Young special-needs child suspended for drawing Jesus

Washington Times ^ | 12/15/2009 | Victor Morton

[markomalley]

An 8-year-old special-needs child was suspended from school and forced to undergo psychiatric counseling over a picture he drew of Jesus Christ dead on the cross for a Christmas assignment.

School officials in Taunton, Mass., said the picture "violated the code of violence in the school handbook," said Toni Saunders, an educational consultant on special-needs children with the Associated Advocacy Center who is working with the boy's family.

"I couldn't believe what they were telling me," the boy's father, Chester Johnson, who also works for the school system as a substitute custodian, told The Washington Times on Tuesday. "I asked her, 'Are you fooling around?'"

Mr. Johnson said his son, who is a slow reader and has "a little speech problem," now wants to transfer schools. Mr. Johnson requested that his son not be named.

"I couldn't believe it," Ms. Saunders added, referring to the suspension. "This is a very religious family. They felt violated because of this."

The fracas began Thanksgiving night, when the boy was taken to see a Christmas display at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Attleboro, Mass. The next week, on Dec. 2, the boy's teacher at Lowell M. Maxham Elementary School asked all the students to draw something that reminded them of Christmas, and the pupil drew a crucifix like the one he had seen at the display.

The boy then was taken to the principal's office and asked why he drew this image.

[markomalley]

This story isn’t quite what it seems to be.

If you take a look at the ABC story linked in post #31, you will see the following:

According to Saunders, school officials began to quiz the boy about the meaning of the Xs on the eyes and about his understanding of death. At one point the boy said he was actually showing himself on a cross. They called his father.

"As soon as he said that that was him on this cross, red flag," said the elder Johnson. She ran with it. Touchdown. I'm going to have him evaluated. There's something wrong with this minority kid. We got to get in his mind," Johnson, who is black, said in a television interview.

And if you read the comments upthread, you will note that many have noted that, as well.