Zero tolerance is back, if it ever went away, and this time it has zapped a 4-year-old who attends my alma mater.
Newton (Texas) ISD Superintendent Gene Isabell said the 4-year-old girl was suspended for three days after allegedly showing a knife to another 4-year-old on a school bus, according to Jasper radio station KJAS. The station’s Web site reported that Tiffany Holloway said the accused 4-year-old produced a paring knife and threatened two of her daughters with the knife. But Isabell said a statement from the bus driver indicated the suspended girl had merely shown the other child a knife, which was given to the girl’s grandmother upon arriving home. The report by KJAS said the Newton County Sheriff’s Department was not investigating the incident and was not aware that it had taken place.
This kind of story drives a lot of people up the wall — one way or another — and with good reason. First and foremost you don’t want kids taking dangerous weapons to school. I know that if I was a teacher I would be especially weary of a 4-year-old toting a knife, especially given the presumed height of a kid that age. Yow, watch out for collateral damage! But did the kid really threaten the other girls? We don’t know the facts. And should the 4-year-old get kicked out of school and have a blemish on her academic record which will follow her around for the rest of her life? We don’t know the facts. Will the fact that we don’t know all the facts keep people from speculative comments which could range from the thoughtful to the other-worldly stupid? Sing with me: “Fairy tales can come true, they can happen to you …