Need help understanding school's disciplinary rule - Advice on presenting alternative ideas?

I want to get perspectives here because it's been a while since I was in a classroom.

This school apparently has a blanket rule in all math classes about dropping calculators. Yes, the calculators are school property. Parents aren't given the option of buying kids their own. Kids are assigned them and take them home. No, this isn't a judgement call. Anyone who drops a calculator, no matter how or why, gets sentences for the first offense, lunch detention for the second offense, and then sent to the principal for the third offense and so on. These are 7th graders using TI-36x Pro calculators.

I found this ridiculous. I opted to ask the principal to get more information or to understand this rule better. We talked for a while about the reasons it's in place and I explained why I found it unreasonable and not conducive to a good learning environment. If a child is walking on eggshells in a class, they're not going to be focused on learning. The principal did state that it's to keep teachers focused on teaching and fair so they're not left to distinguish if a student did it on purpose or not, which I do understand.

Bottom line: Is this a normal rule for a school now? I understand there are kids who will do stuff on purpose or for attention, but there are just as many kids who don't and it's an honest accident. I also don't agree with writing as a punishment, detention for something like dropping a calculator, or using the same punishment for an accident as you would something like class disruption. Are there other disciplinary options or ideas that I can give the principal when he gets back to me to maybe move towards finding a solution or updating this (presumably) outdated rule?

I have asked about a child providing their own calculator, but I don't expect the rule to change as the teacher would then have to remember who has their own calculator and who has a school's calculator. Plus, that leaves out kids who's parents can't afford to buy them one or won't.

Also, this is a very small school in the US (40-60 students per grade) if that matters.

Submitted August 20, 2024 at 09:23AM by Imagination_Priory89 https://ift.tt/6SeYJo2