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"I think it’s time we take a stand on this Act 46 (the state’s ‘zero tolerance’ law) and stop arresting every child that brings a utensil to school," he said.
In the fight against numbskullery and the travesty that "zero tolerance" policies have become, Hogan’s a hero. Unfortunately, a majority of his colleagues are still a bunch of Col. Klinks.
The girl was expelled by a vote of 4-3.
Still, Hogan took some solace in the close vote. That he got two of his colleagues to agree with him, he said, was something of a "coup."
Board member Brenda Artwell voted along with Hogan but not without getting a little silly herself. She suggested setting up some sort of counseling program for the girl, as if innocently possessing a Swiss Army knife is something that should require counseling -- as opposed to, "Hey knucklehead, you’re not allowed to bring pen knives to school."
No, better just to throw the kid out of school and into the "alt ed" program.
I caught up with Hogan yesterday.
"Generally, I try to stand up for the kids," he said, "but I haven’t been very successful."
The problem with a "zero tolerance" policy, Hogan says, is that it has a tendency to be ham-fistedly enforced. Rarely are the particulars of each case and each kid taken into consideration. It’s one size fits all, even when it obviously doesn’t.
Hogan points out that, by law, superintendents and school boards have the authority to consider punishments on a case-by-case basis but too often opt for the most drastic punishment when a lesser one would be more fitting.
He says that William Penn has had fewer expulsion hearings in the last few months and he attributes some of that to the district’s new superintendent, Dana Bedden.
Still, Hogan says, even more discretion could be applied in cases like this one.
Besides being often unfair to the kid, expulsion cases are costly. They run $2,000 to $3,000. Lawyers and stenographers have to be paid. And for what?
Sure, there are cases that call for expulsion. Like the kid who was using a knife to extort money from his classmates. But he didn’t even have to be expelled. His parents withdrew him from school voluntarily to avoid expulsion.
What good is served by tossing a fourth-grader for bringing a butter knife to school? None, says Hogan. And yet, his board voted to do just that a couple of years ago.
William Penn is hardly the only school district in America to overreact to the threat of school violence.
In 1999, A 10-year-old student in California was expelled when she turned in the small cutting knife her mother had placed in her lunchbox to cut her apple.
In Louisiana, a second-grader was expelled for bringing her grandfather’s gold-plated pocket watch to school because the watch had a tiny knife attached.
And three years ago, an 18-year-old National Merit Scholar in Fort Myers, Fla., was suspended and charged with a felony count of possessing a weapon when a kitchen knife was found on the floor of her car while she was in class.
What the nation needs, what Delaware County needs, what the William Penn School District needs are more school board members, administrators and teachers who are willing to speak out against these sorts of stupid and unfair overreactions.
"This board is more judicious than previous (W.P.) boards have been," Hogan said Tuesday. But still not judicious enough.
Until more board members demand more common sense in the expulsion and disciplinary process of their districts, we will continue to read about 10-year-olds being expelled for behavior that 20 years ago would have gotten them an hour’s detention.
It might help matters if the grown-ups in positions to decide these things, thought back to the days when they were students.
Hogan has.
"Compared to other expulsions," he said, (this girl) had rather a clean record. Better than my record when I was in junior high."
Here, here.
Gil Spencer’s column appears Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail gspencer@delcotimes.com
