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Boy Punished After Turning in Fake Gun
Kansas City KCTV5 ^ | 02/03/2005 | Staff

Posted on 02/03/2005 11:22:59 AM PST by 2Am4Sure

GLADSTONE, Mo. -- A fifth-grader learned a lesson the hard way, and he said he was trying to do a good deed.

Frasier McCart said he was waiting for the bus when he discovered what looked like a handgun. It was bent open.

The 10-year-old put it in his bag, bent open, and rode the bus to school. He then went straight to the principal's office and turned the gun in.

He got a day of detention for bringing it onto school property.

"I'm a citizen trying to do a good deed," Frasier said. "I'm a Scout who knows that it's wrong to leave something there that might, that could be real and go off and hurt somebody."

The gun turned out to be fake.

His mother was upset about the situation.

"To me, it kind of sent the wrong message to children trying to do the right thing," said Tracy Johnson, his mother.

The school principal said he should have said something before getting onto the bus and never touched the gun.

"We want to make sure that he's safe at all times and that the other children on that bus were safe," said Marla Wasserman, the Oakwood Manor Elementary principal.

School officials chose a light punishment because he was a good kid, but he needed a message about what he did wrong, the principal said.

"Where I think that he could have made a better decision was in not saying anything to other children and causing them concern and worry," Wasserman said.

Frasier said he couldn't help it. He just couldn't keep a secret very long, but he didn't try to use it to scare the other children, and he wasn't asking for their advice. He said he knew to give it to an adult.

He said next time he found something like that, he'd give it to his mother and miss the bus.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bang; banglist; discipline; eddieeagle; pspl; toyguns; zerotolerance
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I'm sure you'll want to extend your comments to Marla Wasserman, the principal that committed this assininity, at E-mail mwasserm@nkcsd.k12.mo.us
1 posted on 02/03/2005 11:22:59 AM PST by 2Am4Sure
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To: 2Am4Sure

No good deed goes unpunished.


2 posted on 02/03/2005 11:23:46 AM PST by Doctor Stochastic (Vegetabilisch = chaotisch is der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
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To: 2Am4Sure

This is a great opportunity to contact his parents and anyone else within earshot to suggest PRIVATE SCHOOL or HOME SCHOOLING.


3 posted on 02/03/2005 11:25:01 AM PST by FreeKeys (Happy 100th Birthday, Miss Rand!)
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To: 2Am4Sure

The stupidity level among teachers is so great it's beyond measure.


4 posted on 02/03/2005 11:26:24 AM PST by demlosers
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To: 2Am4Sure

This exact thing happened a year or two ago to another child.


5 posted on 02/03/2005 11:28:20 AM PST by moonpie57 (Fred Howell McMurray, Jr...The man on my POW bracelet)
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To: 2Am4Sure

this is absurd.

of course, the results of "zero tolerance" policies often are.


6 posted on 02/03/2005 11:28:48 AM PST by King Prout (Remember John Adam!)
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To: Doctor Stochastic

If it had been a condom instead of a gun he would have received an award.


7 posted on 02/03/2005 11:29:30 AM PST by Defiant1
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To: 2Am4Sure

Done.


8 posted on 02/03/2005 11:29:34 AM PST by Conspiracy Guy (Naked Mole Rats have feelings too. Be nice to them.)
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To: 2Am4Sure

The only problem with not punishing the kid is that another, less honest and more thuggish kid could use the situation as a cover story: "oh yeah, I found this and brought it to school so I could hand it in...." It's a zero tolerance policy for a reason, and all the kid got was detention.


9 posted on 02/03/2005 11:30:53 AM PST by JohnnyZ ("Thought I was having trouble with my adding. It's all right now." - Clint Eastwood)
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To: 2Am4Sure
The school principal said he should have said something before getting onto the bus and never touched the gun.

I gotta say...I disagree with the Principal's reponse in giving the kid a dtention but he is right in what he says. The kid should have left the gun alone and told someone, an adult, about it.

That's what is, or should be, drilled into kids from an early age. We've all seen the PSAs regarding this issue. Just because the kid is a Boy Scout means nothing. He should have not picked up the gun. If there is any doubt, treat the gun as if it is real and as if it is always loaded.

10 posted on 02/03/2005 11:31:02 AM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (You may not think much of the Chinese....but you've got to admit, they've got great acrobats.)
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To: 2Am4Sure
The school principal said he should have said something before getting onto the bus and never touched the gun.

Geez, make this point to the kid, but there is no reason to punish him.

11 posted on 02/03/2005 11:32:36 AM PST by Modernman (What is moral is what you feel good after. - Ernest Hemingway)
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts

I agree.
The kid should have been praised for what he did and also strenly reminded that he should have sought out an adult.
The detention was out of line.


12 posted on 02/03/2005 11:34:15 AM PST by Tacos
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To: Tacos

strenly = sternly


13 posted on 02/03/2005 11:34:46 AM PST by Tacos
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To: 2Am4Sure; FreeKeys

These are the people we trust our kids to.

I wouldn't trust these people to run a convenience store, I wouldn't trust them to mow my lawn, and I don't trust them to educate my kids.

Building a parallel school system, one that may eventually replace the existing one, is job one.


14 posted on 02/03/2005 11:35:49 AM PST by marron
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To: JohnnyZ

So, the message is to leave it there so the less honest and more thuggish kid can use it, rather than turn it in to a responsible adult that prevents the less honest and more thuggish kid from using it, which is why the honest, nice kid did what he did. So let's make sure he never does the right thing again where it concerns his school.


15 posted on 02/03/2005 11:36:20 AM PST by Dewayne
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To: 2Am4Sure

Evil Gun Runner

16 posted on 02/03/2005 11:37:11 AM PST by WildTurkey (When will CBS Retract and Apologize?)
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To: 2Am4Sure

IMO the kid KNEW it was a fake gun. The Principal didn't!
NOw had the kid whipped it out on the bus or in the halls
of the building, he would have been wrong and needed punishment. Going directly to the Principal's office to
turn it in was the PROPER activity. Another stupid
Administrator getting a high salary for wrong decisions!


17 posted on 02/03/2005 11:37:56 AM PST by Grendel9
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To: 2Am4Sure

There was an incident similar to this in either Pflugerville or Round Rock ISD here in central TX. I wanted to post that article, but it never was in the Austin paper - online version.

A second grader found a real .32 caliber pistol on his way to school. He picked it up and took it to the office before doing anything else. (It had the handle wrapped with duct tape - noted by news reporters.)

He was applauded for his actions. Of course, this school is in a heavy Republican county, not the liberal Travis co.


18 posted on 02/03/2005 11:38:21 AM PST by Arrowhead1952 ("I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for," - Howard Dean 01/29/2005)
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Comment #19 Removed by Moderator

To: 2Am4Sure

Courtesy of the NRA

20 posted on 02/03/2005 11:44:59 AM PST by need_a_screen_name
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