Suspension overturned for 1st-grader who talked about toy guns
PASCO, Wash. (AP) - The Pasco School District decided to overturn the suspension of a first-grader who was sent home for taking about toy guns.
The district determined no discipline was warranted after talking with the parents.
The father, Mike Aguirre, told the Tri-City Herald his son Noah was punished for talking about Nerf guns and there's no evidence he threatened to harm another student.
The 6-year-old was suspended Feb. 28 at James McGee Elementary School. The district said Wednesday the incident will be erased from his record.
The district determined no discipline was warranted after talking with the parents.
The father, Mike Aguirre, told the Tri-City Herald his son Noah was punished for talking about Nerf guns and there's no evidence he threatened to harm another student.
The 6-year-old was suspended Feb. 28 at James McGee Elementary School. The district said Wednesday the incident will be erased from his record.
When I was in school, some of the High School students had high powered deer rifles inÂ
locked gun racks in pickup trucks during hunting season so that they could leave afterÂ
school to go deer hunting with their dads. In today's society these youth would haveÂ
been locked up.Â
I might add that the presence of those firearms in the school student parking lot wereÂ
not an issue back then. I graduated from high school 50 years ago this coming June.
Now even talking about TOY guns will get a child suspended. That is truly
unadulterated unneutered male bovine fecal excrement to my way of thinking.
The teachers, and administrators that did this are the individuals that should
have been suspended without pay, or perhaps even fired.
I thought by now we would have hit bottom on ludicrous, frenzied and crazed anti- gun talk. Anti-gunners not only want to ban guns, they want to ban the word 'gun'. itself! Â Kids need to be kids, and since time immemorial, kids have been playing cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, Â playing soldier, and fighting with Star Wars light sabers. Â Kids and toy guns have never had anything to do with the mentality of adults and guns. Â All it accomplishes is stigmatizing their young minds. Â Any teacher in their right mind should have brushed this off..its a Nerf gun, for crying out loud!
  I think the teacher was looking for pats on the back for doing such a good anti-gun job for  anti-gunners.  The dad did exactly the wrong thing by punishing his son.  If he were my son, I would have told him "Son, there are a lot of adults upset about real guns.  They made a mistake by getting upset about you talking about your toy nerf gun, because its a toy.  Its ok for you to talk about your toys. Now go play."
 It's just like Ralphie on 'A Christmas Story' and his Red Ryder BB gun." In this atmosphere, I wouldn't put it past the anti-gunners try to ban America's favorite Christmas movie!
The damage done by a momentarily paranoid segment of society can last for generations.  Then we can look forward to an even more SSRI anti-depressant saturated populace, complete with their meth-like paranoia and sleep deprivation side-effects, which, incidentally,  most, if not all the mass shooters were on!  In America, people don't ask their elders, so I'll offer- I've been around for 60 years, and I'm from a large family.  I can guarantee  that before all these psychiatric drugs were prescribed to everyone and their dogs, that mass shootings of any kind were more rare than a full eclipse of the sun.  Society is being experimented on en mass.  That is what needs to stop!
Way to go dad - really sticking up for your son??Â
There is a lot of bashing on the School administrators for a lack of common sense.Perhaps that is justified; but take a moment to look at it from their side.They are stuck in a difficult position under constant threat of litigation either from someone who feels that their child was threatened by another childâs words/actions or by the parents of a child who felt their boy/girl was treated to harshly.If they do nothing, people gripe and say do more; if they do something people gripe and say youâre doing to much.
Zero Tolerence is stupid for sure, but the school systems are cash strapped and we are a country of litigation so they are better to be overly strict and retract the one or two suspensions that were clearly not justified than to not be strict enough and face lawsuits.
All that being said, that is a sweet Nerf gun and dang sure cooler than the ones we had as kids.
@Justaguy Common sense is dead, It now needs a new title---perhaps refering to it's
slow resurrection as rare sense would be more appropriate.
@Justaguy My kids have them...fully-auto without the need for a class 3 stamp!!
@Justaguy Abolish government schools. Send your kid to a private school whose policies you agree to. CHOICE.
@contraryjim My pleasure.  Are you paying the tuition?
@Justaguy I understand where you are coming from, but foisting responsibility for one's actions onto others is reprehensible.  I am the father of a troubled youth, and it has nothing to do with the values I have taught him.  Whatever his issues may be, I am only concerned with helping him deal with them and becoming a responsible adult.  Nonetheless, when we recently found out there was no avenue available to us to get him help, his school insisted we take him to the emergency room.  Despite the fact that I knew there was nothing they could do (he had not caused harm to anyone, nor did he have thoughts of harming himself), I had no choice but to take him to the ER.  After all, if I didn't, the school would have cause to file a case with Child Protective Services for child neglect. Â
As a result of my "covering my ass" in response to the school "covering their asses", I am now in possession of hundreds of dollars of medical bills I cannot afford to pay.  Forgive me if I have little tolerance for the school administration's need to "cover their ass".  They don't have to pay the medical bills.  Rarely does a day go by that I am not asked by the public school to come in and educate my child, because they are unable to do so.  The State mandates that I send my child to school, but abdicates all responsibility for dealing with a troubled youth.  I am not a professional in childhood development or treating children at-risk, but I sure as hell feel like the State expects me to be one.
