8 February 2012

Copland College Stabbing

| johnboy
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The ABC has a piece on a 15 year old student at Copland College in hospital after being stabbed and a 16 year old helping police with their investigation.

That’s the school year off to a cracking start in Melba then.

UPDATE 08/02/12 17:16: This in from ACT Policing:

ACT Policing is currently investigating a disturbance and stabbing at the Melba Copland Secondary School, formally known as Copland College.

Around 12pm today (Wednesday, 8 February) ACT Policing responded to reports that a disturbance was in progress at the school and that a student had been stabbed with a chisel.

Police attended the school and located a 15-year-old male with a stab wound to his back. The victim was taken to The Canberra Hospital for assessment and treatment.

A 16-year-old male was arrested and will be taken to the ACT Watch House where he will be charged.

Anyone who may have witnessed the incident and is yet to speak with police is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, or via the Crime Stoppers website on www.act.crimestoppers.com.au. Information can be provided anonymously.

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I am a student at MCSS, and I’ve been to heaps of schools. Melba has by far been the best, it has real teachers that actually care about educating there students. It has people that constantly give up their time to see their students succeed in a variety of areas whether that be making Melba the first public school in many years to win the ACT wide Murray Debating Competition or just making sure that you understand what’s being taught in class. MCSS is a great school- it provides more opportunities for its students than most. One stabbing by one person doesn’t destroy a school, and it shouldn’t destroy its reputation. I just needed to say that for all those making out the school to be something that it’s not.

HenryBG said :

Meanwhile, 43% of us will continue to send our children to non-public schools so we don’t have to deal with the inevitable results of broken leftie ideology.

I’m a victim of the private school system.

The lecturers at Uni told me that my academic career was limited due to the amount of hand-holding that goes on in private schools. Thankfully I managed to graduate with an Engineering degree despite those lecturers. The endless indoctrination of “help other people” and “be nice” has meant that I have had the competitive streak beaten out of me: if I see a flaw in some system such as negative gearing property, I want to fix it to be “fair” rather than exploiting it to my own advantage.

My private college’s focus was on football, with more attention paid to getting the football team through college than helping advanced students explore subjects that were more interesting than remedial spelling.

All schools have their problems.

Gerry-Built said :

Daisy42 said :

…this school has a great rep of not doing what is needed for the kids.. from many, many parents & students points of view.. the dept needs to step in & provide the support & resourses needed !!!!

I’m truly interested in hearing more about what you mean by this…

She quite understandably wants the government to sufficiently fund the education system so that it turns out people who can spell, punctuate and use capitalisation in the usual places.

Meanwhile, 43% of us will continue to send our children to non-public schools so we don’t have to deal with the inevitable results of broken leftie ideology.

shadow boxer1:11 pm 09 Feb 12

Sometimes I think the goal of taking all kids through to year 12 is a bit misguiged.

Back in the day there were certain kids who everyone knew weren’t really cut out for an academic life or prolonged years of schooling.

They would be progressively identified through years 7,8,9 and 10 and after a quiet chat with the parents they would go and get a job or an apprenticeship and everyone would move on.

I am prety sure this was actually a better outcome for everyone (including the kids concerned)

Well! Now im really confused. Do the police really attend melba copland often, or do they just park there as part of a pr thing?

Where is sidney poitier when you need him?

knifeyspoony said :

The main issue with ACT public schools is that there is no recourse for schools who have constantly bad kids who live in their catchment area. As far as I’m aware they can’t be expelled. As long as you have a public school system where kids can’t be expelled, no matter what they do, you have a public school system that is weak. It is why we parents choose to send our kids to private schools. Why would I send my boy to a school where he could get stabbed by another student and that student gets a free pass back to school next week?

Nailed it. Though Violet should be along soon to tell us that the stabber is the victim, it’s not their fault, society is to blame, and he should be given lots and lots of toys for being so hard done by.

Our kid is in year 12 at Melba, we have no complaints about the college, the staff nor the education there.

Gerry-Built said :

Daisy42 said :

…this school has a great rep of not doing what is needed for the kids.. from many, many parents & students points of view.. the dept needs to step in & provide the support & resourses needed !!!!

I’m truly interested in hearing more about what you mean by this…

+1 would love to hear the insight of the infinitely wise parents gossiping in the car park.

Please provide examples.

knifeyspoony said :

Daisy42 said :

Our son goes there, when we heard of this today, we went & pulled him out of school, along with what looked like a steady stream of other parents doing the same thing, while forensics were still there working… for us, it’s the final straw with Melba Copland Secondary School, with both the College & High School sections of the school… we have had enough, time to move on, we have taken our kids out of there now. I know all schools have problems, but this school has a great rep of not doing what is needed for the kids.. from many, many parents & students points of view.. the dept needs to step in & provide the support & resourses needed !!!!

