Posted on 12/14/2006 9:23:06 AM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist
Plainfield Student's Parents Say The Punishment Doesn't Make Sense
(CBS) PLAINFIELD, Ill. -- A 13-year-old Plainfield boy and his parents are stunned and outraged after the teen found a gun in school and turned it in to authorities, who then expelled him.
CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reports Ryan Morgan's parents and supporters attended the school board meeting Wednesday evening to try to fight the expulsion. They believe the punishment, and the subsequent alternative school option, are not the proper responses to a mistake made by a teenage boy.
Ryan Morgan, 13, says he pocketed a pellet gun he and a friend found in their school's bathroom to keep people safe. Morgan's mother says a short time later Morgan gave the gun to the Troy Middle School assistant principal.
"I told him maybe that wasn't the best decision, to remove that gun, but it did lead to you finding the culprit, he was arrested and to put my son in alternative school -- he has no behavior problems," Audrey Morgan, Ryan's mother, said.
The Morgans say there was no reasoning with the principal or with the school superintendent.
"He said, 'The board can give your son full two-year expulsion, I'm asking you not to go before them,'" Audrey Morgan said.
They went anyway, saying they had nothing to lose, only to see the meeting minutes already recommend expulsion.
Roy Morgan says he can't accept that, but accepts his son's decision.
"He said 'I'm going to turn this in' and you know what, I commend my son for making that decision. It was the right decision," he said.
School board officials issued a statement Wednesday night saying due to confidentiality reasons they can't discuss the specifics of this case, but that "purposeful possession of weapons is a serious offense and deserves careful consideration by the administration and the school board."
Stop, Don't Touch, Leave the area, tell and adult... say it with me now....
Thee idiots are teaching children in the public school system?
Just get your boy out of that public cesspool...er..school and homeschool him.
The lunatics are in charge of the asylum.
We need to break the monopoly, not of state schools, but of Colleges of Education, that turn out the idiots we have for school administrators and teachers.
We are only hearing one side to this story. I think the "zero tolerance" policies are stupid. However, there is always another side.
I would like to know if the young man was asked about the non gun ( a pellet gun is not a gun in civilized society) before he turned it in.
No good deed goes unpunished.
"You're gonna shoot your eye out, kid."
Unfreakin' believable! Another case of "zero tolerance/zero brains" strikes again. It's beyond time to close these gov't indoctrination centers and get back to common sense!
touch the area, dont tell, stop adult, leave
Did I do it right? Was that close enough?
I'm having such a hard time....
Had he simply told the School authorities about the gun and the gun was gone when the authorities arrives, they would have probably expelled him for creating a false incident!
Huh???????
That's true, but history has shown us that usually knowing more of the story simply make the school officals involved look even more stupid, if that's possible.
What in the world do these "officials" expect to do if it ever becomes necessary to defend the homeland or their families? Just talk the enemy to death?
When did reason, rational thought and the ability to think and use common sense completely die in this country.
The "liberals" want gun hysteria. They're all a bunch of Dukaki. What a bunch of sissy wussies.
Sometimes, I think we're doomed.
One should NEVER take an article like this at face value.
Actually, history has shown that there is almost always more to the story; and it has also shown that the mediots typically get the agreed-upon facts wrong.
I've seen plenty of school idiots, but there's undoubtedly more to this story.
No doubt even telling someone about the "gun" would have gotten him in trouble, since he was, at some point, aware of it.
Just back away quietly. Tell no one. Forget you saw anything.
School Boards that implement and support such retarded zero tolerance policies should be held accountable, thoroughly humiliated, and then fired by the parents in the district.
I agree. There are definitely pieces missing here. Things in news stories are not always what they appear to be.
I'm sure the board is representing the views of those who elected them.
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