49 Comments

  1. How will this poor teacher "fare", not "fair". Help me!

    1. and in what "school" did Christina Sarich "learn" grammar and spelling? LOL…

    2. Welcome to Idiocracy, USA, 2013. I swear, if correct grammar and spelling were a requirement for a job, almost no one under 35 would get hired. Sad really.

  2. blank Elizabeth says:

    Not to say Chicago wouldn't ever do anything that silly– Chicago does crazy stuff all the time–but Chicago suburbs are NOT Chicago. Those school districts might as well be on the moon.

  3. The teacher wasn't persecuted for promoting growing your own food, he was a victim of the " no tolerance" policy re: weapons.

    1. Garden tools are weapons..? HOw ridiculous…. What about pencils (could be used to stab someone) or even paper (one could get a paper cut ya know). Where has common sense gone??

    2. garden tools are not weapons!

    3. home repair tools are not weapons!

  4. Here we go again! While I applaud the message, please! "Watch out kids, learning anything of use that will help you become self-sufficient, including the ways and means to grow your own organic, non-GMO food are hazardous."
    Not "… are hazardous." … is hazardous." Gotta teach these kids proper usage of the English langage, people!

    1. Actually "are" is correct here because the subject of the sentence is "ways and means" thus plural. 😛

      1. Actually, 'learning' is the subject. It is a gerund (somewhat similar to a participle, but acts as a noun, rather than as a modifier. "ways and means" is the object of the gerund "including", which itself is an appositive of "anything". The simple sentence is: Learning is hazardous.

      2. That's not correct, Kai.

    2. btw Anna: "English langage" = language

      1. Pam – A simple typo is way different than linguistic incompetence.

  5. blank Cindy Mugnaini says:

    I didn't see a thing about garden tools. It looked like "hardware" tools to me.

  6. blank mariagstudios says:

    Wow! Suddenly I'm a little scared. I'm starting a garden at my school this year! See ya in the unemployment line!

    1. Please keep your garden plans. Students need this.

  7. Encinitas, not Encinita 🙂

  8. What a sad dysfunctional world we live in.

  9. blank Jennifer Allen says:

    This is just too much!

  10. While I hate Monsanto too and don't want GMOs either, what did any of that have to do with this case? This was about school administrators getting carried away and not using common sense, in their classification of gardening tools as weapons. Kind of similar to the policy where if they hug a child who needs comfort, they could be charged with inappropriate touching.

    1. It wasn't even garden tools. It was pliers,wrenches, and screwdrivers. Don't they have these things in shop class?

    2. Well, first, GMO foods, themselves, have not been proven dangerous. Eating GMO SEEDS may be dangerous, but that's not what they were GM'd for… they're for planting, not eating.
      But, given the tenor of the "article," I could guess that if she were reporting on a local jaywalking case, she'd figure out a way to slam Monsanto or GMO foods, somehow… no hidden agenda here, eh?
      🙂

  11. blank Nancy Ingalls says:

    "I'm frightened for your children." ~ Moody Blues

  12. you can't say Spade!!!!!! That's racist…….

  13. The incident involved “garden variety” tools, not gardening tools. Please correct your misleading article and picture.

  14. So I guess the maintenance staff should be fired next , since they use screwdrivers, plyers and wrenches all the time. You need those tools to build raised beds which grow more food how ridiculous can you be Chicago.

  15. "Plaintiff, a school teacher, showed to his students a pocket knife, as part of a curriculum-mandated 'tool discussion,'" the lawsuit states. "Other garden-variety tools plaintiff used in the discussion were a box cutter, various wrenches, screwdrivers, and pliers. As a result of showing a pocket knife, plaintiff was charged with bringing a weapon to school, and received a four-day suspension without pay."
    Read more: http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2013/04/18/Chicago-te

  16. blank Jake Bruijnsma says:

    Law makers are Outlaws!
    So, how about technical school education?
    Close those technical schools as every one tool can be used properly or in a violent way, THAT is why we have education!
    I thought those kids on how to use dangerous tools.
    They all became good Cabinetmakers and responsible citizens!

    1. you TAUGHT them you didn't think them.

  17. blank Green Eyed Jinn says:

    Wow, they better get all those ice-pick-shaped PENCILS & PENS out of the schools, too!! My God! Think of the potential carnage if these vicious objects are used inappropriately?!?!
    I would like to feel some pity for the people of Chicago, but I don't. They have lived with and embraced this system for generations, voted in politicians who perpetuate it, and have gleefully taken all the "freebies" that have been doled out to keep them voting for a "Machine" that appoints appartchiks and continues to grind its constituency blissfully into the ground.
    If you live in Chicago…you shoule LEAVE. If you are unwilling to go, you get what you deserve.

  18. Edit: how will this poor teacher *fare*?

  19. While I think that this is absurd, if you read the actual complaint, he had a box cutter and a pocket knife.
    Now in days past these would not be considered weapons, but since 911 authorities have gone mad in their search for terrorists and in wanting to "protect" society from itself. This results in some people overeating and being afraid all the time. The poor principal of the school got a complaint and due to the "rules" and rules of engagement had to investigate. She was probably put in between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Even if she thought it ridiculous (not saying she did, how could we know?) she was forced due to some whack parent or whatever to deal with this crap.
    So if we want to blame someone, lets blame whoever is writing these school rules and creating all kinds of fear out there…..the government? Whoever runs things that wants us all to be even more sheep than we already are……makes me sick…..

