...When All is Said and Dunn

With the title of this article you probably think this week’s topic is the college basketball season or the current promotion at KFC, but it’s not. What it is about is the complete loss of logic and control lots of people have been experiencing since the month began.

Maybe it has to due with the true beginning of the new millennium. Maybe it’s a shift in the planets. All I know is that we have been in a constant state of full moon madness since the calendar turned, and it doesn’t look like it will change any time soon. Like some virus that attacks your body or computer I can’t believe what I am seeing and hearing everyday.

Some large, some small, some that make national news, and others that are happening within a mile from my home. All are loony in varying degrees within the parameters of their own venue. Horrific, maddening, frustrating, and stupid, take your pick.

We began the month with the tragic shooting at Santana High School in the City of Santee near San Diego. A 15-year-old boy went on a shooting spree with his father’s 22-caliber pistol mowing down 15 people and killing 2 of them in the process. During his murderous spree he even had time to reload his gun twice and was so methodical in his resolve that he is being tried as an adult in the courts.

The reason that has been given for his actions was that as the new kid in school he was tormented by his classmates. He had his skateboard stolen a couple of times and was physically and verbally abused almost on a daily basis. Just like a dog that is continually beaten it is only a matter of time before it will turn on its master and bite.

These things in no way justify his actions; we all have suffered bullies and insensitive people growing up. The question I have is where were the teachers and administration while these things were happening? Well, one school has already put a program on paper that will hopefully help.

The Newport-Mesa School District in Orange County has just passed a new law in their schools that touts a zero tolerance for bullies and those demented students who get their kicks out of tormenting the less popular and weaker members of the student body. It may be a small step, but it is one more step than anybody else has taken. Given the regularity at which these types of juvenile attacks are occurring, this program should be implemented in every school in the land and enforced with vigor.

While we have had many, far too many school shootings in the past, what separates this month’s insanity from others was the almost immediate string of copycat and related types of scenes that were playing out in campuses across the nation. Within 24 hours it was like someone had opened the youth angst floodgates.

I’m sure spurred on by the mass media onslaught following the Santee shooting, or perhaps it was Charlton Heston’s birthday, but it seemed like every kid had access to a gun regardless of his or her age.

In Philadelphia, a 9-year-old boy brought a gun to school with the intention of killing one of his female classmates. A couple of days later, a 5-year-old boy and his friend were found playing with a loaded handgun in class; both are being suspended from kindergarten. In 29 Palms, near Palm Springs, 2 teenage students were arrested after a fellow classmate tipped off the police to their plans to orchestrate a Columbine style attack. They had already composed their hit list, were armed, and ready to roll. With all this abject lunacy happening it makes the little things even more frustrating. Little things like the following.

A couple of weeks ago I was dropping my kids at their school at the normal time for us, at about 8:10. The school bell rings at 8:15, at which point the kids, who are assembled on the field, are marched into their classes. On this particular morning, as they were less than 2 feet away from the front gate, a man appears on the other side and slammed the metal gate in their faces. He informs them that they have to go through the office to enter the school. He did this with all the tack and delicacy of a Nazi storm trooper.

Both kids turned back and looked at me with panic in their eyes, but I am in the circle drive and must exit. As I pulled out I could see them in my rear view mirror and their body language said it all--they looked like they were walking the Green Mile.

As I left I could see all the classes standing motionless on the field. Had they been allowed through the gate they would have been not only been on time but early. They weren’t late when I dropped them off, but by the time they ran the gauntlet through the office I was sure they certainly would be.

Extremely pissed off, as soon as I got back to my office I called their principal who returned my call 20 minutes later.

As we spoke he told me why this new policy was being implemented. Apparently, since the beginning of the school year there had been an astronomical amount of tardies. As a matter of fact, over 950. Therefore, he was instructing his janitor to do what he was doing, locking down the campus prior to the bell. To me this is lunacy. Why lock the gate prior to the bell. Why not at the moment the bell rings so those who are tardy have to walk through the office. Not those kids who are actually there early.

He agreed that the manner the janitor used was inappropriate and would have a word with him and tell him to lighten up and show a little compassion. He reassured me, with all the smoothness of a politician, that my kids were not in trouble and they would not be receiving a tardy.

Less than a week later it happened again, except even worse. This time, the evil gatekeeper was nowhere near the gate when we pulled up. Apparently he was coming up the hallway as my kids were walking to the gate. He saw my kids, they saw him, and they began running towards the gate. He in turn began rushing towards the gate. Lucky for him he wasn’t carrying a backpack that weighs 50 pounds so he won the race, but just barely. This time they weren’t a couple of feet away; this time this sadistic troll had to push my kids back out before slapping the chains on the gate. This time I would not be making another phone call. Fool me once…

It is tough enough to keep your kids interested and excited about going to school without adding unnecessary fear when stepping out of their car to go to school. If there are students who are flagrantly tardy punish them and their parents, not my children who combined have 3 tardies in 7 months.

Let’s work to keep children excited about going to school, not fearful.

The Shrub Speaks: “I suspect that had my dad not been President, he’d be asking the same questions: How’d your meeting go with so-and-so? . . . How did you feel when you stood up in front of the people for the state of the Union Address – State of the Budget Address, whatever you call it.” - Interview with the Washington Post, March 9, 2001