Our schools, courts, and government are filled to the brim with idiots, morons, fools, do-gooders, and mental defectives. We deserve what is coming, good and hard. While the Chicago school system graduates functionally illiterate dolts into society and students murder each other at an astounding rate, they have successfully saved 2nd graders from the perils of a veteran teacher with semi-automatic wrenches, assault pliers and the dreaded screwdriver.
Federal Court Dismisses Case of Chicago School Teacher Who Was Suspended, Accused of Weapons Possession for Lesson on Wrenches, Pliers
April 17, 2014
CHICAGO, Ill. — An Illinois federal court has ruled that Chicago school officials did not violate the rights of a second-grade teacher who was charged with possessing weapons on school grounds after he displayed garden-variety tools such as wrenches, pliers and screwdrivers in his classroom as part of his second grade teaching curriculum that required a “tool discussion.” In granting a motion to dismiss the complaint in Douglas Bartlett v. City of Chicago School District #299, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Dow, Jr., held that school officials at Washington Irving Elementary School acted properly when they applied a definition of “weapons” contained in a student handbook to the actions of teacher Douglas Bartlett.
Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute filed the civil rights lawsuit in April 2013 on behalf of Bartlett, a 17-year veteran in the classroom, who was suspended without pay for four days on the grounds that his use of the tools as visual aids endangered his students, despite the fact that all potentially hazardous items were kept out of the students’ reach.
“In an age where public schools face an unprecedented number of real challenges in maintaining student discipline, and addressing threats of real violence, surely no one benefits from trumped up charges where no actual ‘weapons’ violation has occurred and no threat is posed to any member of the school community,” said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State. “This school district’s gross overreaction to a simple teaching demonstration on basic tools such as wrenches and pliers underscores exactly what is wrong with our nation’s schools. Education truly suffers when school administrators exhibit such poor judgment and common sense, especially when it comes to their zealous misapplication of misguided zero tolerance policies. However, what makes this case stand out from the rest is that this victim of zero tolerance policies run amok happens to be a veteran school teacher.”
Doug Bartlett teaches second graders at Washington Irving Elementary School in Chicago, Illinois. On August 8, 2011, Bartlett displayed several garden-variety tools he used around the classroom, including wrenches, screwdrivers, a box cutter, a 2.25” pocketknife, and pliers, as visual aids for a “tool discussion” which is required by the teaching curriculum. It is common for teachers to use such visual aids to help students retain their lessons. As he displayed the box cutter and pocketknife in particular, Bartlett specifically described the proper uses of these tools. None of the tools were made accessible to the students. When not in use, the tools were secured in a toolbox on a high shelf out of reach of the students.
On August 19, 2011, Bartlett received notice that he was under investigation for, among other things, “possessing, carrying, storing, or using a weapon,” and for negligently supervising children. Bartlett subsequently received a four-day suspension without pay. In coming to Bartlett’s defense, Rutherford Institute attorneys filed a civil rights lawsuit, challenging the constitutionality of such disciplinary action against Bartlett as a direct violation of Bartlett’s Fourteenth Amendment right to due process. Institute attorneys also pointed out that Bartlett had no intent to use the tools as weapons, nor did he ever receive notice that using such tools in an educational manner could even be construed as using a weapon.
Affiliate attorney Dmitry N. Feofanov is assisting The Rutherford Institute with Bartlett’s case.
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The court is right. Chicago PS students will leave school and enlist in the FSA. They have no use for tools.
I say the teacher is a dumb ass. There are so many garden-variety tools he could have brought, but no, he brings a knife and box cutter. Now there’s a moron.
JustSayin,
I rarely say this of other TBPer’s, but you are truly the dumb ass. I work with teens fixing up poor elderly peoples houses, and many of them have never handled tools. One of the first things I do before any work starts is to go over tool safety. I make it a point to show them the cutting tools and how dangerous they can be if mishandled. Some of the worst job site injuries I have seen are with the utility knife. If kids are introduced to these tools at an early age they are much more likely too respect how they are used. The same goes with guns. If kids were shown the proper handling of firearms at an early age, and the damage that they can cause, maybe, just maybe there might be a little more respect for them.