The main issue with ACT public schools is that there is no recourse for schools who have constantly bad kids who live in their catchment area. As far as I’m aware they can’t be expelled. As long as you have a public school system where kids can’t be expelled, no matter what they do, you have a public school system that is weak. It is why we parents choose to send our kids to private schools. Why would I send my boy to a school where he could get stabbed by another student and that student gets a free pass back to school next week?

The area I spend most of my yoof had a school of last resort. Students known to be trouble makers in the greater area were transferred to this particular school. On the downside, there was also a standard priority enrollment area for the school as well, so some quite good kids ended up having to deal with some not so good kids. All in all, the school in question handled it quite well, and eventually also set up a returning mums unit (sadly, there were more than a few young girls that were in this situation).

Has been done, could be done again, most likely won’t be done here.

My son is also a student at Melba (now in year 11). Throughout his time at the school I have heard of some scuffles and bullying but you get that at any school (including the private Catholic school I went to). MCSS has done well with my son. He’s not a scholar but the careers counsellor has helped us greatly with organising an ASBA in his chosen field, which he is progressing with very well and he now has some really solid career options. The student counsellor was very supportive for my son when my marriage broke down. The teachers have (usually) made time to talk to me when I have had concerns. Some teachers gave a lot of their time to organise an overseas trip. My son is growing up into a decent young man who is very accepting of people’s differences. He has some really nice friends that I am happy to invite into my home. I have no intention of removing him from the school.

This went around the schools within an hour thanks to SMS. What else are kids to do in a lock-down?

Maybe they will calm down once they realise that one child has been seriously injured and the other will have a serious charge against them that could affect the rest of their life. I really hope the perpetrator is under 18.

knifeyspoony said :

Daisy42 said :

Our son goes there, when we heard of this today, we went & pulled him out of school, along with what looked like a steady stream of other parents doing the same thing, while forensics were still there working… for us, it’s the final straw with Melba Copland Secondary School, with both the College & High School sections of the school… we have had enough, time to move on, we have taken our kids out of there now. I know all schools have problems, but this school has a great rep of not doing what is needed for the kids.. from many, many parents & students points of view.. the dept needs to step in & provide the support & resourses needed !!!!

The main issue with ACT public schools is that there is no recourse for schools who have constantly bad kids who live in their catchment area. As far as I’m aware they can’t be expelled. As long as you have a public school system where kids can’t be expelled, no matter what they do, you have a public school system that is weak. It is why we parents choose to send our kids to private schools. Why would I send my boy to a school where he could get stabbed by another student and that student gets a free pass back to school next week?

Spot on. Until the troublemakers are actually dealt with properly (however that occurs), public schooling will remain the poor cousin of the private system.

knifeyspoony12:07 am 09 Feb 12

Daisy42 said :

Our son goes there, when we heard of this today, we went & pulled him out of school, along with what looked like a steady stream of other parents doing the same thing, while forensics were still there working… for us, it’s the final straw with Melba Copland Secondary School, with both the College & High School sections of the school… we have had enough, time to move on, we have taken our kids out of there now. I know all schools have problems, but this school has a great rep of not doing what is needed for the kids.. from many, many parents & students points of view.. the dept needs to step in & provide the support & resourses needed !!!!

The main issue with ACT public schools is that there is no recourse for schools who have constantly bad kids who live in their catchment area. As far as I’m aware they can’t be expelled. As long as you have a public school system where kids can’t be expelled, no matter what they do, you have a public school system that is weak. It is why we parents choose to send our kids to private schools. Why would I send my boy to a school where he could get stabbed by another student and that student gets a free pass back to school next week?

Daisy42 said :

…this school has a great rep of not doing what is needed for the kids.. from many, many parents & students points of view.. the dept needs to step in & provide the support & resourses needed !!!!

I’m truly interested in hearing more about what you mean by this…

stabbed in the back….whats wrong with a good old fashioned punch in the face.

Our son goes there, when we heard of this today, we went & pulled him out of school, along with what looked like a steady stream of other parents doing the same thing, while forensics were still there working… for us, it’s the final straw with Melba Copland Secondary School, with both the College & High School sections of the school… we have had enough, time to move on, we have taken our kids out of there now. I know all schools have problems, but this school has a great rep of not doing what is needed for the kids.. from many, many parents & students points of view.. the dept needs to step in & provide the support & resourses needed !!!!

The early days of terms are when this stuff is most likely to happen; with kids meeting face-to-face after holiday shenanigans.

Just so we get this out of the way immediately; a few bad kids don’t make a bad school… But thanks anyhow, JB… :/

Diggety said :

Farking hell. They’ll probably ban wood work now.

Nice going, mini-crim.

It could also be someone who has been bullied and just snapped. Then ends up in this amount of trouble with the bullies playing the victim card, ending up using the system to bully the stabber all over again.

…but if it is just a little thug in training, hope they hang him from his rats tail.

Christ – day 3 of school? The first coulple of days couldnt be that bad?

I hope the injured person is alright.

Farking hell. They’ll probably ban wood work now.

Nice going, mini-crim.

…I think I saw this in the show ‘OZ’ once…

Tis’ good that the kid is okay though.

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