    1. "This results in some people overeating…" While probably a true statement, is this what you meant? 🙂 (I'm *pretty sure* you meant "overreacting".)
      Very valid points, though! The dumbing down process / sheeple producing machine is scaring the crap out of me. Where will we be in five years?

  20. Oh, and this article title is misleading……..makes your argument as silly and sensationalistic as the bs on the news.
    Most people do NOT use box cutters and pocket knifes in their gardening. How about pliers? Nope. Please stop writing bias crap-we get enough of it on mainstream news.

    1. many people use box cutters for things about the house , namely, to cut stuff like a craft knife does. And to open boxes of stuff from the mail or whatever. also pocket knives are very handy and versatile, especially if they have lots of tools on them. but people who never do anything for themselves and can't even do simple repairs, wouldn't know anything about it.

  21. blank Mackytack says:

    When my husband and I build our raised bed garden, my husband uses a box cutter, knife, and various other tools as well. It is hard to cut wood, and assemble the pieces without tools. This teacher was TEACHING!!! Safely and effectively…he kept the tools locked away when not in use.
    Whoever the parent/person was who complained about this, should have been dealt with, by using proper judgement, rather than succumbing to an overreaction. That's why this world is out of control!!!

    1. blank Ronald Smith says:

      You clearly lack comprehension of what “garden-variety tools” are. There is quite literally NO difference between “garden tools” and “garden-variety tools” other than a word. How do I know this? I’ve both sold and used them. When you have a clue and want to get rid of the leftist chip that’s clearly on your shoulder, then come back and comment, because otherwise we’re just going to ignore such ridiculous banter.

      1. No, actually I don't lack comprehension of what this means. I have also sold and used all kinds of tools but so what. There is actually a big difference between the two terms. Look it up in the dictionary if you must. Garden variety is an expression meaning commonplace, normal, average, run of the mill. Has NOTHING to do with garden tools. Just because you sold them doesn't mean that the definition you have ascribed to them is so. As far as having a clue or having a leftist chip, I simply want and expect non biased reporting. And as far as my banter being ridiculous, I wasn't the only one who noticed the the article was flawed. So there you go. Feel free to ignore my banter whenever you want.

  22. Heaven forbid they look in the Home Ec. teacher's classroom.
    ~ signed Retired Home Ec. Teacher

  23. blank yankee phil says:

    Where there is no vision,the people perish. When you allow what few visionaries are left in america to be marginalised or driven away from their normal position in society,you will be left with ordinary,crowd following leadership. Take a guess where america is heading,you let the mafia's of america run your politic,think you got sold out?

  24. Have Mercy !!!!! I'm glad my grandchildren are home schooled. I was a teacher many years ago when
    most teachers had common sense and could demonstrate and teach about gardening tools along with
    reading, writing, and arithmetic.. We did get a nutty principal at times, and also psychologists (who were
    in the profession because of their own problems.

  25. blank bluclarinet says:

    Since when are " wrenches, pliers, and a few Phillip’s head screwdrivers" garden tools?

    1. that just shows how ignorant and removed from real life, many people are nowadays. they couldn't fix anything on their own as they were never taught how to do simple stuff around the house.

  26. Such stupidity! If they want to fire people for bringing supposed weapons to the work place, then fire everyone who has hands to choke and suffocate and abuse with, teeth to bite with, heads to butt with, feet to kick with. Any of these moving body parts can be use to hurt and even kill. Why not go further and arrest everyone who has the flu and appears in public without a mask on b/c they can spread the disease to the weaker immuned elders and young children which can lead to their deaths. Hippocrites!!

  27. blank Sallie Dodd Butters says:

    The same thing happened just days ago in Jersey to a teacher who DID bring in gardening tools and was suspended for bringing terrorist weapons to his class…maybe that's why farming was mentioned…same tools only more…

  28. blank StandAlone says:

    I am so sick of the fear mongers that we have leading our government (federal, state, county and city or town), schools, and our lives. Those who rebel against the constant change in rules and regulations and the “political correctness” crap are now the enemy and seen as possible terrorists. This country’s citizens used to be much wiser and thought more independently…which made this country the best in the world. Now we are at the bottom rung of the ladder and we have lost the respect of other countries. No country is afraid to attack us now since we have let down our values and morals to become “safer”. If our people do not wake up and smell the “roses”, I fear that we are being led down the path of destruction.
    For those who pick apart spelling, typos and grammer, I apologize for mine. Please pay more attention to what is meant and not use my words to teach a class. Thank you!

  29. I wonder about the actual verbiage of the school's zero tolerance policy regarding weapons. Does it define a weapon, or leave up it for ambiguous interpretation? After all, a pillow could be a weapon for suffocation. Or for that matter, the desks and chairs in the classrooms could be used to bludgeon someone, or heck, even the principal could inflict heavy damage if used as a blunt projectile. I think "weapon" needs to be clearly defined.

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