Gatorade Massacre Averted!
Idiot administrators at a tech magnet school, no less, evacuate the school when a student brings in his science project -- a Gatorade bottle with some wires and other electrical components attached, and no substance inside.
Susan Shroder writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune:
SAN DIEGO -- Students were evacuated from Millennial Tech Magnet Middle School in the Chollas View neighborhood Friday afternoon after an 11-year-old student brought a personal science project that he had been making at home to school, authorities said.Maurice Luque, spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, said the student had been making the device in his home garage. A vice principal saw the student showing it to other students at school about 11:40 a.m. Friday and was concerned that it might be harmful, and San Diego police were notified.
The school, which has about 440 students in grades 6 to 8 and emphasizes technology skills, was initially put on lockdown while authorities responded.
...A MAST robot took pictures of the device and X-rays were evaluated. About 3 p.m., the device was determined to be harmless, Luque said.
Luque said the project was intended to be a type of motion-detector device.
Commentor tamooj on the Union-Trib site summarizes well what's wrong with the story and the school:
My unanswered questions:Q. Why didn't the vice principle simple ask the student what the item was? A few electronic components in a gatoraide bottle made by an 11 year old can't really be a credible threat.
Q. Why didn't anyone at a TECHNICAL SCHOOL quickly determine that this was a non-issue?
Q. If this basic science project was a simple electronic motion detector, why did it take the police & fire department over 3 hours (!) to determine it was harmless, especially after asking the reportedly cooperative student for details?
Q. If, after determining this was all just silly over-reaction, why did the police decide it was then necessary to search the students garage? Were they turning this into a training exercise or just escalating the situation to avoid looking silly too?
Q. Why would any kind of 'counseling' be recommended if this was all just a silly over-reaction? Why would a public official make such a damning public pronouncement about family whom they just declared innocent of any wrongdoing? Doesn't this expose the city to tort litigation?
Q. While over-reactions in ambiguous situations may be (judgmentally) required if a credible threat to public safety exists, why were such actions taken in this case, and what process or policy changes will be put in place to prevent future expensive over-reactions in similarly non-threatening cases?
Q. What censure or official rebuke of the decision makers at the school, police and fire departments will be undertaken?
Q. How will the school mitigate or repair any social or psychological damage to the child and his family?
Q. How will the school prevent over-reactions like this one from having a chilling effect on students who wish to safely explore science and technology beyond the core curriculum?
Q. Why are journalists such as yourselves not asking any real, meaningful questions? Why are you simply (and lazily) just reiterating the "official statements" that officials in CYA-mode issue, and calling this the whole of the story? Sigh.
via Walter Olson and Simple Justice (from whom I nicked the "Gatorade Massacre")
And if the principal/ teacher is not smart enough to understand technology/ science -- Why is he at the school?
Jim P. at January 17, 2010 7:17 AM
California is lost. The sooner it falls into the ocean the better for the rest of us, so as to drown its' poisons before they spread further.
I'd sue everyone with a pulse, if I were his parents. I hate sue-happy people, but it's the only thing governments and administrations seem to understand.
momof4 at January 17, 2010 7:46 AM
Maybe they had intelligence Al Queda militants were surfing in from Yemen....
Eric at January 17, 2010 7:52 AM
To take a page out of the Hindenburg disaster:
Oh the human inanity!
BlogDog at January 17, 2010 8:49 AM
"California is lost. The sooner it falls into the ocean the better for the rest of us, so as to drown its' poisons before they spread further."
The zombie corpses of Ronald Reagan, Charlton Heston and Richard Nixon agree.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at January 17, 2010 9:14 AM
Yep. We can get our own governmental employees to go into a mass panic about an 11 year olds science project but we can't profile adult muslim men.
Thanks government.
David M. at January 17, 2010 9:50 AM
They skipped the family name, very PC-style, it might have been some ***yallah-like, the father might have been on the watch-list and that could be the ground for the school over-reaction.
Me at January 17, 2010 11:11 AM
"A few electronic components in a gatoraide bottle made by an 11 year old can't really be a credible threat."
Clearly, this person has not seen the 80s teen movie "Manhattan Project". It could have been a nuke built with pee colored lemon electrolyte filled gatorade goodness.
Sio at January 17, 2010 12:05 PM
Terrorists! Be afraid! Give up your rights! Fund a huge military complex, that appears to go to war using wads of hundred dollar bills (actually that would be cheaper).
Respond to every incident with a SWAT team, and robots and helicopters and lots of guys using walkie-talkies. There should be a command post established too.
Even if a SWAT team takes effing forever to collect and get across town, send it in first.
Interesting side note. We have spent about $1 trillion in Iraq. Some say it will be a lot more, if you count pensions and VA costs and refurbishing lost equipment etc. But call it a trillion.
There are about 20 million Iraqis left.
Works out to $50k for every man, women and child in Iraq.
Sheesh, we could have given every Iraqi family a new Cadillac, $10k in cash, and come out way ahead. And Detroit would be flush, instead of interest only to urban proctologists.
Mr Short Dick at January 17, 2010 12:14 PM
Maybe the kid had a scary, Islamic sounding name like "Akmed".
parbarbarian at January 17, 2010 12:37 PM
The only thing missing is Janet Napolitano claiming "the system worked".
Radwaste at January 17, 2010 4:48 PM
His science project next year? The psychology of mass hysteria.
Conan the Grammarian at January 17, 2010 5:00 PM
So let me see if I have this right. The vice princaple sees what he belives to be a bomb in the middle of a group of children and his forst response is to flee leaving the children in danger?
The guy should be fired on those grounds alone.
The fact that hes a fucking moron is just icing on the cake
lujlp at January 18, 2010 2:42 AM
And people wonder why science and engineering are so unpopular these days.
Cousin Dave at January 18, 2010 8:37 AM
Chemistry sets were tons of fun to play with in the 50s, 60s, & 70s. And they lighted the spark that set thousands of kids off to rewarding careers in science & engineering. But did any child you know find a chemistry set under the Christmas tree last year? Everything that could possibly burn, corrode, or explode was taken out of them by people with the mentality of these school administrators, What's left is too dull to hold any child's attention.
Martin at January 18, 2010 9:25 AM
My son got snap circuits and erector sets and a telescope for Christmas.
Yeah, he's homeschooled!
Karen at January 18, 2010 1:50 PM
Martin, you're absolutely right. You can only do the cornstarch trick so many times.
And Karen, good for you! Those snap circuit things are terrific. To go with the telescope, you should get him the book "Nightwatch" by Terrence Dickenson.
Cousin Dave at January 18, 2010 6:42 PM
I might have to get me a snap circuit set...that looks cool. I never was good at soldiering.
The Former Banker at January 19, 2010 2:58 AM
Many moons ago Radio Shack used to sell similar things with springs to hold the wires.
I played with that for hours.
Jim P. at January 19, 2010 7:33 AM
"I'd sue everyone with a pulse, if I were his parents."
After Safford, that would be a long shot.
smurfy at January 19, 2010 2:52 PM
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