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Pencil Jab Results in School Suspension

Sixth-grader Harmon Dehnert was suspended from school recently until next fall for jabbing another student with a pencil.

While the school administrators believed that a 10-day suspension was appropriate, the Plainfield Community Consolidated School District 202 board voted unanimously that Harmon had used the pencil as a weapon and expelled him on October 26.

On October 14, Harmon Dehnert was in math class at John F. Kennedy Middle School when he and another boy were miming to each other.  The other boy said something Harmon didn’t like, so Harmon crawled to the boy’s desk and “poked” the boy in the knee with a sharp No. 2 pencil.  The pencil penetrated the boy’s jeans and left what looked like a mosquito bite.

“I just, like, poke him,” Harmon said.  “I didn’t mean to hurt him.”

Harmon and his family realize what he did was wrong, but they don’t agree with the consequences ordered by the school district.  Harmon can enroll for next semester in the district’s alternative school, Plainfield Academy.  The family’s other options are private school or homeschool.

The family believes that the incident might have been prevented if the school had provided a special education plan tailored to Harmon’s severe attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Many schools are adopting a “zero tolerance” policy with regard to rules and regulations concerning student behavior and safety.  School officials would rather err on the side of caution than face a school tragedy.

“I think school administrators are very afraid of being criticized, ” said John Elson, a Northwestern University law professor.  “They’re cautious.  They have a duty to protect the student body in general.”

Pencils, compasses and paper clips can now join the ranks of guns and knives as weapons.  Regulations vary from school district to school district, from state to state.  If an object is used by a student as a weapon against another student, there are serious consequences.  What used to be often written off as “horse play” or “boys will be boys” has serious consequences in this day and age of heightened violence.

         

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Experts Call Gwyneth Paltrow “Loopy” About Her Claims Of Shampoo Causing Cancer & ADHD in Kids

Gwyneth Paltrow makes claims that chemicals in children’s shampoos can cause cancer and development disorders like ADHD.

Scientists are calling actress Gwyneth Paltrow “loopy” after she warns others that products like shampoos are causing cancer and development disorders in babies and children. She recently said she was “seized with fear” after doing research on “environmental toxins”, which are products that are used for everyday use.

Her claim was that babies and young children are unable to break down the chemicals and toxins, which can cause them to get cancer.

Professor Hugh Pennington, who is a leading bacteriologist, says that her claims are “rubbish” and “loopy.” The Cancer Research UK also added that the number of children with cancer has not changed in past ten years even though Paltrow said numbers were growing “exponentially.”

Paltrow, who raises her two children on alternative lifestyles, putting them on macrobiotic diets and not using any chemicals in the house, made her claims on her new website goop.com.

She had this to say on her website, “A couple of years ago I was asked to give a quote for a book concerning environmental toxins and their effects on our children. While reading up on the subject, I was seized with fear about what the research said.”

She added, “The research is troubling; the incidence of diseases in children such as asthma, cancer and autism have shot up exponentially and many children we all know and love have been diagnosed with developmental issues like ADHD [Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder].”

But according to Professor Pennington, emeritus professor of bacteriology at Aberdeen University, “It’s a load of nonsense. Shampoo is perfectly safe, unless you drink it in large quantities.’ He went on to say, “It does annoy me when celebrities use their position to spout nonsense. They have a perfect right to their views, even if they are loopy, but they do hold a position of influence. You may as well ask someone on the Underground.”