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Hey all, I do some teaching at a public school and I need some ideas. Things have changed in schools drastically within the last 5 or 10 years as far as searching kids personal property. So here's the deal:

I have a student that I feel needs to have some sort of wood block under his tuba to put it in a comfortable playing position. I asked him today why he hadn't brought one in yet because it'd been a few weeks and he told me he was not allowed to. I guess he tried to bring it in to school but he had it confiscated before even getting in the doors of the school because of the searching. He was told that it was even considered a weapon.

HAS EVERYBODY LOST THEIR D@MN MINDS? It's a block of wood. Not a .22.

Any ideas how I can get this worked out? The only thing I can think of is trying to get him to meet up with his band director before school some time and have them bring it in. I'm sure there has to be another way. I mean I would think a tuba mouthpiece would be much more dangerous than a block of wood.

Talk about intelligent people making laws and unintelligent people enforcing them(sorry I'm venting).

Jim Langenberg

This reminds me of a scene from "Bowling for Columbine" (no need to go into the politics of the film - I'm only talking about news footage here) where the superintendant from a NYC area district is addressing the issue of security concerns in his district and plainly refers to the students as "the enemy." IMHO, not the most productive outlook on several levels.

I suggest your student have the band director resolve the issue. If this student's school is willing to spend heavily on security, maybe they're also willing to pony up a few dollars for a decent tuba stand.

Maybe what you need is one of those "special" blocks of wood that plainly says (in magic marker) "Tuba Stand - any questions call [insert band director's name, classroom number, and extension here]". And if it's confiscated, tell your student to remark "you know, I had thought it would be hard to bring guns to school, but every time I do all you guys do is take my wood!"

The notion that a kid would use a block of wood -- rather than a tuba mouthpiece in a sock, or a ball-point pen, or a belt with a heavy buckle -- is ridiculous. It's that goofy "zero tolerance' run amok again.

How about wrapping it in a towel and stuffing it into the kid's -- or your -- bell?

Or how about using an appropriately sized can of peanuts? Or a roll of TP encased in duct tape? Hockey pucks taped together? Small pillow? Roll of duct tape (is there ANYTHING it CAN'T do?)

If the student needs to get the block in, and either doesn't ever carry his tuba home or the tuba is searched, try this: tape some wires, a battery and a small light bulb to the block of wood. Write up a mock "report" on your "homemade flashlight". Once in the bandroom, put the batteries in your walk-man, toss the light bulb and the wires, and you've got your block of wood.
_____________________________
Joe Baker, who always prefers to hide things in plain sight, if hiding is necessary at all.

rascaljim wrote: HAS EVERYBODY LOST THEIR D@MN MINDS? It's a block of wood. Not a .22.

I agree. However, I'd be interested to know if the school in question has a history of weapons.

As someone said before, though, your best (and safest) bet is just to have one at home and one at school.

Doug "who, if he had ever taken a gun to school, it would have been vandalized beyond use before he could ever start anything"

When I read about situations like this, I always want to know the "rest of the story", as Paul Harvey says. In this case, I would particularly want to know how the student responded when questioned by a school official about the block.

BTW, count me as a third vote for the one block at home and one at school option.

windshieldbug wrote: And if it's confiscated, tell your student to remark "you know, I had thought it would be hard to bring guns to school, but every time I do all you guys do is take my wood!"

That would get you expelled at my school...

I did mean what I suggested about the block, but I was, where you quoted, just being the wise guy I usually am...

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maybe you should tell him that cutting it out in the shape of an AK47 and adding the bayonet wasn't the smartest thing...

windshieldbug wrote:I did mean what I suggested about the block, but I was, where you quoted, just being the wise guy I usually am...

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maybe you should tell him that cutting it out in the shape of an AK47 and adding the bayonet wasn't the smartest thing...

Haha, good call with the bayonet. Believe me, theres nothing more I'd like to tell my school then what you suggested

Why not use a rolled-up towel held together with duct tape instead?