Sorry if my response upsets anyone, but this subject really touches a nerve.
@Tim Lane - I don't have children but I have many friends and family members who have gone through what you are going through. What parents are going through with public schools is absolutely horrendous anymore. There needs to be something done but I'm at a loss what - I do applaud my cousin who decided to home school her children based on what she had seen and dealt with. It's not an option for everybody but more and more people are doing it.Â
@JustaguyMaybe they need a constant threat of litigation from parents who feel their children were unfairly disciplined.Â
Schools should be Teaching kids about guns - not suspending them for talking about them !! Â
Really...
Do we need to change the verbage to idiots can understand? Gun can mean anything that causes a projectile to move. A Firearm is a device using gunpowder to propel a slug. What would happen if a kid came in and says his blue collar father provides for his family by building houses with a nail gun? What a bout a girl who showed off her newly pierced ears that was done by a piercing gun?Â
FormerMarineSgt is right. Teachers are no longer allowed to use their innate common sense to assess these situations. The incursion of these absolutist policies is coming from administrators and professional bureaucrats. Teachers and principals have no room to mitigate such matters. It's getting to the point that sending your kids to public schools could be considered a form of child abuse.
@marsneedswomen yes they do. They choose not to.  Don't make me Godwin this thread this early.
@EastSideTony
Heh, good one. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law
@marsneedswomen So true.
I find it interesting that there every comment posted here agrees that this decision to suspend the 6 yo for talking about a Nerf gun is foolish and unreasonable. I don't think that I have ever met a person that would agree that the suspension is reasonable. Who in heck are these people who make these rules. Are they idiots or just inflexible (or both). I would love to hear from someone who thinks that the suspension is reasonable.
@SCobert Zero tolerance policies are about social engineering, not what is right and wrong. You will not find anyone who overtly supports the punishment, because that is not how the discussion is couched.Â
You will find support for Zero tolerance policies however, and to understand those, you have to understand the mindset of the type individual who is seeking to control the develoing minds of children through fear and intimidation and punishment for not following the new social order.
@EastSideTony @SCobert Exactly, they are preying on and taking advantage of the peer pressure and conformist attributes of youngsters.
@PlumBUSTED! @EastSideTony @SCobert how else to recreate a society of independent minded individualists into conformist group-thinking sheep? Start young (and that is why my kids are home schooled)
@SCobert Good luck with that.
This song sums up the lives of public school kids now days.
 For the lyrics press on the -show more- button.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUHFfR8hWcA
Absolutely ridiculous - do we have no common sense anymore? Â Way to teach the kid to hate school early on.
@JusticeSeeker I wonder how many more stories exactly like this never make the news?
What is truly sad about this story is that it took a round of public humiliation to get those administrators to do what should have been obvious in the first place. Â And the scary part about it is that these are the idiots charged with educating our children.
@Tim Lane I'm finding hard to believe that ALL these 'educated' professionals can be so DIM when it comes to common sense.  This is happening way to often to be the random stupidity factor. You are right, they only seem back down when it's brought out for public ridicule.  It's almost seems like it's POLICY.  Do it until caught.
@K. Coleman I'm sure it is policy; unwritten policy, but policy nonetheless.  The schools are absolutely paranoid about financial liability.  It is a sad fact that in this country, anytime there is any sort of tragedy, a lawsuit is inevitable, even if no one was negligent in any way.  Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell our kids that they can no longer be kids.
What a bunch of crap! This is getting out of control!
@Thepriest 'getting' ? Its way past that, sadly.
Progressives want to control every aspect of our lives. Suspend the principal!
Whoa there Geronimo.
It's not the liberals/progressives that are the problem, it's the absolutist way it's carried out.
'Talking about a toy gun I got for my birthday / I have at home' should never considered anything but normal child talk.
btw - the people who charged the kid could easily be conservatives as easily as they could be libs.
@FormerMarineSgt No. it is the progressive liberals who have crafted these policies with the express purpose of crafting children who will follow the sheep mentality.  Rough playing boys are forced into non-rough play, zero tolerance policies for any weapon, pharma and even food types, each of these policies is drafted, and enforced, not to enhance the learning environment, but to constrain minds early early into a mold devised by the progressive tranzi. Do this over and over and over, and a preponderance of sheep is the result.  It take a philosophy of pure evil to perpetuate this, and don't ever mistake progressives as anything other than evil.
