Third-Grader Found With Syringe At School

[The Straight Story]

Third-Grader Found With Syringe At School
At Least One Student Touched With Syringe, Officials Say


....

The boy found the syringe next to a Dumpster near his home and brought it to Captain Strong Primary School, district officials said. Most of the needle was broken off, but about 1/16th of an inch was remaining, according to a spokesman with the school district.

During afternoon recess, the boy and four other students were on the playground when one of the students was touched on the arm with a part of the syringe, school officials said.

A playground monitor spotted the syringe and alerted the assistant principal who, along with the principal, summoned the boy and the four other students from class, confiscated the syringe and questioned them about the incident, school officials said.
...

The school nurse also examined the students and found no evidence the syringe injured the children.

Their parents of the involved children were notified and a school resource officer from the Battle Ground Police Department was notified of the incident.

Friday morning, officials notified parents of all Captain Strong Primary School students of the incident Friday morning with the school's automated telephone-message system.

The boy who brought the syringe to school was placed on emergency expulsion, district officials said.

http://www.kptv.com/education/23708446/detail.html

[jtuck004]

1. So - ever wondered what happened to the natural curiosity of little boys?

Kill it, kill it now. He will never do what he is told if we let him go exploring and interacting with the too dangerous world
we have built around him. Don't give in to the hopelessness of finding who discarded the syringe. Better to punish the boy now, and shut him down now. This is a school, dang it, a place where people are trained. And, by god, he's gonna get trained now!


Sorry - I should added "and little girls too"?, cause they get it even worse sometimes. Especially in Oklahoma.

[Book Lover]

2. Word (nm)

[Quantess]

3. Someone should have told those children that syringes are very, very dangerous.

HIV, hepatitis, you name it. Discarded syringes are not to be taken lightly. This was in WA, by the way.

[jtuck004]

4. Someone should have people policing the streets, cause that's

about the least dangerous thing a 3rd grader might pick up.

And while a 3rd grader may not understand hepatitis, HIV, etc, they darn sure understand being taken
to the principals office and told to go home because they don't belong there.

I wonder how close the dumpster was to the school - maybe on school grounds (how far does this 3rd grade kid range from school and the bus?) and if perhaps someone from the school should be cleaning a bit more? I know it said near his home, but what shool would say - "Yeah, he found it here, but then we expelled him". So let's say it was at the store where he catches the bus. Perhaps the school could ask the store owner to be a bit more meticulous about cleaning?

This school is just over the border into WA, probably rural. There are so many opportunities for interesting exploring in those places. I agree that kids should be taught, but there is enough adult responsiblity here to go around - don't blame the kid for touching the world for cryin out loud.

It wasn't the kids fault that an interesting object was thrown away by the dumpster, but he is likely the only one going to learn something here.

[Quantess]

5. Yeah....I don't know. A third grader is perfectly capable of understanding

that you can pick up diseases from a discarded syringe. Unless the child is mentally retarded, this is a very teachable moment. I agree with you that being expelled from school is probably too harsh, if he was unaware of the dangers. But, if the child knew that he was putting other students in danger, then I think he should definitely be in a little trouble.

[jtuck004]

6. You are corect. For example, they can understand that blood might

be dangerous, and that they should call an adult when they find things that might be, such as as unexploded fireworks, syringes, and to stay away from dogs, etc. I should have been more specific.

But even then, when you bring them in the concern should be for their safety, and their continued education. Not punishment, not in this case.

But what I think he, and perhaps his classmates, will learn from this is to do a better job of hiding things from people that are bigger. And I bet he learns that school is not such a fun place. And that people bigger than him can really scare him. And when he find a gun, or a bullet, or even another syringe, I wonder if he will tell someone. And whoever dropped that syringe is probably already dropping one for another kid.

[The Straight Story]

7. could have been a good teaching moment for the kids and class

instead I think it will do harm than good (ie, in expelling him)