Middle school student suspended for opening door

[The Straight Story]

Middle school student suspended for opening door

(VA)
COURTLAND—A Southampton Middle School student was suspended Thursday for opening an exterior door for a visitor.

“Students are not allowed to open the doors, and if anyone does, they will be suspended,” said Dr. Wayne K. Smith, executive director of administration and personnel.

A districtwide policy prohibiting students and staff from opening doors to the outside was recently adopted after a $10,800 security system was installed at the middle school, Southampton High School, Southampton Technical Career Center and Nottoway, Meherrin and Capron elementary schools. Riverdale Elementary had a similar system installed when it was built three years ago.

All of the schools’ doors are locked during the day. Visitors must ring a buzzer and look into a camera before office personnel can let them in.

http://www.tidewaternews.com/2011/02/26/middle-school-student-suspended-for-opening-door/

[Buzz Clik]

1. Breaking news! Child punished for intentionally breaking rules.

I guess the point of this story is that it is so rare that kids are held responsible for their actions, that this is a big shock.

[The Straight Story]

2. More like - our society has become so scared we lock down our schools all the time

Really? Am I supposed to live in fear daily of my fellow americans and trust only those wonderful folks in government?

[Buzz Clik]

11. No. You don't live in fear. You put measures in place to eliminate the need for fear.

And you follow the goddamned rules to make sure the measures work.

This is pretty simple stuff.

[markpkessinger]

21. But the measures neverr actually "work"; they merely allow us to tell ourselves we're safer.

Look, this is the same shit we ldo with airport security. Every time there is a terrorist attempt on an airline somewhere, irrespective of whether it was carried out successfully and regardless of how incompetent the attempted plot and its planners might have been, our hysteria takes over and we decide we need to anact some new security procedure in order to keep ourselves "safe." I put the word safe in scare quotes because it isn't really safety we're talking about; it's the illusion of safety. We create a new procedure and spend hundreds of millions of dollars implementing it -- a procedure aimed at protecting us from the event that already happened and which accomplishes nothing towards protecting us from some future evil deed that will doubtless aim for something we hadn't anticipated or a vulnerability we hadn't realized. So we submit like lemmings to being treated as criminal suspects merely by virtue of having occasion to fly on an airplane, allow our government to totally eviscerate our Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, for no other reason than to create a bit of theater for ourselves that provides us with the momentary illusion that we've protected ourselves. What we're really cowering from, however, is the utter randomness of life and death.

On a smaller, less dramatic scale, what's happening in schools with these absurdly inflexible policies is exactly the same thing. Sure, the school should expect its policies to be followed, and appropriate sanctions should follow when students violate those policies. But to suspend a kid? Seriously? Suspensions, in schools, should be a punishment of last resort, reserved for those cases where a student has either become so disruptive that he is interfering with the ability of other students to learn, or when his continued presence in a classroom poses a direct and serious risk to the safety of teachers and other students. But to suspend a kid because of a small mistake in judgment that likely occurred because the kid was taught to be polite and which resulted in no actual harm? Come on! If an Administrator feels the need to implement this kind of a policy, fine. But the idea that you cannot apply a little common sense flexibility to the application of such a policy is simply absurd. Sure, bad things can result, and on rare occasion they do happen. But to treat this kid as if he opened the door for the local chapters of the Bloods and the Crips is beyond stupid, and is likely to reinforce the idea in this kids head (and that of his peers) that the rules adults ask them to conform to are arbitrary and capricious, and thus could have the effect of making them sufficiently suspicious of all such rules. If you want kids to grow up with appropriate respect for legitimate authority, then it is best to be judicious and intelligent about the way that authority is wielded over kids. Otherwise, the kids will simply see their authority figures for the jackasses they are.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Indydem]

6. What if...

He let a friend in and that friend was carrying 10 hand guns, sawed off shotguns and pipe bombs?

We ask our school districts to keep our children safe from random acts of violence, and then we attack them when they try to do their job.

[hobbit709]

7. Unless they do this in the morning to let ALL the kids in

which would take hours to get them inside the building, what good would that do?

Being overly paranoid is just as useless as not being paranoid enough.

[The Straight Story]

8. And that is where we all lose - so afraid of 'what ifs' we shut down - here is a what if

What if someone was in the school with a gun shooting people and he opened the door for the police?

Jesus....a kid can't open a fucking door?? Did anyone here go to a school where they could not open doors?

[BillyJack]

25. .....

:eyes:

[DearAbby]

32. You think he would care if he broke the rule

you telling me a kid being an accomplice to "Columbine" type Crime would first Think....WAIT BEFORE I BLAST THE SHIT OUT OF MY FELLOW STUDENTS AND TEACHER....SHOULD I VIOLATE THIS RULE OF NOT OPENING THE DOOR?"

And how would this rule prevent that?

[Indydem]

33. "Hey, there's Chris from down the street"

"I wonder why he's coming in this door halfway through the school day. Well, I know Chris and I want to be helpful. I'll just open this door for him."

Not every person is a knowing or witting accomplice.

