Florida: Student arrested for cutting food with knife

Status
Not open for further replies.

AZRickD

Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2003
Messages
1,684
No matter where you're from, please consider contacting these school officials.

http://www.local6.com/news/14857286/detail.html

Student Arrested After Cutting Food With Knife
10-Year-Old Charged With Possession Of Weapon On School Property

An elementary student in Marion County was arrested Thursday after school officials found her cutting food during lunch with a knife that she brought from home, police said.

The 10-year-old girl, a student at Sunrise Elementary School in
Ocala, was charged possession of a weapon on school property, which is a felony.

According to authorities, school employees spotted the girl cutting her food while she was eating lunch and took the steak knife from her.

The girl told sheriff's deputies that she had brought the knife to
school on more than one occasion in the past.

Students told officials that the girl did not threaten anyone with
the knife.

The girl was arrested and transported to the Juvenile Assessment Center.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story

Don't preach to the choir. Try telling the school administrators...

http://www.marion.k12.fl.us/schools/sne/

Sunrise Elementary School
375 Marion Oaks Course
Ocala, FL 34473
Phone: (352) 671-6200
Fax: (352) 671-6206
(800) 955-8770 (FRS)

[email protected]

Here's the principal with no principles

[email protected]

burgess.jpg


Patricia Doles -- Asst Principal [email protected]

Richard Ruben -- Coordinator [email protected]

The Leadership Staff

leadership.jpg


Ms. Gillian Davis -- Dean of Discipline [email protected]

Delores Holcomb -- Guidance Counselor [email protected]

Ms Karen Ramos-Cedeno Guidance Counselor Karen.Ramos-
[email protected]

Ms Marie Valletta -- Media Specialist [email protected]
 
Why would I contact the school? The child had a knife...she has admitted broken the rulesmultiple times by bringing a knife onto school grounds.

The rules are in place...the rules were violated. Seems like everything was done as should have been done. Let the courts sort it out.
 
Don't waste your breath with the school level folks. If this school system is like most large ones, once the referral is written it goes to the Central Office where some administrative wonk deals with it.

Sometimes it is called Pupil Services, Student Services or some other non-descriptor.

Largely, in cases like this where it involves a "weapon", the principal is done with the decision making once the discipline form is written.

Aim for the superintendent's office.
 
Zero tolerance policies equal zero intelligence policies. It was a knife for eating, not a weapon, the student never threatened anyone. Now the kid could be a felon and never have the chance to own a firearm? I don't see how anyone can defend that at all. I'll email them, but I too do not think it will make any difference. These school officials are so out of touch with reality usually.
 
Granted the rule is stupid and the punishment is ludicrous
But these rules are not a secret known only to the upper classmen or the inner circles
They have been in place for a long time and ny student who violates them is either stupid or not paying attention

Something should be done about these zero tolerance policies but it is hard to feel a lot of sympathy for this individual student, unless she did it to draw attention and make a stand
 
We continue down this road we'll be like the UK eventually. People there have sat back and allowed it to happen, perhaps we shouldn't.
 
i keep waiting for the first account of a school assault by SPORK
and whats with the parents they know better even if the child doesnt ! Nothing will happen except we will spend public money in court costs and a young child gets introduced to the legal system ! very little good was done by this becasue school officials like to protect themselves by wrapping themselves in "policy " instead of rational thought ! Shame on the school for having her arrested instead of just confiscating the knife and counciling her about the rules ! Shame on the parents because she probably packed her own lunch ! The public safety has not been protected by his idiotic call by school officials ! What a bunch of BS!! kevin
 
Why would I contact the school? The child had a knife...she has admitted broken the rulesmultiple times by bringing a knife onto school grounds. The rules are in place...the rules were violated. Seems like everything was done as should have been done. Let the courts sort it out.

Why waste the courts' time? The principal should have just summarily executed her. :rolleyes:
 
Someone detail for me, please, the specifics of Zero Tolerance. There are 3 criteria to be met, and all 3 must be met:

1. ?
2. ?
3. ?

I have posted them repeatedly. I will merely say, zero tolerance, per the law, has not been met. Number 1 has been met. Numbers 2 and 3 have not.

Doc2005
 
Just another in a long, long list of reasons why my kids are homeschooled. My son is encouraged to bring his knives and multitools to 'school' and use them on a regular basis.
 
Once you remove "intent" from the equation, you open the door to all sorts of abuses by those in power.

