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.
BTW the gun was about 3 inches and completely red in color.
confront, humiliate and outthink these pc a$$holes....that is what i have had to do with my kids, and for the most part it works ( confront a bully and they usually back down )
Gosh, I can't believe I just defended a public school administration.
Zero Tolerance = Zero Intelligence.
A plastic squirt "gun" is called a weapon, and they take it very seriously.
Then obviously they do not have normal healthy minds.
They'll take my squirt gun when they pry it from my cold, dead hand.
""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.""
This woman is a complete idiot. She should be embarrassed.
It's official. We've become a nation of total pu**ies.
There. Fixed it.
zero tolerance works. if you're a police state.
What poor behavior? The kid is six.
WHY is a red squirt gun considered by the school as a Class whaterverthehell "weapon".Too many coulda mightas and maybes to come up with that defense.
One thing he will most likely take out of it is that school adults are not to be trusted and their punishments do not reflect the "crime" and that they are really dumb. Not now...but by high school certainly.
And the schools will have labeled him as a "troublemaker".
One big happy circle.
Zero Tolerance = Zero Intelligence."Zero Tolerance" is how the school boards and teachers' unions create the appearance of "doing something" without ever having to exercise anything resembling judgement or common sense.
-Eric
I've seen the slow pu**ification of America since the early 60s. I am glad my dad isnt around to see this......
Nothing in the article sttates that. Although I don't know about the school crime in the area or the discipline problems the school encounters. On the surface is sounds dumb, but there may be more than meets the eys as you suggested.
Nope, they did it because some dolt codified as 'zero tolerance' policy under which squirt guns were 'simulated weapons' for which the sentence meeted out was a 10 day suspension.
Like the poster just after you said, 'zero tolerance = zero intelligence'.
Our schools have the same policies. And for the most part, our children have never really had toy guns to play with. My son has a pellet gun, though. I'm safe for the time being, it's too big to fit in the backpack if he tried. :)
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