Preschooler carries pot in bookbag: preschool bans... bookbags?

Does this make sense?

A 4-year-old brings his brother's pot to the Tamarac Preschool in a bookbag and brags about it, and the pre-school responds by banning bookbags?

Our reporter, Sallie James, saw the sign herself today. It read: "We no longer allow backpacks or bookbags." It's the kind of response that normally cries out for an explanation. Unfortunately, no one at the school was commenting on the article today, so curious minds are left to speculate.

Are pre-schoolers supposed to carry their crayons in clear, cellophane bags? Oh, wait, they use that to carry marijuana, too. Forget that idea.

Was the backpack really the problem here? Isn't this like keeping toothpaste off airplanes out of fear that MacGuyver has joined al-Qaeda? It's good to see officials responding when something happens, but sometimes the response is so disconnected from the offense that it creates more problems than it solves. Why should parents and children who've done nothing wrong have to change their innocent and harmless use of bookbags just because of what a 4-year-old did?

I shudder to think of what the school would have done if the kid had pulled the marijuana out of his pants pocket!

If there's a reasonable explanation for banning the bookbags, I'd sure love to hear it.

POSTED IN: Rafael Olmeda (91)

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Comments

that was hilarious,thanks for the article!also FYI not having captcha down below is a big plus!

Posted by: josh | March 11, 2009 6:17 PM

everyone always overreacts when something like this happens. Look at 911.Look at Janet Jackson, TV may never be live ever again

Posted by: josh | March 11, 2009 6:23 PM

how can they ban backpacks? tpa has nap time what is my child suppose to bring his sheets in? this is obsurd if anything the director should just check the bags in the morning. what is banning bags doing? all its doing is teaching children wrong behavior skills to take with them for the rest of their school years. this is rediculous! im taking my child out of tpa!!

Posted by: mom of a tpa child | March 11, 2009 7:33 PM

This story made http://detentionslip.org ! Check it out for all the crazy headlines from our schools.

Posted by: hall monitor | March 11, 2009 8:09 PM

AS always some one jumped the gun and created a lot of confusion and inconvenience and a really stupid ineffective rule.... and as always a few weeks from now the rule will be rescinded in favor of a more considered and doable rule.

Posted by: Annie | March 11, 2009 10:13 PM

Schools and people do this all the time they jump the gun on everything - instead of addressing the real problem (why a 4 year old had the pot and knew that it was called weed) they make policies - that are crazy. How does this solve the problem of a 4 year old having pot - maybe next time he'll put it in his pocket then - they'll ban pants with pockets.

Posted by: Preschool Mom | March 11, 2009 10:54 PM

next they'll be banning pockets!

Posted by: x ray | March 11, 2009 11:40 PM

Assuming this is not a joke, the person(s) who made the no backpack rule should be immediately fired as he/she is way too stupid to be in a teaching evrironment.

Posted by: tony | March 12, 2009 2:12 AM

Ban Pre-Schoolers!!

Posted by: TollBear | March 12, 2009 3:29 AM

This is what happens when you have liberals running schools. Common sense gets thrown out the window along with a decent education.

Posted by: Reality Check | March 12, 2009 5:15 AM

So if a preschooler brings the weed in his pants next week, they will ban pants?

Posted by: Bobbo | March 12, 2009 7:16 AM

does that mean if a teacher is a pedophile then they should ban teachers?

Posted by: dennis | March 12, 2009 7:55 AM

This makes just as much sense as any other knee-jerk reaction to marijuana possession. Obviously by not permitting backpacks the schools district has finally eradicated marijuana from the schools! Congratulations!

Posted by: paul | March 12, 2009 9:01 AM

When I walked up to the door and saw the sign that they were banning Backpacks and read on a paper they handed me that they want clear backpacks, I immediately thought to myself "where the heck do you find a clear backpack? Who thought of this? If they really care about their students the teachers should check the backpacks in the mornings and have the parents place the items in the ziplock bags in the cubbies not ban what you need to bring them in. " I then walked into the classroom and saw that my child's sheet and blanket was in the cubby and not even in the ziplock bag I had brought it in (inside the backpack) That really through me off! That's obsurd and I've already registered my child somewhere else.

Posted by: pulled my child from TPA | March 12, 2009 11:01 PM

Please tell me there's a happy ending to this embarrassing story?

Posted by: Concerned EdTecher | March 14, 2009 5:01 PM

it is a shame when kids are being influenced by the wrong folks and things

Posted by: Tonisha Mendez-Grant | March 14, 2009 11:58 PM

Siting safety reasons our school system banned traditional book bags. As a parent I wanted my daughter to be able to carry her books conveniently so I invented a book bag the school has since allowed in our system. Traditional bags have to be left in the student lockers but the Inpack can be carried onto and around the campus from class to class. Check out inpackbookbag.com to see the new bag.

Posted by: Lynne Inman | August 24, 2009 1:03 PM