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Florida Teen Expelled For Doing Science

Babbylonian said:
While the only violent acts I engaged in during school were fights (which, FTR, I never started, though I had a big mouth), there's no question that an inspection of my locker during freshman year of high school would have resulted in my [justifiable] expulsion. I was a really bad honors student that year.
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Locker checks were way too common at my high school. Hence that one very nervous day. Although, I had my shotgun and compound bow in my truck most days during hunting season and would even change into hunting clothes in the parking lot. Things certainly have changed.

Now middle school was where I could legitimately fly under the radar. If anyone ever thought to ask why a kid without contacts had contact fluid in his locker I would have been out of there in a heartbeat. Only one teacher ever came close to guessing.

And if we had cameras on buses that one time I spilled ethanol under a row of seats would have likely made it on the evening news.

I really can't imagine how I would have made it in today's world of video coverage.
 
I'm not understanding why she has to serve prison time for this. Was there any indication she was trying to harm someone?

I know from personal experience you can always count on a school administrator to do the wrong thing. Overreacting to things to placate idiot parents is just one of them.
 
I used to think that parents who homeschooled were nuts, but I don't any more.
 
ravdin said:
I used to think that parents who homeschooled were nuts, but I don't any more.
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I think that, as a general rule, you'd be safe continuing your previous thinking. Home schooling is frequently chosen for dubious philosophical/religious reasons as opposed to believing that school administrators will overreact when their kids, in fits of scientific curiosity, cause minor explosions.

And as I type the above, I feel a little more sympathy for the overreaction..."minor explosions" don't sound great in my head.
 
ravdin said:
I used to think that parents who homeschooled were nuts, but I don't any more.
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I understand your sentiment. Over the years I've become a stronger proponent of home schooling for many reasons which don't even touch on this example.

Just don't get me started.... :rolleyes:
 
Babbylonian said:
I think that, as a general rule, you'd be safe continuing your previous thinking. Home schooling is frequently chosen for dubious philosophical/religious reasons as opposed to believing that school administrators will overreact when their kids, in fits of scientific curiosity, cause minor explosions.

And as I type the above, I feel a little more sympathy for the overreaction..."minor explosions" don't sound great in my head.
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You do realize that this kid wasn't just kicked out of school... she was arrested and is being charged with a felony?

If my kid was a student at that school, I'd pull her out pronto.
 
ravdin said:
You do realize that this kid wasn't just kicked out of school... she was arrested and is being charged with a felony?

If my kid was a student at that school, I'd yank her out pronto.
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I was thinking of the expulsion (I did mention "school administrators" specifically), and I did put stress on the "little" modifier to my increased sympathy (which started at 0).

No, there's no excuse for charging the kid with a crime, most especially as an adult, unless there was evidence of an intent to cause harm.
 
Heh...back in the day there were times I used to drop by my local pharmacy after school to purchase chemicals for explosives (not that I ever told them what I was up to). I can't recall ever bringing them back to school with me, but I probably wouldn't have thought twice about it. Nowadays such activities would probably land me on the No-Fly list at a minimum.
 
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I think this sort of over-reaction is what you get with great sounding "zero tolerance" policies and "school zone" limitations that treat schools as some sort of hallowed ground.

Unfortunately, zero-tolerance really means zero-responsibility or zero-thinking, and is never tough enough on true crimes and is always overly tough on non-crimes.
 
This incident made me think of a childhood friend who manufactured an explosive device at school when we were in the seventh grade. He was pulled in to the principal's office and was surprised at how nice he was. Needless to say he's a very bright guy with a lot of curiosity who, like just about all kids that age, didn't have exceptionally good judgment. Today he's an engineer who runs his own firm and has a nice family. I hate to think of what would have happened to him under an idiotic zero tolerance policy.
 
Stellafane said:
Heh...back in the day there were times I used to drop by my local pharmacy to purchase chemicals for explosives (not that I ever told them what I was up to). I can't recall ever bringing them back to school with me, but I probably wouldn't have thought twice about it. Nowadays such activities would probably land me on the No-Fly list at a minimum.
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I can't imagine what the hardware clerk thought we were going to do with those short threaded sections of pipe and matching end caps, but I doubt they ever considered it would include black powder and waterproof fuses.
 
Dr. Keith said:
I can't imagine what the hardware clerk thought we were going to do with those short threaded sections of pipe and matching end caps, but I doubt they ever considered it would include black powder and waterproof fuses.
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Well, my cover story could have been that the school cafeteria sent me because they ran out of its "secret ingredient" to add to the mashed potatoes. But no one ever called me on it.
 
BenBurch said:
Zn + HCl -> ZnCl2 + H2 + heat.

I'm quite sure she was making hydrogen.
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I'd be surprised if it wasn't actually a Works bomb, or perhaps rubbing alcohol and pool chlorine tablets (which gives the white cloud that was mentioned.) You'd need a fair amount of zinc to pop a 2L.

Nobody goes to school at 7am, mixes mystery stuff in a bottle, puts the cap on, then waits to see what will happen out of scientific curiosity. She made a 2L bomb and blew it up somewhere stupid.

I really hate zero tolerance policies. She should have gotten a suspension, but expulsion is too much, let alone bringing charges against her. It's not like each and every one of the adults involved in this situation hasn't put a cherry bomb under a garbage can or played flame thrower with a can of hairspray. This kid was just dumb enough to do it at school.

The original federal zero tolerance policy was fairly reasonable (no tolerance for weapons on school grounds with the ability for local officials to adapt to the particulars of the situation.) The states and local districts came through and tried to one-up the federal policy and have gotten rid of a bunch of that latitude. I don't have any idea what the Florida laws are, or her district's, but it's entirely possible that the locals were forced into this track by the legislature. (It's also entirely possible that they're overreacting douchebags...)
 
I wonder what the school would have done if she'd tried a more deliberately malicious prank, like leaving an apple doused with noxious chemicals on her teacher's desk. Just like Robert Oppenheimer allegedly did.

That would probably have meant expulsion followed by a drone strike on her home. (Schools have drones now, right?)
 
Noztradamus said:
Aluminium foil and sodium hydroxide? - yeah not a acid bomb, but would reporters know?
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This reaction also evolves hydrogen gas and a lot of heat with the potential a caustic cloud of very fine aluminum particulate and droplets of sodium hydroxide solution. Although, it is also part of of the standard lad procedure for making alum, a lab exercise that teaches the concepts of compound and reaction stoichiometry.
 
All my schools cared about was were we doing drugs or having sex on school grounds. If I'd started setting off explosions they'd probably have asked me to move them indoors because they'd like an excuse to get a building younger than 1940.
 
I can't believe the "system" is treating this girl (she's sixteen, right?) as a felon. This is the whole move nowadays to criminalize conduct that, not all that long ago, would've been treated as mere stupidity.

Why when I was a kid... :)
 
grunion said:
Link.



We encourage experimentation, within tightly drawn boundaries. Cross those boundaries, regardless how noble your cause, and you shall feel the full weight of the law.

Honestly, the girl's gotta understand that she screwed up and she feels horrible for it. Nobody was hurt. What is the lesson here? What is the benefit to her, the school, society?
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You make a bomb, you take a bomb to school, you go to jail, end of story
http://www.theledger.com/article/20...Had-Explosive-Materials-at-Bartow-High-School

Kiera Roslyn Wilmot, of 1370 N. Wilson Ave., Apt. 505, was charged with making, possessing or discharging a destructive device and with possessing or discharging weapons on school grounds. Both charges are felonies.
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