Kid suspended from school for DRAWING a gun on paper?

[Joe Demko]

JKimball,
It doesn't matter what teachers and administrators believe. Policies are set by the elected schoolboard almost everywhere. Those schoolboard members were elected by the people of the district_presumably_because they would enact the kind of policies the people want. People must either play an active role in steering the district or shut up and accept whatever the board chooses to do. Just like government, people get the kind of school system they deserve.

 

[Geno]

Former Junior High School & High School Principal here...

This action is not covered by the "Zero Tolerance" laws. Zero tolerance requires that a student:

1) knowingly bring a "weapon" to school;
2) the object must truly be a "weapon";
3) have intent to cause great bodily harm, or harm to the school.

As a former administrator, I would have taken no action other than conference to determine intent. At most, then contact parents. In spite of the fact that the family possesses no firearms, the child is expressing interest...why?

This calls for a lawyer for many reasons:

1) even though confidential, student files are maintained for (depending on the state) 30 to 50 years post graduation;
2) the child has a "right" to receive a free education which has been violated.

This is a sad event.

Doc2005

 

[GTSteve03]

People must either play an active role in steering the district or shut up and accept whatever the board chooses to do. Just like government, people get the kind of school system they deserve.

Negative, because thankfully, like the free market, people have a choice about where their kids get educated.

You (usually) have the option of sending your kid to a private or religious school or homeschooling them rather than sending them to a school where you know the kind of lessons they will be taught will be counter to how your beliefs run.

 

[tydephan]

Here is another shot of the offending image, according to foxnews.com:


I'm afraid this little event was a gross overreaction.

 

[Old Fuff]

Oh dear...

It looks like something he might have seen in a movie or television program.

These programs must be eliminated... After all they contribute to a climate that constitutes the romanticism of violence.

The First Amendment isn't absolute you know... We MUST do it for the children...

 

[busdriver72]

I go to church with many school teachers, and a common complaint from them is the complete lack of wisdom and common sense in the school system itself. Many teachers, as well as school administrators, are shockingly lacking in the "horse-sense" area. Rather than stopping for a moment and thinking "Okay, what would be the best, most reasonable way to handle this?" ...often they react in the stupidest way they can. It's as though school officials themselves are not capable of calculated, independent thought.
A wise teacher would have simply said "Son, I noticed you drew a picture on your paper. You know, you're not really supposed to draw on this. I'm giving the paper back to you so you can redo it on another sheet without the picture. OK?"
There. No one's feelings hurt. No one "offended" or "alarmed." No news media fiasco. Simply, quickly, quietly handled with no harm done.
What was so hard or difficult to figure out about that?

 

[Mannix]

Wow, and I thought the whole "Fighting back is just as bad as starting the fight" thing I got suspended for(more than once) was bad. This people must REALLY be living off in bliss ninny lala land.

 

[HonorsDaddy]

awalkalongmingocreek

I'm going to say it because nobody else has ...

If you didn't just forget the sarcasm tag on your post, perhaps you should consider a different forum in which to post your views, either that, or invest in asbestos underwear and be prepared to learn.

 

[doubleg]

I was suspended for a week during high school for having a NRA Rifleman magazine in my backpack. You have no idea how insane schools are getting.

 

[AndyC]

Here is another shot of the offending image, according to foxnews.com:


I'm afraid this little event was a gross overreaction.

Looks like a house, driveway and a sundial to me... that's my story and I'm sticking to it

"What? It looks like a gun to you? Have you done a Rorshach test lately? You must have violent tendencies - seriously, you need help..."

 

[.cheese.]

man..... I used to draw all kinds of weird stuff on paper back in those days. To think I'd be suspended. Sheesh

 

[gregthehand]

man..... I used to draw all kinds of weird stuff on paper back in those days. To think I'd be suspended. Sheesh

I think I would have been expelled! I remember one time when I was in High School they came down and had us in the gym explaining any and all new rules for that school year. One thing they said was that anything having to do with guns brought into school was an automatic expulsion. I asked what if I had spent .22 shells in the bed of my truck from shooting turtles. At first the principal said yes it would, but then the Asst Principal whispered something in his ear and he said "OK no it wouldn't those don't pose a threat, but if it's a live bullet it might be a different story." One time they did catch some kid with a .22 rifle in his truck he had forgotten to take out. Our school's resource cops just told him to take it home and not to forget to take it out again.

 

[Limeyfellow]

Its the no tolerance policing striking again. This sort of bs started in the 80s. Its gotten really worse since the turn of the millenium. Its also why we have overcrowded prison and people bragging about how they are tough on crime because they arrested another terrorist who wrote a story in English class about an attack by monsters on his school and another guy goes to jail for jaywalking.

