A Kitchener father is angry at police after he was arrested at his child’s school and later strip-searched at the police station, all because his 4-year-old daughter drew a picture of a gun in class.
That's just for a picture of a gun.
A Kitchener father is angry at police after he was arrested at his child’s school and later strip-searched at the police station, all because his 4-year-old daughter drew a picture of a gun in class.
That's just for a picture of a gun.
...excuse me while I bang my head on the wall for awhile...
Holy moly that is absolutely nuts. I will take Canada off my list of places to escape to when the E36 M3 hits the fan.
Ontario has lost its mind. They have also banned balls from public schools. Any balls. Something about not allowing teachers any latitude for decision making- there must be an iron clad rule for every possible situation, and if there is any remote possibility that someone could have their feelings hurt, the police are called.
WTF! that is all.
While we have it real nice in Canada, it is easy to forget some of the not so nice things you here about.
Like the "human rights tribunals" we have were you are tried and convicted outside of court. Ezra Levant had fun with that... of course, the biggest thing being we don't actually have free speech up here (fun fact).
Oh come on, even the juvenile detention facility I just had to do a clinical rotation at, allows balls.
TORONTO • A Toronto elementary school has banned most balls from its playground, citing the need to protect staff and students after a parent got hit in the head with a soccer ball.
The new policy has infuriated parents and students, and exposes what child-health researchers say is a growing focus on child safety that is keeping kids from being physically active.
On Monday, Earl Beatty Junior and Senior Public School principal Alicia Fernandez sent home a note warning parents their students are no longer allowed to bring soccer balls, basketballs, baseballs, footballs and volleyballs to school. All balls that weren’t made of sponge, or nerf, material would be confiscated.
The east-end school, which has about 350 students in Kindergarten to Grade 8, along with a daycare, has a small, walled playground that gets crowded during recess and flying balls had become a constant problem, said ward trustee Sheila Cary-Meagher. Two weeks ago a mother picking up her child at the daycare went to hospital with a concussion after getting struck in the back of the head with a soccer ball.
Related Matt Gurney: Citing safety, Toronto school takes brave stand against balls
Gary Clement on safety policies at Toronto schools
.“They have been trying very hard for a long time to get kids to stop throwing balls so hard and it wasn’t working, so [the principal] just had to ramp up the policy,” Ms. Cary-Meagher said.
Chris Stateski’s six-year-old son, Jacob, used to bring his soccer ball, football and hockey equipment to school to play with friends at recess. “He was crushed when he found out about this rule,” he said. “It was like finding out his pet goldfish died. He was devastated. He wanted to change schools.”
Last year, Jacob broke his arm in two places after an accident playing soccer in the schoolyard that the father chalked up to the perils of childhood. “I haven’t come across an adult or child yet who hasn’t had a scrape, a bump or a bruise in their lifetime doing activities, whether it’s in a schoolyard or in an organized league somewhere,” Mr. Stateski said. “It’s not about safety. If it was about safety they would put pillows all over the schoolyard in case a child falls.”
Anna Caputo, a spokeswoman for the school board, said the ban was actually a long-standing policy at the school that had stopped being enforced until someone got hurt. “Some parents will say it’s extreme and some may agree [the principal] had to quickly implement something that will address the situation at the school to avoid the further risk of injury to the students,” she said.
The Toronto school isn’t the only one to ban balls over concern for student safety. Last year, an Ottawa public school banned balls on the playground during winter. In June, a public school St. Catharines, Ont., banned balls after a girl got hit in the head while watching a schoolyard soccer game. Both bans were overturned after students at the schools started a petition.
“When it comes down to it, the kids are not allowed to do anything, so there’s 325 kids who are all just standing around for 15 minutes,” said Scott Taylor, whose 10-year-old son, Matthew, started the petition at the St. Catharines school. “Kids need to play; they need to have things to do.”
After his son’s story hit the local media, Mr. Taylor said parents came to him with complaints about other schools banning cartwheels and gymnastics for fear of injury. Mr. Taylor is a Boy Scouts leader and says most of the boys he instructs come to scouts looking to play the sports they’re no longer allowed to play at school.
The ban on balls is part of growing restrictions on sport activities in the name of safety, child-health researchers say, even as policy makers promote physical education as a way to curb rising rates of childhood obesity. Schools have banned dodgeball and floor hockey, while others have outlawed contact sports like tag. In 2008 an Australian school made international headlines after it made headstands illegal for fear of neck and back injuries.
“It sends the wrong message that playing these unorganized games or even some form of reasonably organized sports is dangerous and generally speaking that’s not true,” said Dr. Mark Tremblay, chief scientist at Healthy Active Living Kids Canada. “The health benefits far exceed the risks associated with them.”
Activities like playing with balls help children learn co-ordination, teamwork and how to manage risks. The ban on schoolyard sports is part of a broader issue of parents and educators who try to keep children out of harm’s way — by not letting them walk to school or play in the park alone — but end up encouraging sedentary habits that put children at greater risk of serious health issues, such as diabetes, decades later.
