Here's my letter:
Dear Dr. Goodwin:
It has been reported in the press that you decided to suspend a student for possession of a 2-inch pocketknife, locked in the student’s car, for 20 days. This is a remarkable punishment, given the facts as stated in the article.
While no news article is ever complete with the facts, it would appear that your refusal to listen to interested parties marks you as being unapproachable, unreasonable, and completely unsupportive.
The central premise appears to be one of some kind of “zero tolerance†policy, which is not identified as such within the school district’s policies. There is some sort of nebulous phrase that threatens students with punitive action when and if said student carries a weapon.
Anyone would be hard-pressed to conclude that a 2-inch pocketknife could be considered a weapon of any sort, even in this post 9/11 world. Would a 6-inch screwdriver kept in another student’s warrant the same kind of action? I would submit that a 6=inch screwdriver is capable of even more bodily harm than a 2-inch penknife.
That the weapon was locked in the student’s car and was nowhere on his person or in his school locker compels one to conclude that your own biases may be at play in this case.
As an Eagle Scout myself, earned in 1970, I find it appalling that you would take such draconian action as to suspend the student initially for 5 days, but then extend that suspension out to 20 days. Whatever happened in that briefing must have angered you substantially. It would have been uncharacteristic for the bright young man himself to resort to baiting or other type of behavior.
I am hopeful that despite this type of rigid thinking on your part that the negative press surrounding this incident compels you to re-think your own behavior in this case. Based on the news article, you are far from dispassionate. Do you have some sort of anti-weapon agenda that has spilled over into this case?
Sincerely,
xxxxx xxxxxx