Let no good deed go unpunished.
[url]wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=22890[/url]
Boy hero appeals suspension
School punished 8th-grader for taking
knife from suicidal friend
By Julie Foster
© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
A junior-high boy who prevented a friend from
slitting her wrists by taking away her knife is
fighting his automatic suspension from school
for possessing a weapon.
Ben Ratner and his mother, Beth Haney, made
their appeal to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals
in Virginia last week, saying a lower court erred
in dismissing the case.
In October 1999, Ratner, an eighth-grader from
Loudoun County, Va., received a note in class
from a friend who said she was contemplating
suicide and had brought a knife to school in her
binder. Ratner was familiar with the girl's
personal troubles and knew she had been
hospitalized for psychiatric problems. When he
asked for the knife, the girl refused, so Ratner
took the binder from her and locked it in his
locker. He intended to take the knife home to
his mother, a nurse, who could determine an
appropriate course of action.
School officials found out about the knife and
asked Ratner if he had it. The boy said he did
and gave the knife to Fanny Kellogg, a dean at
Blue Ridge Middle School, upon Kellogg's
request. Though Kellogg said she understood
the boy's reasons for taking the knife and stated
her belief that he was not a threat to anyone,
school officials still proceeded to suspend the
boy for 10 days. The suspension was quickly
amended to be "indefinite," pending review by
the school board, which decided the boy should
remain out of school for four months.
Ratner had believed subjecting his friend to
school authorities would be too much pressure
for the girl, and he was right. The Sunday
following the incident, the girl slit her wrists.
Her suicide attempt, however, was
unsuccessful.
Although officials for the Loudoun County
Public Schools also acknowledged that Ben's
actions were "noble" and "admirable" and
admitted that he posed no threat to himself or
others, they nevertheless upheld the long-term
suspension, which lasted from Oct. 8, 1999, until
Jan. 25, 2000.