Not to mention, violated his first amendment rights...LOLÂ Â Heaven forbid some kid "shoot" a rubber band at another student... Wonder how long they would get suspended for "shooting" at a student..Â
There is a word for those people who take this kind of action.... IDIOTS
Sounds to me like the teachers and staff are the ones in need of training.
@theToucan If we do not follow policy we are insubordinate and can be fired. I know many of you think teachers can't be fired but you could not be more wrong. Our existence is tenuous.
@thebigteacher @theToucan Resist and follow what is right, not what is policy. Force good judgment and stand up for what you believe in, or you will fall for anything.
@EastSideTony@thebigteacher@theToucanDue to a down turn in the economy there has been a huge decrease in private school enrollment. What is funny is many of these parents are so pleased with the public school's performance they plan on not returning to private schools. 3 of 4 major Studies (University of Illinois, & NCES, under GW Bush no less) found that when you compare apples to apples, public schools do as well or better on average than private schools. When asked, the majority of Americans give our public school system a C- but when asked about their home public school the grade changes to an A or A-. Interesting disconnect isn't it?
@thebigteacher @EastSideTony @theToucan The founding fathers were, indeed, progressive; Championing individual liberty and freedom, and a foundation of Natural Law. The term Progressive today means conformist to an agenda of the destruction of individual liberty, and the trading of liberty for the illusion of peace. The founding fathers would be disgusted.
I am glad to see that media still has teachers pegged as well respected, but I can assure you, the growth of private schools and the homeschool movement is a direct response to the loss of respect for the public school system. (OK, not teachers)
I apologize for the wide brush I may have covered teachers with. There are great ones, I know this to be true, but the system as a whole is loosing credibility..
@EastSideTony@thebigteacher@theToucan"progressive fools", very poor choice of words. Our founding fathers were progressive.
Unless you are the Superintendent or the School Board there is little a principal can do. Many who have tired of teaching or struggled with it become administration.Â
Forbes ranks teachers as the 5th most respected profession.
Harris Interactive places us at #3.
So contrary to the hate often spewed on this site most people still respect and hold us in high regard.
@thebigteacher @EastSideTony @theToucan Then work a little harder, get to administration, and dismantle it from the inside. Make teachers and administrators be seen as intelligent, rational beings again, not as reactionary progressive fools. It used to be that Journalist were once one of the most respected professions in America, then they turned into progressive cosmos. Now, they are trusted less than lawyers. Teachers were once respected, and now that respect is slipping, and slipping fast. I suggest you work from within to do what you can to salvage your professions image.
@EastSideTony @thebigteacher @theToucan It took me 6 years of college and $50.000 dollars to get my BS, 2 BAs and 2 minors. It took another 2 years and $30,000 to get my MA. That is a lot to risk. Once you are marked as a problem you will not get a job in another district.  Add to that the condemnation from many on this site for those teachers fighting against the MAP and we are darned if we do and darned if we don't.
@EastSideTony@thebigteacher@theToucan "Resist and follow what is right, not what is policy."
you can stand up and voice what you think is right - but still have to follow PolicyÂ
This is just getting Assinine!! What, a 6 or 7 year old boy talks about his birthday present to his friends and is suspended?? WTF????? We suspend a kid for nibbling a gun out of a pop tart? G-Wizz!!! who do these liberals think they're dealing with John Dillinger and a soap gun??? Give me a break!!
I don't know that they are liberals or not,,, but surely, they are Idiots...
This is part of what's wrong with America. We glamorize firearms in music, movies, videogames and media, yet we teach children to be deathly afraid of them in real life and that they are an unspeakable "taboo" subject. This dichotomy is creating insane attitudes towards a simple tool.
Children should be taught firearm safety from an early age. The same way they are taught how to carefully handle scissors or not pick up a hot pan from the stove. Firearms are only a tool.Â
Wait, they will start using the term "G-word"
@NW-Economist I wish I could like this 1000 times.Â
Its these dumb zero tolerance rules.  I brought a knife to school once my mom pack in my lunch.  I got suspended for the rest of the week.  But the class before lunch I was working with metal shears, cutting torches, wielders(Gas), box cutters and numerous other things that I could have use as a weapon.  But my dinner table knives was a weapon that could not stand.  When I got back to school I had all those things available to me again. Lucky I wasn't crazy cause I could have done some damage if I was crazy and angry.  Lets not forget about the paper cutter in every class room either that is just a  big sharp sword basically.  And scissors those are two knives loosely attached to each other.
@APenny4MyThoughts ROTFLMAO!  I really enjoyed your post.Â