[Buzz Clik]

9. You're absolutely correct. Nothing awful has ever happened in schools. We should let everyone in.

Fuck the rules. Let the kids do whatever they want. And, anyone who disagrees with you is the enemy.

:eyes:

[hobbit709]

12. What it doesn't mention in the story

is who was the woman, why did she have her arms full coming in to the school, etc.
It said the kid knew the woman, what if she was an employee

Nothing like teaching to slavishly follow the rules instead of occasionally using a little critical thinking and your own judgment.

[Buzz Clik]

13. Nothing like inventing scenarios. Are we having fun yet?

Security at schools is serious business, as it should be.

[The Straight Story]

15. Inventing scenarios? Like anyone let is a killer? Adults can let people in?

Shouldn't those people being let in be strip searched, go through TSA like body scanners, have a background check, etc BEFORE we let the potential terrorists in to kill all of the kids?

Afterall, they are lurking at the doors like brain hungry zombies - lock down! Spend more money! All people who are not me are dangerous....

Yeah, kids are going to grow up fearing everything, and will become more complacent to their rulers - for their own good of course.

[Buzz Clik]

17. And that's just what I said, isn't it?

You don't like security? Find a place without any. I have kids in school, and I want them secure. The end.

[Doremus]

31. Then you'd better put them in a bubble because no matter what "rules"

and "security measures" ad nauseum Big Brother unveils to assuage the quaking proles, it's all an illusion anyway.

But by all means enjoy it if it makes you feel better. That's what it's there for, enjoy! :toast:

[Skip Intro]

34. +1

[hobbit709]

4. Inmates aren't allowed to open the cell doors.

[Possumpoint]

5. Teach A Child To

be polite and open doors for ladies. He opened a door for a lady he knew who had her hands full. For that kindness he gets his ass kicked.

Another no brain required policy enacted by a school.

[Buzz Clik]

10. Oh, please.

Kids I know personally have been the target of attempted abductions. We have had intruders with horrible intentions blocked from entering the school because of harsh, rigid, strictly enforced security measures. I've also had a kid put in "in school suspension" for violating the rules intentionally.

If you don't like the security at the school where your kids go, change schools. Find a school where the administration doesn't give a shit about the well being of the children. And have a great time feeling good about the once-a-year occurence when some kid opens the door for someone with their arms full.

[hobbit709]

14. 'Paranoia strikes deep

Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid"

[Buzz Clik]

16. Whoa. That is so heavy.

Do you live your entire life in 1967?

[hobbit709]

20. LOL, But I remember the Soviet occupation troops in the streets of my hometown.

I know more about fear and paranoia than a lot of people.

but that doesn't make me scared of my own shadow. I was using those lyrics to demonstrate a point.

[WilliamPitt]

23. It worked.

:toast:

[Buzz Clik]

28. No, Will. It did not.

[sammytko]

18. Even in our small school, we've had raving parents threaten

teachers, kids etc. They have a lockdown system when this happens. I feel sorry for the ladies who work in the admin office. They get the brunt of these wackos - fathers coming in demanding to see non-custodial kids and that kind of thing.

For some reason people feel like they can just let it all hang out and forget the consequences.

[Stuart G]

19. I guess that those who oppose security in middle schools and high schools..have...

never worked in a middle school and a high school..

Well I have..for over 25 years...and keeping "visitors" who do not belong, out of the school...is always a top priority..
Those visitors can cause..."serious trouble"...which many can immagine...
Do I need to elaborate?
..that is why you do not open doors for outside visotors....

[WilliamPitt]

22. Crazy Joe

used to chain the doors to keep drug dealers out.

[Rainybeet]

24. School Motto

If you go to the Southampton Middle School website their motto is. . . . .

Seriously. . . . .

"We're Opening the Doors to Excellence"

So, if "Students are not allowed to open the doors, and if anyone does, they will be suspended," then I guess that excellence can only be achieved through the school system? :) That is quite an ego!

http://schools.southampton.k12.va.us/education/school/school.php?sectionid=7

[blondeatlast]

26. Overkill to suspend the student but the rule is sensible.

The punishment for violating it, in this case, is ridiculous.

[Bake]

27. Rules are rules, dammit! (Duh!)

My kids, fortunately, are grown and survived school without being suspended.

This sounds like yet another one of those stupid "zero-tolerance" rules that allows school admins to turn off their BRAINS.

Also, SUSPENSION??? A little extreme perhaps?

Bake

[Darkhawk32]

29. Complete overreaction.

[lapislzi]

30. Drives me utterly insane

If I have to call my daughter's school, the recorded voice that answers the phone says, "Thank you for calling the C***** schools. As part of our general security, please hold." After a few seconds, I get to enter the extension I need or speak to the main office.

WTF does that mean? Are they reverse-looking up my phone number to make sure I'm not a sex offender or a terrorist?

It makes no fucking sense.

If I enter the school building (only one door is open), I have to sign in and be given a pass with my entry time, even though I'm on a first name basis with many, and a face-rec basis with most personnel.

And yet, drive by the deli down the street at any hour of the school day and you'll see kids loitering and smoking. Go figure. Out of sight, out of mind.