\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A few weeks ago a young man from Blissfield, MI was suspended from school for the rest of the year.\u00a0 His crime; he had forgotten to take a pocketknife out of his backpack after a recent camping trip.\u00a0 He found it while on a field trip with his high school band.\u00a0 He immediately gave it to one of the chaperons and explained the situation.\u00a0 He had not brought the knife intentionally or with and desire to hurt anyone.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The school board suspended him for the rest of the year.\u00a0 That’s a little tough for a young man who had never been in trouble before and was a responsible member of the community.\u00a0 Because of the uproar amongst\u00a0\u00a0t\u00a0he other students and city residents, the school board did reduce his suspension to only 10 days.\u00a0 Unfortunately\u00a0 that caused him to miss his prom this year.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I’m not saying he didn’t deserve some kind of consequences for his actions, even though it was clearly not premeditated.\u00a0 I am, however, concerned with what message we are sending to our children.\u00a0 Had he just not said anything, he would have been safe, but because he chose to be honest, he was punished.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This reminds me of an experience my daughter had during her senior year.\u00a0 The\u00a0high \u00a0school had a policy that any senior could have an excused absence to check out possible career choices.\u00a0 Martha asked to take a day off to go to Toledo, OH where they were holding modeling tryouts.\u00a0 When she asked the office for permission, she was told it would be treated\u00a0 as an unexcused absence.\u00a0 That meant she could not make up any missed work.\u00a0 Martha was an honor student with a 4.0 GPA.\u00a0 She had never been in trouble either in or out of school.\u00a0 That’s when I stepped in.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I spoke to the principal and attendance officer and told them we were indeed going to to a modeling tryout.\u00a0 Martha was telling the truth.\u00a0 They wouldn’t budge.\u00a0 Then I said,<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 “I could have called the office and just said that Martha was sick and there would have been no problem.\u00a0 But that is a lie and we don’t lie because we are Christians.\u00a0 What exactly are you wanting to teach our children?\u00a0 It is better to lie than tell the truth.\u00a0 It is better to be deceptive than to be honest?”\u00a0 They quickly changed their minds and Martha was able\u00a0to get\u00a0an excused absence for that day.\u00a0 She never did become a model, but she is an excellent ER nurse in Columbus, OH and we are very proud of her.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The adults that help care for and teach our children need to carefully consider the decisions they make.\u00a0 We all make mistakes and some people will lie to stay out of trouble.\u00a0 We should never assume we\u00a0 know the whole truth unless we investigate first.\u00a0 Even if we find an infraction, let the punishment fit the crime.\u00a0 I speak not only as the parent of three grown children, but also as a retired school principal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A few weeks ago a young man from Blissfield, MI was suspended from school for the rest of the year.\u00a0 His crime; he had forgotten to take a pocketknife out of his backpack after a recent camping trip.\u00a0 He found it while on a field trip with his high school band.\u00a0 He immediately gave…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":420,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7],"class_list":["post-54","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-encouragement","tag-testimony"],"yoast_head":"\n