Bob.
“JustSayin, I rarely say this of other TBPer’s, but you are truly the dumb ass.” —– Bostonbob
+1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
JustSayin tries to wash off the dumbass, but fails
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Yep, the time has come. It’s time to ban wrenches, pliers and screwdrivers. Like overthecliff said, there’s no place in America for them anyway. They can keep those things in China where they build our stuff.
Underfire,
Funny you say that. I was cleaning up my shop this weekend and realized most of my tools are over twenty years old. Almost all made in America,. Powermatic table saw, belt disc sander, drill press, Vega band saw, Delta lathe and planer. Many hand tools Stanley, Starrett, Porter Cable, Diobsid forge carving tools. If you want truly fine tools I would look into older tools, American, Swiss, German. Twenty years ago we shunned any of the Chinese made tools as they were truly junk, poorly tooled, cheap steel, prone to breaking at the worst time. Unfortunately many of the factories that made the tools in my shop have been sold lock, stock and barrel to the Chinese, other companies have sold out and opened new factories in China, as we all know. Still, I find an abundance of fine old American tools at yard and estate sales. Sadly most kids do not want anything to do with their father’s and grandfather’s tools. I am afraid this will be the same with my kids, but at least they have had exposure tho them and have witnessed how they actually work.
Bob.
They need to teach the kids how to make a hangman’s noose, to be used on union drone government teachers, union drone government employees, and criminal politicians.
I voted JustSayin up. I don’t think he/she meant that the teacher shouldn’t have been allowed to bring the pocketknife. It’s just surprising that after 17 years of teaching in the Chicago schools, he didn’t anticipate the kind of idiotic shitstorm he could be bringing down on his head.
Bostonbob….I know what you mean. I have a small farming and cattle operation, and we’ll do quite a bit of our own mechanical work. The quality of tools anymore infuriates me, battery chargers, pressure washers, gauges, just about everything is cheap and disposable. The old tools are like gold.
Underfire,
I often will lament the fact that most things you bought twenty or thirty years ago, especially tools were only built one way, to last. It is so much cheaper to by quality and have it last than to by price and replace it every few years. Most durable goods just are not as durable as they used to be.
Bob.
“after 17 years of teaching in the Chicago schools, he didn’t anticipate the kind of idiotic shitstorm he could be bringing down on his head”
It’s the idiotic shitstorm that has to stop, no bringing tools to class. Pull your head out of your ass. Only half the kids graduate from school in Chicago, and they’re murdering each other faster than in Afghanistan. No mention of the the facts, the reality, and the stats. The hypocrisy has to end, the problem has to be addressed, and not the effects. Until that happens, it’s all distraction and the attack and punishment of innocent people, while the criminals and parasites continue to thrive.
Sorry , I don’t lament the fact that older tools were built to last, but that you often cannot still get them that way. Monday morning fog.
Bob.
If you outlaw screwdrivers, only outlaws will have screwdrivers.
Thank you iska, fuck rest of you fucknuts!
Bob,
Like you, all my tools (with very few exceptions) are all over 20 years old. Some are over 120 years old and still doing what they were intended to do.
Not going to run down the entire list of what’s good, because we’d just agree and I’d be preaching to the choir… just agree and say that as a rule of thumb, if you want a good tool, then buy an old one.
However, there are a few out there who still cleave to the old ways – making tools of quality instead of quantity.
Disston used to be THE NAME when it came to the best quality saw you could buy. Now? Now they’re long gone. Lynx of England has taken over that mantle. Record is still in business, and their #405 Multiplane is a work of art.
So is Stanley Tools, but they’ve sold out to the chinks. Don’t buy their stuff- it’s cheap shit. Keep an eye out for cheap Indian and chink stuff, but under “Americanized” names… Like Wood River. Just made-in-India low rent crap. Lie-Nielsen makes the best hand planes and related items on the planet. The Swiss and Germans still make good shit. The Swedes too… Gransfors Bruk makes the best production axes in the world.
