Bill to remove 'Pop Tart Guns' from threat list
Publisher's note: While I'm glad to see a common sense bill being put forward by a legislative body, I am struck with dumb-founded awe that such a bill should have ever become necessary in the first place. Essentially this deals with the all too frequent nonsense that ensues when so called 'zero tolerance' policies go far beyond their intended goals.
Down in OK one legislator is doing something about it. Rep. Sally Kern has put forth a common sense bill that prohibits children from being ostracized and/or in some cases arrested for such things as chewing a Pop Tart so that it takes the rough shape of a pistol.
On the other side of that, Linda Hampton, President of the OK Education Association stated, "The proposed legislation removes local control from teachers, counselors, administrators and local school boards. Educators are degreed professionals, trained and experienced in dealing with children."
From where I sit, they may have all sorts of degrees, but they don't possess an ounce of common sense if they feel threatened by a chewed up Pop Tart.
Fox News: OKLAHOMA CITY – Schoolchildren in Oklahoma could not be punished for chewing their breakfast pastries into the shape of a gun under a bill introduced this week by a Republican legislator.
Rep. Sally Kern said Wednesday her measure dubbed the Common Sense Zero Tolerance Act was in response to school districts having policies that are too strict or inflexible.
Kern cited a recent Maryland case that gained national media attention where a boy was suspended after his teacher accused him of chewing his Pop Tart into the shape of a gun.
"Real intent, real threats and real weapons should always be dealt with immediately. We need to stop criminalizing children's imagination and childhood play," Kern, Republican from Oklahoma City told News9.com.
"If there's no real intent, there's no real threat, no real weapon, no real harm is occurring or going to occur, why in the world are we in a sense abusing our children like this."