Posts Tagged ‘zachary christie’

A great example of what I’m talking about…

Posted: October 14, 2009 by datechguy in local stuff, oddities
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…happened here in town about 20 years ago.

A pal of mine before he re-trained as a systems guy used to work in a French Restaurant that used to be next door to City Hall. (The food wasn’t bad but it wasn’t really my cup of tea).

There is an open air park there now, but at the time there was a very long wide staircase as the restaurant was on the top floor and these were the days before mandatory access laws so that staircase was the way in. People would make their fortunes falling down those stairs and suing the owners insurance.

Finally the owner had enough. He dropped the insurance and put a sign to that effect on the staircase saying that anyone who wanted to sue was welcome to the restaurant if they won.

I’m sure it was a coincidence that those steps, steep though they were, were suddenly navigable by the people who climbed them.

If you want to understand the Zachary Christie case and many others like them, this is what you really need to know.

Question: Who should we thank for the Zachary Christie story?

Posted: October 14, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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Answer: Lawyers and fear.

The reason why School districts end up with “Zero tolerance” policies is not a question of protecting students. It is about protecting school districts and administrators from any kind of lawsuit.

School districts know that if they the actual source of fear in schools, such as gangs and drugs they will get civil liberties objections, they also know that parents are much more likely to back up their kids bad behavior than to stick with school administrations, teachers know a single accusation of any type can finish them professionally.

Much easier to have a broad set of rules that involve no thinking or common sense and let the school committee lessen the sentence.

The seven-member Christina School Board voted unanimously Tuesday to reduce the punishment for kindergartners and first-graders who take weapons to school or commit violent offenses to a suspension ranging from three to five days.

Zachary Christie, 6, had faced 45 days in an alternative school for troublemakers after he took the utensil – a combination folding knife, fork and spoon – to school to eat lunch last month. Now, he could return Wednesday.

Oh he can return WEDNESDAY, so that makes everything all right now.

Tort reform can’t come fast enough.

Update: Michelle misses the point it’s all about fear not idiocracy.