Zero Tolerance policies are designed to get students used to mindlessly following the edicts of "the authorities" and expecting to be crushed under a jackboot for even the slightest deviation from what Big Brother expects of you.
 
I'm confused by this particular policy. We taught our kids table manners that included cutting their food into bite sized pieces before eating it. We wanted them to use knives properly for that purpose. Don't parents today want their children to behave like civilized people?

And, a slightly different question, could this policy be responsible for the disgusting table manners of some children we see in restaurants? My kids were anything but prim and prissy but they didn't pick up their meat with a fork or their hands and rip it apart with their teeth. I see kids old enough to know better doing it today. I never thought it could be the result of school policy.
 
Creature posted:
Why would I contact the school?
I wouldn't waste my time trying to convince you. My purpose is to notify those who will act, to act.

To the others of you, apply heat. These folks live in a bubble unaware that others would dare think differently from them.

So, by all means, send them a note. And spread the word.

Rick
 
At my daughter's school, the "team" had students using steak knives at lunch on a daily basis...starting in 1st grade folks!!!

Next topic, nobody has found those 3 criteria for zero tolerance?! Please explain why this child should not be put out for zero tolerance.

Doc2005
 
They deserve to get angry phone calls and letters from around the country!

We continue down this road we'll be like the UK eventually. People there have sat back and allowed it to happen, perhaps we shouldn't.

Evil prevails when good people do nothing
 
Zero tolerance arguments aside, I'd want to know one thing.

Does the school furnish knives for students to cut food and if so, who cares if there's one more knife?

The stupidity of today's educators continues to astound me.
 
We are dealing here with a 10 year-old girl, who is supposed to understand and behave like an adult. I suspect that in her home she has been brought up, and learned to cut food with a knife. She may not understand that what's right at home isn't at school. I hate to admit this, but I use a knife to cut food (and other things) and I'm a long way for being a 10 year-old.

Doc2005 is correct, she hasn't broke the zero-tolerance law, just possibly a questionable school policy. And I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that the people on this school's brain-dead staff use knives to cut food too. As for the law enforcement officers that were mentioned. Haven't they got anything more productive to do besides picking on a little girl? :cuss:
 
Zero Tolerance, these three must exist:

1. Item must constitute a weapon
2. Student must have knowingly brought the weapon
3. Student must have intent to cause great harm, damage, death, etc.

The student broke a school policy, that's all. Arrest the educators and officer(s) for conspiracy to falsely imprison. It would be as just. Frankly, I diagnose the educators and officers with chronic stupidity. I would be willing to plead it down to willful ignorance.

Doc2005
 
Next topic, nobody has found those 3 criteria for zero tolerance?! Please explain why this child should not be put out for zero tolerance.

There's more than 3 in this case, in my opinion:

An actual weapon, not just an imaginary one.

The rule needs to be specific. Are knives specifically prohibited, or just weapons, or anything that could be used as a weapon (the last would be unconstitutionally vague.) If it does say knife, is the word defined?

There needs to be intent. (I think the legal term is "mens rea", or something like that.)

In this case, she said she has brought the knife several times before. The school did nothing the previous times; if the school knew about it, they gave implied consent (whether they realized it or not.)

Best regards,
Bob
 
Knowing what school food can be like, maybe she should bring her Light Weight Mcculloch Chain Saw to school. Thanks to Jerry Clower for the inspiration BTW
Best,
Rob
 
I plan to write. Hope they'll listen.

Who charges a 10-year-old with a felony for cutting her food with a knife?! Do the administrators even consider the consequences of that? What happened to saying, "Sorry, you can't have a knife at school"? :banghead:
 
Here's their parent-student handbook:
http://www.marion.k12.fl.us/schools/sne/newsletter/SNEHandbook.pdf

(In a supreme twist of irony, under their "Standards for Success" list for students, #7 states: "Use good table manners and appropriate behavior in the cafeteria.")

And here's the student code of conduct. Weapons are covered on pages 25 and 26.
http://www.marion.k12.fl.us/students/docs/CodeOfConduct.pdf

Looks like a knife other than a pocketknife or "blunt bladed table knife" merits a mandatory expulsion. And...

"However, Marion County Law Enforcement and the State Attorney’s office require the school administration to notify Law Enforcement of any weapon brought on campus. FS 790.115(2)(3)(b)." (25)

"In addition to the "corrective measures" listed in the Code of Student Conduct, possession of a weapon by any student while the student is on school property or in attendance at a school function may also result in criminal prosecution. (FS 790.115)" (26)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top