Bob SparksDuring the 60-day 2014 legislative session, the Florida House and Senate will create, debate, tweak, pass or reject hundreds of bills. The only clearly defined mandate placed upon the Legislature is to pass a budget. Everything else is optional.
One of the proposed bills has generated national attention. House Bill 7029 and its companion, Senate Bill 1060, isn’t landmark legislation, but sadly, it needs to pass.
Here is why. Last year during a snack break at Park Elementary School in Brooklyn Park, Md., 7-year-old Josh Welch chewed his Pop-Tart into the shape of what could be interpreted as a gun. Josh claimed he was trying to make it look like a mountain. Did I mention he was 7?
Park, like countless schools around the country, including Florida, has a zero-tolerance policy for weapons. Josh’s teacher grabbed the Mixed Berry pastry weapon, took him to the principal’s office and called his parents. Josh received a two-day suspension.
House Bill 7029, introduced by Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, aims to make it clear that making young children feel like criminals should not be an outcome of zero-tolerance statutes.
“We could see the need for a layer of common sense to be laid over this policy,” said Baxley.
The bill provides a list of activities, including possession of certain objects that do not warrant discipline or suspension. This includes “brandishing a partially consumed pastry or other food item to simulate a firearm or weapon,” and “possessing a toy firearm or weapon that is 2 inches or less in overall length.”
This issue is one of those rare times when bipartisanship is overflowing.
“This is addressing a zero-tolerance policy that often will not allow people to use common sense because their hands are tied,” said Rep. Karen Castor Dentel, D-Maitland, quoted in the Tallahassee Democrat.
We should not be happy about interfering with, some would call it micro-managing, the daily operation of our schools. A recent Context Florida column by Dr. Marc Yacht made that very argument.
While that is normally true, we must protect innocent young children like a Josh Welch from those who feel “their hands are tied.” The rules must be spelled out.
There are a few scattered calls to reject the bill. Dr. Yacht’s point was school autonomy, while another critic, Miami Herald columnist Fabiola Santiago, wrote as if passage of HB 7029 would be a victory for the National Rifle Association.
“The NRA doesn’t like gun legislation – unless it’s like this one, aimed at expanding its market,” she wrote.
New York’s Daily News wrote about HB 7029 and included an online photograph of a Pop-Tart firearm with this caption: “A Pop-Tart bitten into the shape of a gun violates schools’ zero tolerance policy, to the outrage of gun rights activists.”
Seriously? It was Josh Welch’s suspension that outraged Second Amendment activists as well as countless parents and fair-minded citizens favoring gun control. Back in the day, McGruff the Crime Dog took “a bite out of crime.” This is not what he meant.
Judges often lament being hamstrung by minimum mandatory sentencing guidelines when the punishment does not fit the crime. Perhaps teachers and administrators might be relieved to know the law can provide them relief from mandatory sentences for 7 year olds.
This is one area where Floridians from both parties should get an example of a Legislature working together to prevent a misunderstanding. Our elected representatives should be congratulated when that day occurs.
Bob Sparks is a political and business consultant residing in Tallahassee.