As far as the teacher being a dumbass?
How the hell else are kids supposed to learn how to use a tool? Their “parents”? BAHH-HAHAHAHAHAH!!!!! Yeah, like that’s gonna fucking happen… potentially dangerous stuff, like knives, you de-mystify and teach them the right way to use them, to respect them…
Of course, we are talking about Chicagostan here… the little yoofs would just use them to kill each other. A good argument could probably be made that things like tools, guns, sharp things… should be best left to white folks…
“Surrounded by Idiots & Morons”
I thought this was an article about how Admin was cornered & surrounded by bb, Stucky, & AWD!
Last time I taught, I brought in the 3 guys I mentioned above.
I was also arrested for bringing in “tools”.
Like butter, I’m on a roll today.
Billy,
You are right, there are some tool makers who still get it done, I have a couple of Record planes, keep the sole flat and the blades sharp and they work better than new. I have a few Swiss Rali planes that are a pleasure to use, and I do all the time. Lie-Nielson planes are works of art, I wish I had one. I am also quite fond of my collection of Japanese saws and English made Sorby turning tools and chisels, very high quality steel. Stanley planes were once fabulous, rugged tools when they were made in Connecticut, much like Starrett in Athol, Massachusetts, but mergers and the race to make things cheaper has taken its toll. There is still good stuff out there you just have to wade through the crap.
Bob.
Econman,go back to your cave and play with yourself.
My stepson took an architectural drawing class when he was in high school, and part of the class involved a project to build a small shed at the school. So the students were to bring hammers from home on the day that they were to start the framing.
My stepson having grown up watching and helping me build anything and everything, didn’t have to ask which of my hammers was for framing, he already knew.
So he gets to school and he discovers most of the kids didn’t know the difference in hammers, they had brought in every different type hammer available, they apparently thought a hammer is a hammer. One kid even brought a tack hammer, totally useless for framing.
Of course none of those kids were inclined to use them as deadly weapons and kill each other
.
Also the teacher didn’t get into any trouble for encouraging the kid to bring weapons to school.
bb, when whatever job U have is eliminated, U’ll enjoy being on “public assistance” with all the unemployed minorities!
Have a great day U ignorant fuck.
Asig,
I was on a volunteer job in Mississippi last summer with 8 kids 15 to 18, and 1 other adult. The only on that could actually handle a hammer properly was one of the girls whose father was a contractor/builder. I left three of the boys to put in blocking for a pair of railings on the stairs, came back 15 minutes later nothing nailed up, but there were several bent nails.They were fascinated watching me drive 12p and 16p nails with ease. It’s actually fun to teach kids how to properly use tools, so often they have never touched many of the basic tools that many of us take for granted.
The schools and students would be so much better off showing kids how to properly use tools and do common household repairs. I could only imagine how happy some parent would be if Johnny came home from school, the toilet was leaking and he piped up, “Oh that’s probably the wax gasket, they just showed us how to fix those at school, we just have to pick one up at the hardware store”. So much more useful than the intricacies of the gay lifestyle, or the constant drumbeat of the liberal progressive indoctrination. Sorry, just daydreaming.
Bob.
Econman ,I wouldn’t stand in line with them or your Nigger ass .
Gotta say, reading through the threads, Economoan is by far the dumbest fuck around. I love his shit about how he teaches economics! How fucked is society when a dumb motherfucker like that is allowed to teach!
He talks about owning a business. I distinctly remember he said he sold it to go do something else. I guess in addition to being and idiot he is a blatant lar.
And re the teacher, that dumbshit brought a boxcutter into class. Seriously, that is stupid. Y’all remember 9-11, right? Boxcutters were used. Boxcutters are the reason we now have patdowns at airports. From the libs perspective, he might as well have brought a fucking Uzi.
He knew what he was, and he knew what the school Administration was. If someone had told me that a teacher was bringing that bag of goodies to school, I would immediately have said that the dumbshit was gonna be suspended.
School administrators, in Chicago, are left wing assholes. It was a foregone conclusion what they would do.
