# 8-year-old suspended for sniffing marker



## Kacey (Apr 3, 2008)

8-year-old suspended for sniffing marker



> Adams School District 50 is defending its decision to punish a third grader for sniffing a Sharpie marker.
> <snip>
> Harris used a black Sharpie marker to color a small area on the sleeve of his sweatshirt. A teacher sent him to the principal when she noticed him smelling the marker and his clothing.
> <snip>
> ...



Uh... right... I realize that there are toxic chemicals in permanent markers (which, according to the article, are no longer present in the school) - but isn't this taking it a bit far?  I mean, my school (which is in the next district over) prohibits kids from having permanent markers, but it's because they write on the walls with them.


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## Bob Hubbard (Apr 3, 2008)

Well, it could be worse.  He could be labeled a sex offender because he gave someone a hug.


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## MA-Caver (Apr 3, 2008)

Gee what next? Expelling pre-schoolers for eating paste?


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## Kacey (Apr 3, 2008)

Bob Hubbard said:


> Well, it could be worse.  He could be labeled a sex offender because he gave someone a hug.



Haven't seen that lately... but there was a boy a couple of years ago who was suspended for "exposing himself" - he was 5, and all the toilet stalls were full... since he'd never used a urinal and didn't understand how, he sat on it instead of aiming at it.  Another boy came in and saw him, told a teacher about the stupid kindergardner... the teacher came in, hauled the boy to the office, and he was suspended... and "exposing yourself" _is_ a sex offense.


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## Dave Leverich (Apr 3, 2008)

Yeah, all of this 'PC' bs is running in the face of common sense. I blame it on time-outs instead of spankings that these teachers got from their parents in the 60's & 70's.

What kid DIDN"T smell a marker and go 'ewwwww'?


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## MA-Caver (Apr 3, 2008)

Dave Leverich said:


> Yeah, all of this 'PC' bs is running in the face of common sense. I blame it on time-outs instead of spankings that these teachers got from their parents in the 60's & 70's.
> 
> What kid DIDN"T smell a marker and go 'ewwwww'?



The ones that smelled like fruit (black ones were like licorice) :uhyeah:


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## Fiendlover (Apr 4, 2008)

Kacey said:


> 8-year-old suspended for sniffing marker
> 
> 
> 
> Uh... right... I realize that there are toxic chemicals in permanent markers (which, according to the article, are no longer present in the school) - but isn't this taking it a bit far? I mean, my school (which is in the next district over) prohibits kids from having permanent markers, but it's because they write on the walls with them.


 
yeah thats kind of stupid.  i mean the kid doesnt know what he was doing he's a third grader.  but then again a couple of third graders planned to kill there teacher.  so i could be wrong.


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## newGuy12 (Apr 4, 2008)

Fiendlover said:


> yeah thats kind of stupid.  i mean the kid doesnt know what he was doing he's a third grader.  but then again a couple of third graders planned to kill there teacher.  so i could be wrong.


That is the same school?  Are you certain?


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## Jade Tigress (Apr 4, 2008)

Kacey said:


> 8-year-old suspended for sniffing marker
> 
> 
> 
> Uh... right... I realize that there are toxic chemicals in permanent markers (which, according to the article, are no longer present in the school) - but isn't this taking it a bit far?  I mean, my school (which is in the next district over) prohibits kids from having permanent markers, but it's because they write on the walls with them.


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## terryl965 (Apr 4, 2008)

All I can sat is we are going down the wrong path with all of these childern


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## INDYFIGHTER (Apr 4, 2008)

What if he did in fact was using the sweatshirt as a sponge to soak up the maker ink and use it to get high? Kids that age are prone to sniffing markers, huffing paint and choking themselves and each other for a high. What if the kid was actually getting a fix off of it?


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## Brian R. VanCise (Apr 4, 2008)

*Unbelievable.*  I have an eight year old and if that were my kid they would be in a new school district or private school or home schooled the next day. (guess who loses out the school because the funds that travel with the child are gone)   *The principal just way over reacted.*  This could have been handled easily by saying to the child, "do not sniff that it is not good for you."  Child says "*okay*" and all is well!


