If Blazing Saddles taught us anything in the infamous "campfire scene," it is the simple truth that farts are funny. But this rule of humor isn't recognized at Spectrum Junior-Senior High School in Stuart, Florida, where a 12-year-old student was arrested on November 4th for "disruption of a school function" after, according to a Martin County Sheriff's Office report, "deliberately passing gas to disrupt the class."
The student also turned off the computers of other students in his classroom, resulting in a disruption of class work. Consequently, he was sent to the school's Discipline Office where he admitted to the infraction and was subsequently placed under arrest by the Sheriff's officer assigned to the school.
A juvenile arrest affidavit was filed and the flatulent offender was released to his mother.
On the surface, the story is simply another what the gov? moment, and a real gas of one. But after looking deeper, we uncovered that this past January, the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice presented Florida Governor Charlie Crist and the State Legislature with a Blueprint Commission report entitled Getting Smart About Juvenile Justice, which shows some disturbing trends in the punishment of adolescents.
"Zero-tolerance laws and policies were intended to target more serious offenders involving weapons, drugs or violent acts," the report notes. "Schools have expanded their use to include other, less serious offenses and behaviors, resulting in large numbers of youths being referred to the juvenile justice system."
The report's goal, according to the Commission's Chair, was to proactively prevent juvenile delinquency, by providing more appropriate, less restrictive sanctions for low-risk and misdemeanant youth offenders, focusing on rehabilitation, and "reserving serious sanctions for violent and habitual offenders." In the report, the Commission recommended a re-structuring of the K-12 zero tolerance policies so minor offenses would not fall under the zero tolerance rule.
Apparently, they left out passing gas from their list of minor offenses.
Zero tolerance policies are in place to deal with serious threats that can potentially impact the safety of the student population at-large. Remember all those reports of students being suspended for wearing black trench coats or listening to heavy metal during the height of post-Columbine hysteria? Apparently the Martin County School District doesn't.
By saddling law enforcement with small-time offenses such as breaking wind publicly, schools run the risk of overloading a system that would be better served by only confronting the pressing school safety issues. Perhaps the administrators at this school should invest their time in disseminating bottles of Pepto-Bismol and copies of Emily Post, instead of rap sheets.
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