Bill O'Olberman
Active Member
My son is 11, and has a couple of bullies in his class. He is in 5th grade, and we have already discussed getting him a can of pepper spray to carry with him. He gets kicked for tapping his pencil in class, or singing little songs in line. The bully that kicks him, kicks HARD, and it hurts my son, even puts bruises on his legs sometimes. I am shocked that I have been forced into considering sending him to a "safe place" with a can of mace.. His bully's brother used to kick him, but when he got kicked out of the after school program (different organization) for it, he stopped.
We have other choices we could make, like pressing charges on the abusive child, as it does happen almost every day, or filing for an injunction, which I doubt would do much good, really.
I do not know for sure, but would carrying pepper spray get your kid suspended? You might wanna check the code of conduct. Also, having your son use pepper spray on another 11 year old kid, assuming the kids the same age/grade, isnt the best course of action anyways. Yeah, the kids a bully but hes 11 years old, come on. Addressing the issue with the school, the bully's parents, or your kid actually growing a pair of balls (hes 11 but still needs to learn to stand up for himself) and confronting the bullies are better solutions.
As far as I am concerned schools are not private property one gives up the assumption of protection when one goes to the school in a car. One gives up the presumption of private property when one consents to use a school locker or carries anything to school on their person.
But the Constitution protects the rights of people not places. Just because a phone booth is public doesnt mean that the government is able to monitor every phone call coming from that phone booth. I kinda disagree with your reasoning here.
As its been pointed out, school officials are not held to as strict a scrutiny as the police and can search the lockers, cars, etc. However, I believe that police cannot unless there is reasonable suspicion that they must articulate in court. Which is why I believe when school officials are searching the lockers and cars there is usually a police officer present but not actually conducting the search.