I'm sad to say that this episode takes place in my home state of New Hampshire.
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Shawn Stevens, a seventh grade student at Dover Middle School, had received an American flag from the mother of a US Marine getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan.Imagine his surprise when the moment he stepped of his school bus carrying that flag it was taken away by a school staff member because “because it can be considered a weapon.”
Excuse me?
Co-Principal Kimberly Lyndes said the spear point of the flag's stick was the problem.I saw video of the “weapon” and I have one question for Co-Principal Lyndes: Are you kidding me? That “pointy” end was as about as pointed as the eraser at the end of a pencil. As Shawn's mother said, there are plenty of everyday items at school that are far more dangerous than Shawn's flag.
"A student came to school yesterday with a flag that was rather large and didn't fit inside the backpack," she said. "A staff member felt that it could potentially be dangerous because of the pointy end and took the item and let the student know and the parent know that they took the item and could pick it up.
"It had nothing to do with patriotism or it being a flag. It was about potential danger and school safety."
This is what happens when school administrators stop being educators and instead become bureaucrats. They take something that no one else would think twice about and turn it into a situation that makes them look stupid. And we trust people like this with our kids?
No wonder more parents would rather send their kids to private school.