Here's an interesting punishment I read about from Muncie's prominent rag
of record:
Wilson Middle School students being punished for forgetfulness were forced to carry their books and materials in a milk crate.
MUNCIE -- A parent's complaint has prompted Wilson Middle School officials to end a practice of forcing students who habitually forgot supplies to carry all of their books and materials in milk crates.
Karen Smith's son, Cody, was told by his teacher to carry all of his school belongings in a milk crate from Jan. 10 until Jan. 27 because he forgot to bring his library book to class.
Smith learned of the punishment two days after Cody, a sixth-grader, began carrying the crate. Smith took Cody to the doctor after he complained of pain, and she noticed bruises on his legs and swelling in his knees. The doctor prescribed ibuprofen for the boy's discomfort.
The Smith family also filed a police report over the incident.
"I feel much better," Karen Smith said Thursday after learning that the practice had been halted. "That was my main goal -- seeing that crate being done away with. For one thing, because if it injures one child, it could (hurt) others."
Using the crate as a deterrent to forgetting materials had been a practice at Wilson for about four years.
With teacher permission, a student could leave the crate in a classroom and get materials out when needed. Also, the crate didn't have to be carried to lunch or classes where books aren't needed, such as art or gym.
Wilson teachers decided when to impose the punishment as a means of reminding students to bring the needed supplies to class, the middle school's principal, DiLynn Phelps, said.
"This idea got started even before I got here (in 2004)," Phelps said. "We have parents even call and ask if (a child) can go on 'crate.' A kid is not put on 'crate' if they forget something one time."
However, Phelps said Thursday that the school had "stopped the practice."
"If we have one parent who is concerned ... healthwise, then we have to stop it because that was not the intention," the principal said. "The intention was to help the kids be better organized. We're here for kids, and we're here to nurture them. Once it was brought to my attention that it was a concern physically, it stopped."
Before a student was forced to carry a crate, a letter was sent home to parents with the student, and a follow-up letter was sent by mail. If a parent had objections, the "crate" form of punishment was not used.
Parents also received information about the policy in informational packets distributed at the beginning of each school year, and in school newsletters, Phelps said.
Parents Tonia Vance and Molly Davis said they supported the "crate" concept. Vance's son and Davis's daughter, both sixth-graders, were each "put on crate" this school year.
Organization and remembering to bring the correct book to class was a challenge to Davis' daughter, Shelby, after years of having everything she needed for elementary school in her desk. Shelby was ordered to carry her books and school materials in a crate for a week last fall.
"It's a good thing," Davis said. "It sure makes her think when you've got to drag that thing. I think it's helped her. We certainly haven't had it a second week."
Vance's son was a crate carrier last month, and she thinks the experience helped him become more organized.
"I think he learned a good lesson from that, and he's gotten better from that, definitely," Vance said. "I think it's something that they should keep. He complained about it being heavy because it was cold and stuff (and) dragging it off the bus ... but I think it was a lesson for him. If I thought it would hurt him in any kind of form or physical shape, there's no way I'd let that happen to him."
Muncie Community Schools has established guidelines for punishment, but teachers are able to create their own rules for their classrooms within reason.
Those rules must be sent to each building principal for review and they must be "in the spirit of our guidelines," Asst. Supt. Steve Edwards said. The principal will speak with a teacher if a rule is thought to be inappropriate.
"Schools have procedures in place, and as long as they communicate with parents and make parents aware, they have some freedom," Edwards said. "They don't have total freedom. They have some autonomy."
Edwards said he wasn't aware of the crate punishment until another parent complained a few weeks before Smith.
These kids today have it so friggin' easy with their litigious parents and such! Why back in the day, when I got in trouble in school with my sass mouth and wheelchair shenanigans, I got my fat ass whupped and I looked forward to the punishment! Maybe a little too much. I think I freaked my principal when I called him "Daddy" and licked his paddle (His massive, stern paddle!). That's when I got placed in therapy. Damn Crate Kids got off too damn easy if you ask me!