“It’s all couched in with this overparenting phenomenon, which is rooted in the best intentions of parents trying to eliminate risk for their kids,” he said. “But I don’t think it prepares our kids for the real world and it accelerates more health problems that we’re not paying attention to that are slower and more insidious than a black eye from a ball.”
Only 7% of Canadian children get the required hour of daily physical activity and policies like a ban on balls risk turning kids off exercise, said Kelly Murumets, CEO of ParticipACTION.
“We need to make sure physical activity is safe for our kids and schools can play a role in helping kids understand what equipment is safe and how to use it safely,” she said. “I’d much prefer we go that route than banning balls.”
National Post
the school board has no balls
I used to build toy guns out of legos in kindergarten... then again I was a military brat...
and I also let my son sit with me when i "kill people" on shooting games... ON NOES..... i bet i'm creating a future monster.
wonder how long before "they" manage to put us all in padded cells for our protection...
I used to drive school buses in Ontario. Honestly, a lot of the teachers were great, and some of the principals & VPs I met were pretty good too, but by and large the higher up the ladder you went the worse quality the people you encountered were. Anyone who was actually part of the "school board" was beyond hope. And of course they were the ones trying to remove any ability to make decisions from anyone "under" them... i.e. the people who actually dealt with students.
It's my firm opinion that all 'school boards' everywhere should be disbanded & have each school administer itself locally. Shame it's not going to happen until (unless??) a lot of people commit to a major rethink of their ingrained ideas...
wow... honestly, that is all I have to say I am that flabberghasted
Makes me glad I'm from the Republic of Western Canada.
Seriously, it's the Ontario Provincial Police, it's not like he was in the hands of the REAL police.
Shawn
so who is going to get to the world of Wall-E first... the US, Canada, or the UK?
I thought the main article was bad, but after reading the article about no balls, all I can say is what a bunch of sissies.
Private school FTW.
My 9 yr old can do 3" groups at 100 yrds with a .22 rifle.
I suspect we would make lousy Canadians.
Damn. That's awesome.
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: My 9 yr old can do 3" groups at 100 yrds with a .22 rifle. I suspect we would make lousy Canadians.
On the contrary, rifles are perfectly fine here, it's just those evil, nasty, crime-causing handguns that are frowned upon. Our federal government is actually making it easier to own long guns (rifles and shotguns) by scrapping a decade old registration program.
And just for clarification, it wasn't the picture that got the police involved, it was the kid describing the gun in the picture as “That’s my daddy’s. He uses it to shoot bad guys and monsters.” Its still completely ridiculous that it was handled this way, but if the kid had said "I saw this in a movie" instead of "that's my dad's gun" the police never would have been involved.
Bob
yea, I read that part too Bob. It just made me shake my head. The teachers and police should have realised that as soon as the kid said "monsters" that it was all a fantasy
So, instead of viewing her daddy as a hero that will protect her from bad guys and monsters, he is another criminal that gets arrested. Great.
Joey
Schmidlap wrote: but if the kid had said "I saw this in a movie" instead of "that's my dad's gun" the police never would have been involved. Bob
can you imagine the uproar that would have ensued regarding
a: the movie industry in general
and
b: the trouble his parents would have been in for letting him watch a VIOLENT movie ?
I don't usually weigh in on these threads but I happen to have a little inside knowledge of this one. The story I'm getting is the picture caused the teacher to ask some questions. The little girl described a handgun that she and her siblings played with in the house. The police were contacted and reacted to an unsafe condition in the home. The police may have already had dealings with the father.
I personally feel that the police over reacted and were very heavy handed in dealing with this issue but I believe that the teacher and the school took the proper action.
The much hyped "ball ban" was one principal in one school and was quickly reversed once the parents got involved.
The media has a tendancy to blow things up to "all balls banned in all schools". Never happened.
A while back some shop teacher out east had a class making barbeques out of old drums. Torching one open, residual peppermint oil exploded, killing one student (http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20110526/ottawa-mother-teresa-high-school-explosion-110526/).
A tragic, preventable accident for sure.
In a typical knee-jerk reaction, a local school district instructed its employees that they are no longer allowed to cut open any container of any kind by any means that held any material.
Dang it.
There go the Kindergarten milk-carton bird feeders, and egg-carton Christmas ornaments.
(This is up here in Canada, eh?! While some things might be a bit weird, it's where I live and I ain't moving).
Wayslow wrote: I don't usually weigh in on these threads but I happen to have a little inside knowledge of this one. The story I'm getting is the picture caused the teacher to ask some questions. The little girl described a handgun that she and her siblings played with in the house. The police were contacted and reacted to an unsafe condition in the home. The police may have already had dealings with the father.
None of that's in the newspaper. "may" have had dealings? "Unsafe" conditions? They didn't find anything.
I still won't live in such a hypersensitive culture.
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