...or just a block of foam rubber. Unless he swallowed it whole, I doubt that he could do much damage with it.

thats just ridiculous

How about using a book as a tuba rest?!?!?!?

They should allow him to bring a book into school!

Better yet, he could find one in the school library which is an appropriate size and have the band director sign it out for him for the year.


Also I used to use two of those black rubber drum practice pads stacked on top of each other. It worked great. You set the pads on the chair and sit on the flat edge and have the fatter part right between your legs where you set the tuba down. This holds the pad in place. Also the tuba sort of sticks to the rubber and it does't move around at all. This is what I used before I got a Stewart Stand.

ken k

ken k wrote:How about using a book as a tuba rest?!?!?!?

They should allow him to bring a book into school!

They might ... or they might throw it at him ...

You could just wrap the block in something to make it look more official. I use the grippy shelf cover stuff or paint it, just to make it look more official. it might be better if he keeps it in his case, wrap it in a towel and put it down the bell, that's how I used to carry my music stand. there's my 2 cents

Ben

One more theory...are we sure this not a conspiracy by the BBC to sell more of their new tuba stands?

............Just kidding

However if the school does not want dangerous blocks of wood brought in maybe the school can purchase a tuba stand for the students use as school. Of course the stand would be a better weapon (as a club) then the block of wood, but who ever said school administrators would catch on.

My father teaches at Los Angeles High School on Olympic Blvd. near downtown L.A. He has taken away over 30 firearms in the seventeen years he has taught in the L.A.U.S.D. I don't know if I would want the kids at that school, which had a race riot just last week, to carry a wooden block through the front doors without at least asking them what it was for. But the kids may be able to sneak something like that past the metal detectors.

If those stupid vice principals, or whoever guards the door, would just ask, you would think they would have the sense to let the kid through with a block. I have heard of instruments used as weapons at schools in the L.A. area. Public schools remind me of prisons.

In 1988/89 I went to HS in Elkhart, IN.
In our physics class we had these projects where we´d do experiments.
OUR TEACHER HANDED OUT TOY PISTOLS TO EXPERIMENT WITH NEWTON`S LAWS!!! OUTRAGE!!!
Man, am I happy the only crazy thing I encountered was a dress code prohibiting shorts to be worn in school, and there were all these strange girls wearing running tights underneath their torn jeans.
(You know, a leg covered by a shiny and tight-fitting garment showing off every courve off muscle by a change in colour is, of course, MUCH more decent than skin by itself )

One "block" I have seen used is two or three Readers Digest taped together. Of course, if the school bans duct tape.... (insert Jeff Foxworthy joke here) ...

OK...really...

I don't understand why anyone is condemning the school system for trying to deal with what is a real problem and fear. Zero tolerance for weapons in a school system only makes sense. Admittedly, classifying a block of wood as a weapon borders on the absurd, BUT SO WHAT? Just as we have seen in this thread there are a MULTITUDE OF SOLUTIONS to this problem. Use pillows, a block of rubber, or just buy a friggin' tuba stand. What's more...buy it yourself...quit asking the school (taxpayers) to provide your every need. They already have probably provided you with a multi-thousand dollar instrument. I guess it's just easier to complain about the problem than to deal with it.

What is truly sad is the way we all seem to whine about every inconvenience in this country. Sure, some of the tactics used to try to insure safety are arguably extreme and ineffective BUT they represent honest attempts to deal with real issues. I fly all the time and you know what....I can deal with 3 minutes out of my life to be the random person pulled out of line by the TSA. IT'S NO BIG DEAL! But people act as if their rights are being violated because they can't carry on a lighter to support their tobacco addiction. Never mind that a butane lighter carries a potentially large explosive capability...I WANT MY FREAKIN' CIG!

Give the school system a break. Maybe they are being slightly ridiculous, but they are simply trying to protect the teachers and your children. Is that really such a bad thing?

Oh yeah, and please observe the question mark on my heading. I'm not accusing...I'm just asking.