They have limits put down on them that if they want funding they have to take everything to the extreme.

 

[MrPeter]

This kind of (Edited for High Road compatibilty) is what makes me want to get out of business school or IT work and become a schoolteacher or principal. If a teacher brought this drawing to me with a red face, he or she would certainly not get a pat on the head; I'd suspend the teacher for 3 days without pay for wasting my time!

I have always felt that we need to have much more spending on public school systems, require much higher education (minimum masters degree, maybe Doctorate), stringent background checks, and psychiatric evaluation for teachers, and pay them like medical doctors. Seriously now, what position of employment on EARTH should you have to be more qualified for than molding the minds of the children of this country?! I very much second the idea that some school faculty are thinking with a second brain: the one set on avoiding liability, rather than reasoning.

I think that SO much of this backwards reasoning against school violence would be solved if school staff was allowed to carry on school property. Not even required, but allowed. Dont you think?

 

[chris in va]

I haven't personally been in the public school system since 88. I don't know what on earth some of these public schools are doing, but recently I 'chaperoned' a JH dance for my friend's kid and was shocked to find it more of a nightclub atmosphere with the lights off and kids doing some pretty heavy 'freaking'. We complained to no avail.

Now if they're suspending kids for simply drawing guns, why did we do this in art class back then?

 

[kane123123]

Man oh man, if they ever caught me in school, I'd have been suspended 1,000,000 times.

 

[Deanimator]

I was suspended for a week during high school for having a NRA Rifleman magazine in my backpack. You have no idea how insane schools are getting.

I first started reading Guns and Guns & Ammo in Catholic gradeschool. I got my first copy of Smallarms of the World between 7th and 8th grades. I frequently brought it to school.

In Catholic prep seminary, I used to carry around fifteen pounds of books in my gym bag or a backpack... about eight pounds of which were gun magazines and my copy of Smallarms of the World.

In Catholic grammar school, a nun once made the horrible mistake of telling my mother and grandmother that they should stop me from reading because I was too far ahead of the rest of the class. There was a brief silence, after which my mother and grandmother had a little one-sided "talk" with the nun which would have made R. Lee Ermey blush. I can only imagine what might have happened had I been suspended for drawing a picture of a gun. Imagine the last five minutes of Raiders of Lost Ark....

 

[RCouch]

I feel sorry for the kid and his parents. Also wonder how this kind of pressure on what a kid is thinking and puting on paper will have. What are we supposed to do, start training our kids to control their thoughts in school? This is a great way to suppress how our kids think and expand their minds.
Our educational system is truly going to the dogs.

 

[Gunnerpalace]

I am now going to make it worse, odds of this teacher getting fired are 0% the teachers unions have set the rules for firing a teacher so high it is insane in fact I will give you two examples. First, there was a teacher in New York who committed a felony (murder I think but not sure) a year or so ago who now in prison just got fired and was still collecting pay, and second in New York the schools have "rubber rooms" where teachers who are too incompetent to teach are sent because they cant be fired so they are paid to sit. Thankfully my parents saw this and home-schooled me.

 

[grizz]

I was suspended for 3 days in 8th grade for having an L shaped piece of wood that I was going to turn into a nice rubber band gun in shop class. They didn't have any problem with me making a gun rack in wood shop, but that darned L shaped piece of wood must have looked too real with it's mahogany colored wooden barrel and all.

My dad was way more angered by the stupidity of the administration than at me, so he took me shooting every day I was suspended.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Suspension = Range Time

. . . he took me shooting every day I was suspended.

Hah!

I can see it now.

"You can suspend Grizz Jr. if you want, but here's how it is: if he's not in your class because he likes guns, then he'll be in my class learning how to shoot them. Your call."

 

[Dr. Peter Venkman]

I wonder what would have happened if any of my instructors noticed my "shoot-n-see" target that I stuck to my binder.

 

[Zen21Tao]

Where is the ACLU on this one? This goes beyond guns, it is also a case of suppressed 1st amendment amendments rights. What if instead of a gun it was a picture of naked people having sex or was a bunch or racial slurs? What we have here is someone being punished because others didn't like what he drew.

 

[.45&TKD]

I actually live in this school district.

And while my 6 year old is of an age and maturity where I would like to teach her to shoot; either with a BB gun or a Cricket, she does not have the discretion to keep from telling people at school about it. She can't keep a secret. I'll have to wait until she is older.

And that is where the real harm is. Intimidating parents from introducing their kids to shooting at a young age, for idiotic reasons like this!

 

[Cannonball888]

We drew whole infantry battle scenes in school when I was a kid. I guess that warrants a permanent school suspension