The Craft Blog has a zero tolerance policy for stupid.
After examining the evidence—a single butter knife—the police department turned over the investigation to the local Florida state attorney’s office, which is now weighing whether to bring criminal charges against the student.
A spokeswoman for the school district maintains that the school followed district policy throughout the incident, while pointing out that the district is working with the family of the suspended student by agreeing to reduce her suspension from six to three days. Needless to say, the family is not satisfied with the ongoing investigation and has hired a lawyer to represent them in the matter.
It was a downsized, rounded, dull butter knife. As dull as the adults involved, one might say.
You. You got time to arrest an 11-year-old for a butter knife? Me neither.
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident, but yet another example of an overreaction to minor infractions due to a zero tolerance school weapons ban, which can have serious consequences.
In Ohio, 10th-grader Da’von Shaw gave a class presentation on how to make a healthy breakfast, which included an apple that he sliced in front of the class. Da’von received a five-day suspension for possessing a weapon on campus due to his demonstration.
In California, high school senior Brandon Cappelletti was not nearly as fortunate. He faced a misdemeanor charge after school officials discovered pocket knives left over from a family fishing trip in the console of his car, which was parked on school grounds. Cappelletti narrowly avoided expulsion due to community outrage against the disproportionate punishment.
The Artisan Craft Blog -- Dave Alexander & Company with David Edgren and Gus Bailey 
The public education system is a government sponsored monopoly. I predict that once they face more competition – home schooling, charter schools, private schools – and parents are allowed a practical choice, much of the nitpicking socio-engineering described above in your examples will quickly disappear.
Over the past 60 years the NEA has gone the limit to suppress competition to their monopoly. Once they face actual competition they’ll mysteriously become more reasonable and efficient. Happens every time.
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Pens, pencils, belts, shoelaces, shoes, laser pointers, baseballs, baseball bats, football helmets, shot puts, discus, pretty much anything you can put in your hand. And of course, fists are the weapons most used. Better expel everyone with hands just to be sure.
They’re just the modern equivalent of the pharisees, making students fit the rules instead of fitting the rules to the students.
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I do sympathize with people that have to make and enforce these rules. I can sit back and say, “Just use common sense. If it’s a good kid with no discipline problems, let it slide. If it was a kid with known issues and tends to be violent, you might not want them to have a knife in school.”
But you know some parent will file a lawsuit on why his perfect little Johnny who has been in and out of juvie since he was 8 is not being treated the same as straight A Sally who spends her weekends feeding the homeless. For the most part schools are stuck not because they don’t want to use common sense but because they are not allowed by the PARENTS
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