Posted on 09/20/2006 4:44:30 AM PDT by jmq
First-Grader Suspended Over Plastic Squirt Gun School District Says Policy Prohibits Exceptions
POSTED: 3:50 pm CDT September 19, 2006 UPDATED: 5:01 pm CDT September 19, 2006 Email This Story | Print This Story Sign Up for Breaking News Alerts KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A mother is angry that her first-grader was suspended from school over a plastic toy gun.
"I asked her, 'You're going to suspend my son for 10 days for this? He cannot harm a soul with this,'" said Danielle Womack, whose son, Tawann Caskey, was suspended from Milton Moore Elementary School.
KMBC's Natalie Moultrie reported that Tawann was suspended over a 2-inch plastic squirt gun.
"She told me it's a weapon, a little girl saw it and reported to a teacher that he had a weapon," Womack said.
According to Kansas City, Mo., School District policy, the squirt gun is a simulated weapon and a class IV, which is the most serious school offense. Moultrie reported that principals have no discretion in cases like Tawaan's. It is an automatic 10-day suspension.
"We ask our principals for safety of students and staff, and we do follow the code of conduct and do not give exceptions to Class IV offenses. We take it very seriously," the school district's Phyllis Budesheim said.
Moultrie reported that the incident will stay on Tawann's school record. But Womack said her son does not understand why he's not in school.
"I think this could have been resolved in a different way. It's wrong to bring it school, but come on, he's 6 years old. This would not hurt a soul," Womack said.
The school district said it is all policy -- one that the school told students and parents about at the start of the year.
"We regret that this happened. My feeling is that by not giving any exceptions, this young man will not bring a toy gun to school again," Budesheim said.
The school district said that the incident should be a reminder to parents to check their children's backpacks before they go to school.
Moultrie reported that Womack is waiting to state her case before a school district hearing Wednesday morning.
It's a shame in your situation a little physical butt-whooping can't legally be applied to those self perceived PC bullies in your school system. Amazingly ironic how the PC liberal elitists are so overwhelmingly narrow minded after a 'higher-education'. Their minds and behavior reek of contaminated man made manure!!
LMAO! ;-)
The suspend the kid for this yet many of the kids on the streets of our cities with REAL guns manage to slide somehow.
Amazingly, the same people who created this type of intolerance towards squirt guns and kids are the ones who like to claim that Muslims extremists are simply poor, misguided souls who need our understanding and tolerance.
In the old Soviet Union, fighter pilots relied on GCI (Ground Control Intercept) stations to tell them where to turn and what targets to engage. Most soldiers in the Army were not taught to navigate so they could not function without senior leadership. By removing people's ability to make decisions, Communism kept people in control.
The inability of some of our school leaders to make rational decisions is baffling unless you suppose they're practicing their own brand of Communism.
These idiot schools think, that banning squirt guns will prevent the usage of a real one.
And the narrow minded teachers think that "we are now doing something to prevent a problem".
They don't. The problem is at home. From the beginning of America people had guns at home, yet kids didn't take them to schools and didn't kill their classmates and teachers. It was not an issue until the second part of the 20th century. Thus, it has nothing to do with the guns. It is an upbringing issue, where kids today allowed to do whatever comes to their minds. Parents became robots who bring their kids up based on some hazy pink image of what should be right and wrong, which has little correlation to reality.
Gabor
You know. A principal lets a white girl "get away with" possessing a Midol for menstrual cramps, and next thing you know, a black girl is caught with Ritalin that is not precribed for her, and some lawyer claims that there was racial animus in the disparate treatment of the two "offenses." Yes, there is a big difference, but who can trust courts to get anything right anymore. So they eliminate any discretion or judgement from the process.
A water balloon must be classified as a WMD then?
when 1st graders squirt guns are outlawed, only criminals, (and 2nd graders,) will have squirt guns,
**Moultrie reported that the incident will stay on Tawann's school record.***
This is the part I have objection too. What right do they have saddling a 6 yo with a bad record?
I got "pops" and "swats" all thru school. I was a "hard learner". After 12 years of nuns and Jesuits, Navy Boot Camp was a breeze.
LOL!
I think it would be great if the NRA reached out to this boy and his parent(s) in an effort to positively impact his life and make lemonade out of the lemon this school shoved down his throat!!
Perhaps an all-expenses paid scholarship to a local PRIVATE SCHOOL. Then if he gets the grades, pay for his college too!
Instead of living his life as an example of what NOT to do, and bearing the stigma of all that entails, he would be given the opportunity to show how positive reinforcement and positive support yield a far better result.
Who knows, maybe he could grow up to be the Attorney that works hard to successfully restore the Second Amendment Rights to all Citizens.
Wouldn't *THAT be juicy! Unintended consequences and all that...
R3
No, no...Zero Tolerance is a good thing. Shows we're puttin' the hammer down.
She is a government bureaucrat and BY DEFINITION has NO accountability to anyone except her boss in the government bureaucracy. She could outrage every citizens in the district and they can't do a thing about her. She can't even lose an election. She can be as stupid, arbitrary and capricious as she wants and will NEVER face any consequences for her actions. The second best thing about working for the government is NEVER having to admit you were wrong.
Meanwhile, the kids are still allowed to keep their sharpened pencils.
That is about the best summary I've ever seen of this insanity.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
ding ding ding!
We have a winner!
Lawsuits are at the very core of the idea of zerotolerance.
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