was my desk and my papers i would have taken that knife and walked up to that teachers desk and plunged that knife into there desk and there papers and said “your not the only one who can use a knife”
also, we (the handful of students receiving subpoenas) have been interviewed by the broward county sheriffs department and a director of the broward county school board. while this took a significant amount of time away from our classes, it assured us that something was being done about the inappropriate acts displayed by our teacher.
i dont know how long ago this was posted, however, i was in the classroom when this occured. not only is the NAME of the school spelled incorrectly, but the knife used was no “pocket knife”. it was an eleven-inch kitchen knife. ms. deering never returned to school, but has had to deal with numerous court dates. myself and a handful of my classmates have received many subpoenas, but we have not had to appear in court as yet.
also, we (the handful of students receiving subpoenas) have been interviewed by the broward county sheriffs department and a director of the broward county school board. while this took a significant amount of time away from our classes, it assured us that something was being done about the inappropriate acts displayed by our teacher.