Third-grader gets week's detention for possessing a Jolly Rancher

School officials say they're simply complying with a state law that limits junk food in schools, but the girl's parents say it's a huge overreaction. (KHOU.com)

Comments

[Lambiepie]

Texas, where the thinking is done by someone else

[Torgo]

Who's Jolly now?

[mybrainhurts]

Is the "I have the pussy" joke played out yet?

[Soo]

Let me see if I have the timeline correct:

Kids at lunch
Friend gives girl candy
Teacher confiscates candy
Detention issued for recipient but not giver

If that's correct, than yes, poor child, life is not fair. On the other hand, in some school districts where gang violence is a real problem, even the victim of a "jumping" gets expelled for fighting.

Applying the rules intelligently to individual situations has joined personal responsibility on the one-way bus out of town, it seems.

[KDP]

The jokes just write themselves:

When candy is outlawed, only outlaws will have candy.

Candy is the gateway drug and leads to cocaine and heroin.

The first one is free...

[IronOre]

I can see that being a candy smuggler could be profitable at this school. Just wait until the first teacher gets busted for "supplying" students on the side.

[Saxo Grammaticus]

This is the time of year when the 'stupid school administrator' stories start coming thick and fast. I don't think the kids get worse. Instead, the folks running schools get more tired and more stressed. Decisions get made without enough thought.

When the sh*t hits the fan, people dig in instead of trying minimize the impact of mistakes. At a certain point, things like the crap reported here start to happen.

Every. Single. Year.

[tj...]

So who got the candy... Next time kid, swallow the evidence...

[TheTruth]

Makes no sense to control people...

Yet we live in a soceity that wants to control people with...

What they eat..
What they do...
What they think..

Waiting for kid to get suspended for playing tag

O wait that has already happen

[me2]

I don't understand. Why is the kid that received the candy in trouble but not the kid that gave it to her? I say sue the school for discrimination!! If its against 'policy' to have candy then both kids should be punished.

Of course I think the whole thing is a stupid over reaction by the school.

[behindbj]

I'm having a bit of a problem wrapping my head around this one. Not the stupidity of it in general, but the way the whole "junk food in school" issue is being handled here...

Around here (by me), schools have decided to not sell junk food in the cafeteria or the vending machines. As far as I'm concerned those are the ONLY two things that the school CAN control - and the only two they SHOULD. There's not a thing they can do if one kid brings in a box of HoHos and shares them with his/her friends.

However, if I am reading it correctly, the school district can enforce this junk food thing down to the "what the kids are bringing from home and sharing" level. Really? Seriously? If Timmy brings an extra Twinkie to school for his friend on her birthday and gives it to her, they go to detention? I do believe the duty to decide whether or not my child eats that Twinkie from Timmy comes from me (in the form of what I have taught my children about nutrition and junk food).

Makes no sense...unless some nut job parent pitched a fit somewhere down the line because their precious snowflake who was never taught how to eat well got a nasty, sugary snack from a friend in school when they shouldn't have - and the idiot parents blame the school instead of their own failing....

I can't believe the parent is rolling over on this one. The school would have to get a restraining order to get rid of me if they didn't overturn this stupid decision.

[Lambiepie]

isn't the law (or shouldn't the law be) that the school has to provide better nutrition? if parents or friends hand over a suggary treat the school is not held responsible
silly to expect thought to be wasted on decisions

[Bill]

People, it is easy to be smug here, but Jolly Rancher is a gateway candy. Why do you think they made the rancher Jolly

Would kids break the rules and risk serving time for Angry Rancher? Grumpy Rancher or even Indifferent Rancher?

The rancher provides the jolly that the kid can not get from school administrators/ Let the kid skate on this one and the experimentation will continue. Next will be Life Savers, Mike & Ike, and by the time she reaches middle School---Certs. And as they teach you in the dAre program certs is two, two, two mints in one!

The school district won;t admit it, at least not on the record, but there are kids in Texas with 95 cent a day Starburst habits. These kids are so desperately hooked, they even eat the green ones! They don;t even throw them away or give them to the less popular kids like they are supposed to,

Sure go ahead and blast the administrators, they have a thankless job to do. But remember, if they looked the other way little Leighann may not ever have a chance yo pick up the bitterness, cynicsm, dejection,. distrust and
most important of all angst that a pre-teen needs to achieve the mediocrity the school district strives for. She doesn't seem to be getting any of that from her parents.

[The Hermit]

How many parents ever attend a school board meeting, a teachers conference, etc and offer input?
I don't think it teaches the young girl that life isn't always fair, it teaches compliance. It teaches a police state at a very young age. It teaches kids not to think outside the box. It teaches a kid how to beat the system. Don't believe me? Ask the sec of the treasury, Geitner, about cheating on his taxes.
I now step down off my soap box.

[Krash]

I remember teachers smiling and complimenting me for only selling candy and NOT drugs when I was in school.

Get it straight, BOTH the Left AND the Right are "Totalitarian" ideologies. How far we've sunk when we absolutely refuse to see the erosion of personal freedoms they represent.

[BlueMary]

"It teaches kids not to think outside the box. It teaches a kid how to beat the system."

Hermie, in general you can't really beat the system if you don't think outside the box.

people are always lapsing into these tired "what this teaches" arguments. What anything "teaches" is usually what the kid, or the person, decides to learn.

[Charles]

Put down the Jolly Rancher and step away from your childhood!

[DT]

Get the government and the schools where they belong!!!! Fed govenment protected us from what they where design to do. Schools to do what they are designed to do teach the three Rs. Get them out of our private lives.

[American Veteran]

Force these bastards, teachers & MISadministurbators to hand oper EVERYTHING in their possession or face suspension and/or termination.

[Phranqlin]

And she got dinged over a crummy Jolly Rancher! If you're going to be suspended anyhow, eat the good stuff.

[Alan]

Okay, I live in Texas. And yes, there's a law curbing sweets in schools. Mostly it's directed at vending machines and also includes teachers who gave candy as a reward. However, there is no doubt that this school administration went way overboard, and I think the family has a case against them.

[Victor]

Isn't this law meant for the school concessions? Not the individual students?

[heather]

Wow imagine if it was an asprin. They would haul you in front of the firing squad right away.

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