School board must use discretion in decisions

Editor:
The rebuttal  by Ramsey Superintendent of Schools Melissa Ritter only solidifies my statements that it cannot just be a black-and-white issue ("Board says safety is its top priority," The Leader-Union, Sept. 29).
Did the Ramsey School Board follow what the Illinois School Code states in it to do? Yes. Is this inner-city Chicago, where gang violence and weapons in school is an everyday issue? Absolutely not.
This is rural America, where the last I knew the Friday of gun deer season was an excused absence for those same Ramsey students to take up arms and go hunting. I wonder if that's in the same Illinois School Code in Chicago.
In that same school code that Mrs. Ritter speaks of, it also states that it is to be taken on a case-by-case basis, and is up to the school board's discretion.
Also, I wonder what, exactly, is considered a weapon by this school code? Does the car or truck your son or daughter drives to school have a tire iron in it? Is that a weapon? How about a screwdriver that might be on the floorboard? At the prison where I work, both would be considered a weapon. I would bet that in nearly every single car that kids and employees drive to school, I could find something that could be used as or deemed to be a weapon.
Under Mrs. Ritter's and the Ramsey School Board's "code," that is considered an expellable offense!
I still believe that these rules should be in place, even now. But I also believe that no two instances are the same. Common sense should be used, and each case should be taken individually. One blanket rule should not cover inner-city Chicago schools and rural Ramsey- or Vandalia-type schools, with no room for individual cases.
One last scenario: Teenage kids are hormonal, emotional and irrational. They are constantly bickering with each other. So, under these rules, what stops a kid that is bickering with your son or daughter from  just bringing a small weapon to school and dropping it in your son or daughter's locker or gym bag when they are in class or physical education? Then, all they have to do is drop a note telling a teacher that your kid has a weapon.
Under Ramsey rules, no questions asked, your kid will end up on the outside looking in! According to Mrs. Ritter, the Illinois School Code says so!
Mark Luster
Ramsey