Students suspended for not reporting knife
Cedar Cliff suspends students for not reporting wooden knife
Friday, December 24, 2004
BY T.W. BURGER
Of The Patriot-News
Cindy Black's son will serve two days of school suspension next month, and she is very unhappy about it.
Charlie Black, 14, is one of a number of Cedar Cliff High School students who were given two-day, in-school suspensions on Monday.
A school administrator said the incident that triggered that punishment is clearly covered by school policy.
However, Cindy Black said the students are being punished for telling the truth.
Several weeks ago, a student in teacher Randy Hamme's woodworking class made a knife out of cedar, a violation of the district's weapons policy.
"It was only about 6 inches long," Charlie Black said.
Hamme said he could not comment for this story.
Word about the knife made its way to school officials. The student who made the knife, whose name cannot be divulged because of his age, is now in juvenile detention, Cindy Black said.
The district would not comment on the student's status.
The other students were asked to write down whether they knew about the knife and, if so, why they had not reported it.
"They said they did not come forward because they were afraid of retaliation from the student who made the knife," Cindy Black said.
Mike Murphy, the district's director of administrative management services, said the punishment was meted out according to guidelines set in the district's weapons policy.
Murphy said the punishment is spelled out in the student handbook and was discussed at an assembly at the beginning of the year.
He also said that the students are not being punished for being truthful.
"That's no different than the kid who comes to school under the influence and admits to it," he said. "We're not punishing them for their admission. They are being punished because they violated the policy."
In the wake of a number of school shootings across the nation in recent years, Murphy said, "serious concerns" about weapons is only appropriate.
"The policy says it is a violation not only to possess or use a weapon, but to know about a weapon in the possession of a student and not report it," he said.
Cindy Black said most of the class, about 15 students, were given the in-school suspension.
Murphy said he could not, by law, discuss any aspect of the case in detail, but said the number was not that high.
Charlie Black said he never saw the student who made the knife threaten anyone with it.
"Some of the kids were kind of scared of him. He gets in trouble a lot. I've heard of him beating kids up, but I've never actually seen it."
He also said he is dreading the in-school suspension, where he will sit in a small room all day doing his school work in isolation.
"What I don't understand is, they said they were being more lenient. They think in-school suspension is better than out-of-school suspension," he said. "Maybe they think out-of-school suspension is worse for the parents."
T.W. BURGER: 432-8374 or
tburger@patriot-news.com
I can't believe what this state has come to.
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