Obvioulsy the handcuffing of a 10 year old and taking to police station is over the line. I would hope that they could have handled the situation at the school itself. But... I would not hold the cop and the teachers / administrators ultimately responsible and ask that they be fired. A policeman who receives a report / complaint of a student with a weapon at a school from the school has to follow up the situation and take the student away and investigate the situation (atleast in the districts where my family memebers teach and I assume Philly too). That was done and the child was released. If the state law states that a pair of scissors is a weapon and the teacher must report it to administrators and the administrators must report it to the police, then they did their job as directed to them. If something is classified as a weapon, then a weapon is a weapon, no matter who is holding it. To me, it's not them who should held at fault, if anyone is to be blamed it is the policy makers. Considering it says it is a state law, then the state representatives need to be blamed and the citizens have the choice to not re-elected the ones that passed these rules. But I'm not sure this is a terrible law, just that there is limited room in procedures and options the teachers / administrators / and police have.

I would HOPE that this rule was created for "older" kids who could use a pair of scissors as a weapon and inflict harm on other students and educational staff. In creating the law I doubt they put age limits in it and say that kids over XXX years the scissors are a weapon. I would think Philadelphia like most larger cities have some serious acts committed inside the schools by kids that make it hard for teachers to teach, and students to learn. Where do we draw the line between trying to make a safe learning environment for the students / the safety of the teachers and ridiculous laws? I would think that scissors have been used as a weapon in some school districts at some point someplace in America. And I do think a 10 year has at some point in time created a criminal act inside the school systems in America. I did not say and am not saying this child, but some crazy things happen inside our educational system. I would hope that this case might get the policy makers to agree that some situations could be handled at the school itself and that handcuffing and taking to the police station is not called for in all cases. I'm sure the teachers / administrators or police could have taken the scissors away and called the parent to pick up the scissors later, but that appears to be against the laws that they have to operate under. But I guess deep down inside I still think that in the hands of some people, scissors could be a serious weapon and inflict great harm on others.

It's not easy or safe being a teacher in America anymore and IMO they are underpaid / overworked / and lack the resources necessary to teach, and while I do not agree with a 10 year old being taken to jail for scissors, I also can not expect the teachers or staff or police to be in trouble over this. The entire educational system in America needs to be overhauled.

Just my POV.