That’s the thing about a kid growing up with a father figure; they learn many things just by the association and the day to day experiences. Apparently my stepson enjoyed that type of activity because he went into construction, then got his contractor’s license and now works for a large construction firm as a project manager. And he loves his work.
And I now learn from him the latest in materials, tools, and techniques. Funny how that happens.
I’ve seen videos on the gang bangers in the city of Chicago, and the one thing that stands out that they readily admit is that they had no father figure to learn from.
AWD, I gave you a thumbs up, too. I can take my berating like a man.
The tools mentioned were not suitable for the pharmaceutical or sex industry. That is why the teacher got into trouble.
Re hammering – I remember watching my dad install hardwood floors. He had done it for a few years when he was young, but had given it up by the time I was old enough to remember because it involved working bent over all day.
Anyway, I remember he would drive the nails in with one blow. No tap-tap-bam. He would just go bam – one quick blow and drive the nail all the way in. Somehow he would strike and get his fingers out of the way just in time. Pretty impressive stuff. I tried it once or twice and was left bleeding each time.
The other thing was he had the strongest hands/forearms of any man I have ever met, and I shit you not. He spent years building chain link fences. If you ever have driven through the Mojave, you would have seen fences he put up. He cut the chain link with pliers all day for years. Try cutting one single link of commercial chain link with pliers and see how you go – I have tried two handed and cannot do it. Then imagine cutting hundreds of links every day, for years, single handed – right for a while, then left handed for a while. With pliers. She-it.
He had this thing he would do – spread his hand and fingers open like a fan, and then another person would do the same and then they would interlock their fingers without making a fist – two fans interlocked. They would then simply squeeze their fingers together – not clenched, fingers fully outstretched – to see who had the strongest hands. Years after he stopped cutting fence I saw him drop grown men to their knees simply by squeezing his fingers together side to side. You might put your fingers in there once, but there would be no second time.
He taught me how to hammer. I am not very good with a hammer, but he showed me how to hammer with a loose wrist to get good snap into the blow.
My dad just taught me how to get hammered.
Very interesting story, llpoh.
Indian Hammer
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sensetti – very funny. Very funny indeed.
My dad preferred one of these:
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He loved estwings. They were a luxury item to him, and he was proud of having them.
Econman says:
“bb, when whatever job U have is eliminated, U’ll enjoy being on “public assistance” with all the unemployed minorities! Have a great day U ignorant fuck.”
BB doesn’t have a job, he has his own business, try to keep up, Eco.
estwings are the very finest, own one myself
I remember my old daddy pulling me aside one day and pointing to his Estwing hammers on the pegboard, explaining why they were the best in the world and why everyone else’s was just shit compared to them… told me “A poor man can’t afford to buy cheap shit”…
True. The first thing I chose to buy when I started building my own tool collection was several Estwings of different types and weights..
ASIG is right… most kids and adults don’t know beans about hammers… to them, one is the same as the other… trying to explain to them there is a difference? Just watch their eyes glaze over… they not only don’t know, they don’t CARE to know… Trying to explain the difference between saws? Heh… not a chance in hell…
Billy – I have an estwing or two – not that I need them. A rock would do me just about as well, with my low-level skills. But because my old man was proud of his, and made special mention of them just about every time he used them, and took good care of them, I got a couple just to remind me of him.
There’s something satisfying about buying American made, good quality items. Maybe it’s one last thread of the way things used to be in this country.
Llpoh, if u actually believe the 9/11 story, which defies the laws of physics & would equal the largest set of unbelievable coincidences to happen on 1 day, then your IQ is equal to your shoe size.
Hahahahahaha! Economoan somehow must have missed all the vids of the planes hitting the towers. Somehow I am not surprised he is so frigging stupid.
Llpoh,
I have three Estwings, including the one with the leather handle. Straight claw 22 oz. for framing, curved claw 16 oz. for finish work, and the leather handle one just because I liked the way it looks. I’ve had the framing and finish ones for nearly 30 years never had a reason to replace them.
Bob.