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## Ninjamom (Apr 4, 2008)

Brian R. VanCise said:


> .....if that were my kid they would be in a new school district or private school or home schooled the next day. (guess who loses out the school because the funds that travel with the child are gone)...


Brian - YOU have found the solution!  This is a PERFECT way to control all this PC-run-amuck and 'Zero Tolerance" horse-hooey, PLUS address the issues of educational choice and accountability at the same time!!!!!  Just implement a voucher program so that the money really DOES follow the child.  Kid changes schools, or is homeschooled, or goes to a private school, the money goes with the student.  I GUARANTEE this would bring some level of reasonableness into these types of decisions.

Competition - it works!!


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## JadecloudAlchemist (Apr 4, 2008)

I do not think the child had a drug problem let alone knows what a drug is.
Kids do dumb things all the time well so do adults for that matter.
When I went to school there was a kid who ate Whiteout for a dollar and was sent straight to the hospital to have his Stomach pump.


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## Andy Moynihan (Apr 4, 2008)

Right.


Blah blah blah  Anybody who still blindly yadda yadda yadda inevitable societal collapse duh-dah duh-dah duh-dah.


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## Xue Sheng (Apr 4, 2008)

Kacey said:


> 8-year-old suspended for sniffing marker
> 
> 
> 
> Uh... right... I realize that there are toxic chemicals in permanent markers (which, according to the article, are no longer present in the school) - but isn't this taking it a bit far? I mean, my school (which is in the next district over) prohibits kids from having permanent markers, but it's because they write on the walls with them.


 


Jade Tigress said:


>


 
And please allow me to add

:hb:


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## Empty Hands (Apr 4, 2008)

Dave Leverich said:


> Yeah, all of this 'PC' bs is running in the face of common sense. I blame it on time-outs instead of spankings that these teachers got from their parents in the 60's & 70's.



This has nothing to do with "PC" or whether or not teachers were spanked, and everything to do with protecting the school from lawsuits.


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## INDYFIGHTER (Apr 4, 2008)

After reading the article I want to pull my earlier comment.  I'm sure that was the case here but I wouldn't put it past an eight year old to be using drugs, there are plenty of them doing it.  I use to go to elementy school with girls who huffed gas for fun and carved tattoos in their legs with razor blades and pen ink during class.


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## Hawke (Apr 4, 2008)

Zero tolerance laws:

butterknife to school

having an asprin at school

small chain on a tweety bird wallet on school property

nipple ring at the airport

Must be hard to actually think for yourself and make a decision on a case by case basis.  Then again nobody wants to accept responsibility if something does go wrong.  

Is the Zero Tolerance Laws a reaction from sue happy people?  People that live in a fear culture?


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## jks9199 (Apr 4, 2008)

INDYFIGHTER said:


> What if he did in fact was using the sweatshirt as a sponge to soak up the maker ink and use it to get high? Kids that age are prone to sniffing markers, huffing paint and choking themselves and each other for a high. What if the kid was actually getting a fix off of it?


In my experience... there aren't too many 8-year olds huffing.  Yeah, they'll sniff the marker, smell their shoes, and explore a lot of the world that way -- but they're not generally trying to get high.

Heck, when I was in elementary school, we still had dittos.  Yeah -- I remember sniffing them, too...

Completely off topic... but I gotta add this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSDJpmQwDVA


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## Ceicei (Apr 4, 2008)

jks9199 said:


> Heck, when I was in elementary school, we still had dittos.  Yeah -- I remember sniffing them, too...


Dittos... oh wow!  I forgot all about them until you mentioned this.  Man, just having that pop up in my mind brought back the memory of the smell...  funny, I really liked that smell!!!

- Ceicei


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## Sukerkin (Apr 4, 2008)

It's small scale incidents that like this that remind me just how rapidly things have fallen apart without us really noticing.

