Mindless Zero Tolerance

          In a blogpost a few days ago I stated, “In this part of Alaska, if you go on a school outing, one of the chaperones takes a gun.”  Only days after my arrival in Eek, Alaska, I happened upon a fifth grade student with a shotgun.  He was waiting at the edge of the village for his father.  When his dad arrived, they went hunting for the family supper.  Later that year the high school students helped butcher a caribou in the school gym.  A couple of years later a caribou herd wandered near the school.  Several men, including a teacher went hunting, while students watched from the windows.  All of this ran through my mind as I read the story of Doug Bartlett, a second grade teacher at Washington Irving Elementary School in Chicago.  Bartlett taught a lesson from the school curriculum on tools.   As required by the curriculum he brought in visual aids including wrenches, pliers, screwdrivers, a box cutter and a 2.25-inch pocketknife.  When the seventeen-year teacher was not using the tools, he kept them in a toolbox on a high shelf.  No students were hurt, in danger or even handled the tools but, in August, Bartlett was charged with possessing weapons on school grounds.

          Bartlett could have been terminated, but in September the principal, Valeria Newall, ordered a four day suspension without pay.  While he still has a job, he also has a black mark on his professional record.  With the help of the Rutherford Institute, he is appealing the absurd charges and draconian punishment.Jenine Heakin, armed and ready

          To illustrate the difference between Chicago and Eek, the picture with this blogpost was taken during a school culture week survival outing along the frozen Eek River.  The goal was to teach wilderness survival techniques.  The woman with the rifle, Jenine Heakin, organized the event.         

          Eek School is a safe place, but not because we have zero tolerance for weapons.  Common sense, not blind adherence to zero tolerance, makes a school a better, safer, place.  Both my district and the school have rules against weapons, but I can’t remember anyone actually saying, “Don’t bring a weapon to school.”  Even though we don’t want students to bring knives to school the older boys often carry them in their pockets as they go about the village so they sometimes come to school with them.  If a student said, “I forgot and brought this knife to school,” we would take it from them and, if they were young, give it to their parents.  Older students would probably take it home at the end of the day.  Tools are another matter.  I can’t imagine anyone being suspended, student or teacher, for having a wrench, pliers or screwdriver on school grounds.  With teacher supervision, I’ve seen students use all of those tools, and more, for school projects.    

          They say there is nothing so uncommon as common sense.  The older I get the more I believe it, but up here in rural Alaska we at least know the difference between weapons and tools and between endangering children and good teaching.  No one would have raised an eyebrow if Bartlett had brought some tools to class in Eek, used them as a visual aid and then secured them. Mr. Bartlett, if you want a fresh start look north.