Friday, January 16, 2009

8-year-old taken to juvy for not tucking in shirt

Does any doubt remain that America no longer has an education system?

A family in Bonner County, Idaho, is outraged because of the way their 8-year-old daughter was treated at Kootenai Elementary School.

Recently, the 3rd-grader - who reportedly suffers from high-functioning autism - was ordered by school officials to tuck in her sweatshirt before going to a Christmas party. She refused - and began strolling off to the party anyway.

She disobeyed because she is only 8. She acts 8 because she is 8.

She did nothing violent. All she did was refuse to tuck in her shirt.

Immediately, however, school employees lapsed into attack mode. School officials ganged up on her, physically restrained her, and bruised her. She fought back, as almost any other 8-year-old would.

My philosophy is, if you lay a hand on a child, you have no business complaining if the child slugs you squarely in the teeth. I know I'm going to catch hellfire and brimstone from dominionist whack-a-doos who claim the Bible gives them the "right" to brutalize children. But I've learned to expect criticism in exchange for my enduring habit of being reasonable.

The school doesn't get it though. When the girl fought back, the school promptly called the cops. Police handcuffed her, drove her away in a cruiser, and locked her in juvenile detention. She stayed there for an hour.

You'd think that after that it would be all over except the lawsuit against the school and the police. Quite the contrary. The county prosecutor then had the gall to charge the 8-year-old with battery. The charge was later dropped.

Who really committed battery? School officials, that's who.

School officials said they were just following a plan that had been agreed to by the girl's parents. But that's not true. Her parents never saw or signed the plan.

The girl's mother is now planning a lawsuit. Hopefully, the school, the police, and the prosecutor will all be sued for everything they're worth.

I guarantee you though that if I was the parent of a child who was brutalized at school in this manner, school officials would be lucky if they didn't find themselves with a few broken bones. Unfortunately, Kentucky has a law that criminalizes even confronting school administrators - but if they want to arrest me, they'd just be making it harder on themselves.

(Source: http://www.kxly.com/global/story.asp?s=9669140)

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