For contrast, when I was at secondary school we had free accesss to experiment with:

mercury
sodium
phosphorous
radium
potasium

We also used to light the gas jets directly (none of that mundane Bunsen Burner malarkey) and see what explosive/noxious compounds we could come up with.  Anything that blew up, made a stink or frothed like some Sci-Fi monster was great by us .


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## charyuop (May 1, 2008)

Sukerkin said:


> It's small scale incidents that like this that remind me just how rapidly things have fallen apart without us really noticing.
> 
> For contrast, when I was at secondary school we had free accesss to experiment with:
> 
> ...


 

When I was a kid my favourite toys were lead soldiers. I guess I will die of cancer for that...


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## FearlessFreep (May 1, 2008)

jks9199 said:


> In my experience... there aren't too many 8-year olds huffing.  Yeah, they'll sniff the marker, smell their shoes, and explore a lot of the world that way -- but they're not generally trying to get high.



After having a few kids I made the observation:

"Children discover the world by sticking it in their mouth one piece at a time"


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## wushu2004 (May 1, 2008)

Xue Sheng said:


> And please allow me to add
> 
> :hb:



Ah the beauties of the stupid zero tolerance policy


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## charyuop (May 2, 2008)

FearlessFreep said:


> After having a few kids I made the observation:
> 
> "Children discover the world by sticking it in their mouth one piece at a time"


 
Yes, but keep always an eye on them...all the time...my parents didn't and trust me, me and the girl next door had a lot of fun discoverying things together...as you said, one piece at the time :boing1:


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## Big Don (May 5, 2008)

In 81 or so I got SCENTED markers for Christmas. Yeah, the BLUE smelled like Blueberries, the PURPLE smelled of Grape...
a little quick Google Fu and VIOLA: Scented Markers!


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## Sukerkin (May 5, 2008)

charyuop said:


> When I was a kid my favourite toys were lead soldiers. I guess I will die of cancer for that...


 
You'll have company there .  The plastic ones were never as good.


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## Big Don (May 5, 2008)

Sukerkin said:


> You'll have company there .  The plastic ones were never as good.


The plastic ones were great! They made excellent BB Gun and slingshot targets, if, lousy slingshot projectiles... You could blow them to pieces with firecrackers or melt them with a magnifying glass (nuclear war casualties...)


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## charyuop (May 6, 2008)

Big Don said:


> The plastic ones were great! They made excellent BB Gun and slingshot targets, if, lousy slingshot projectiles... You could blow them to pieces with firecrackers or melt them with a magnifying glass (nuclear war casualties...)


 
Oh man if those were not the days...dangerous and funny at the same time, but we can say we survived them!!!!! (Of course I know the situation it was in my country, Italy, but I assume USA was pretty much close to it).

_Seat belt? What were they? When my mother wanted to smoke a sigarette in the car she would take me away from my favorite place in the car: sitting on her lap in the front seat with my face at 2-3 inches from the windshield. So she puts me in the back seat, where I turn into a crazy pinball jumping left and right, while she cleans the air in the car with a wonderful sigarette.
_Plastic toys??? Where? When? I rememebr those great giant robot made of full metal that were as big as my whole torso!!!! Now put them in the end of a 6/8 years old kid and you can't imagine his forehead how it incredibly will turn into the himalaya mountains. Not to mention those techno/construction toys where hammer and screwdrivers were yes of plastic, but so heavy that you needed a crane to lift them (ask my poor thumb and its nail which flew off thanks to one of those hammer).
_electric breakers??? Yea sure, safety first. Let's install one of those safety breaker that interrupt the power when there is a difference in tension... oh wait, back then they didn't exists. Heck, my parents still talk about the time I opened my 45 record player to "work" on the mechanical part and opps it was still plugged in!

I admit that my generation was more "daredevil" than kids nowadays, but parents were less sue-happy and more like "did you fall? you got hurt? well then stop crying and go back to play!" and so were teachers.

Maybe we need to give back to kids and parents today something that got lost in time...but safety first of course.


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## brandy (May 6, 2008)

Well, even if the school did take it too far, maybe this will have a positive affect on the 8 year old in the long run. Maybe he will learn at an early age that, drugs are bad m'kay?


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