From: Prison Planet
Steve Watson
May 29, 2013
A six-year-old kindergarten student was punished by school officials and forced to apologise after he “caused quite a disturbance” on the school bus by playing with a tiny plastic toy gun Friday.
Mieke Crane, the child’s mother, told reporters at WGGB-TV that she received a letter from teachers at Old Mill Pond Elementary in Palmer, Mass. explaining that another child on the bus had yelled to the driver that her son had a gun.
The letter noted that other children on the bus were “traumatized” by the experience.
The offending item turned out to be around the size of a quarter, as depicted in the letter that the school sent. It is believed to be a Lego army figure gun.
“I think they over-reacted totally. I totally do,” Crane told reporters. “I could see if it was you know, an air soft gun or some sort of pistol or live bullets or something. This is just a toy,” the mother added.
The boy was made to write a letter of apology to the bus driver, and initially given a detention with the prospect of being temporarily suspended from the bus.
However, after viewing surveillance video from the bus, officials have backed down, rescinding the detention and the threat of suspension.
“[the principal] looked at the tape, the children were not standing up hollering, nobody was ducking, no one was screaming he has a gun. The little boy raised his hand properly the first time,” said Crane, referring to the child who was thought to have yelled at the driver.
“He smiled when we told him, he was very excited when we told him he didn’t have to serve the detention,” said Crane.
“I am glad they looked into it. I am glad I spoke up and I am glad my kid is not in trouble anymore,” said Crane.
While the school superintendent nor the principal would comment on the matter, Palmer School Committee Chair Maureen Gallagher said: “There is no issue here. There’s going to be no disciplinary action taken. This is not a story and you can quote me.”
In the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting last December, these kind of ridiculous knee jerk overreactions at schools are now a daily occurrence.
In March, a 7-year-old boy from Maryland was suspended for unintentionally biting his pop tart into the shape of a gun. The incident was the latest in a long line of ridiculous suspensions and disciplinary actions against students for anything even remotely gun related. It prompted Maryland Sen. J. B. Jennings to introduce a bill to stop such idiotic over reactions being played out over and over again in schools.
And boy are they being played out.
A third grader in Michigan was reprimanded by school officials when he brought a cupcake to school with a plastic toy soldier, holding a gun, on top of it.
A ten year old Virginia boy who was arrested for taking a plastic toy gun to school was forced to deal with a potentially permanent criminal record over the incident.
A student in Florence, Arizona was recently suspended because he had a picture of a gun on his computer.
A six-year-old kindergartner in South Carolina was suspended for taking a small transparent plastic toy gun to school for a show and tell.
A five-year-old in Massachusetts who faced suspension for building a small toy gun out of lego bricks and play-shooting his classmates.
We also reported on an incident that erupted when a discussion between two children about a toy nerf gun caused a lockdown and a massive armed police response at two elementary schools in the Bronx.
In another incident, a Long Island high school was also placed on lock down for 6 hours in response to a student carrying a toy nerf gun.
The nerf gun was once again the deadly weapon of choice as a university campus in Rhode Island was placed on lockdown, causing panic and minor injuries when a stampede to flee the building ensued.
In another incident, a teacher at Malden High School in Massachusetts who glimpsed sight of a “gun”, alerted police who rushed to the scene only to discover a neon water pistol. School officials then vowed to track down the suspect who brought the toy to school using surveillance cameras.
In yet another recent incident, a five-year-old girl was suspended after a three hour grilling, and described as a “terroristic threat” when she brought a pink bubble gun to school.
A South Philadelphia elementary student was searched in front of classmates and threatened with arrest after she mistakenly brought a “paper gun” to school.
A 6-year-old boy was suspended from his elementary school, also in Maryland, for making a gun gesture with his hand and saying “pow”.
Another two 6-year-olds in Maryland were suspended for pointing their fingers into gun shapes while playing “cops and robbers” with each other.
A couple of second grade students at a Virginia elementary school were recently suspended for two days after violating the school’s “zero tolerance” policy on weapons when they pointed pencils at other students and made gun noises.
In Oklahoma, a five-year-old boy was also recently suspended for making a gun gesture with his hand.
A 13-year-old Middle School seventh grade student in Pennsylvania was also suspended for the same hand gesture.
The terrorists really are everywhere these days.
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