Posted on 09/20/2006 4:44:30 AM PDT by jmq
First-Grader Suspended Over Plastic Squirt Gun School District Says Policy Prohibits Exceptions
POSTED: 3:50 pm CDT September 19, 2006 UPDATED: 5:01 pm CDT September 19, 2006 Email This Story | Print This Story Sign Up for Breaking News Alerts KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A mother is angry that her first-grader was suspended from school over a plastic toy gun.
"I asked her, 'You're going to suspend my son for 10 days for this? He cannot harm a soul with this,'" said Danielle Womack, whose son, Tawann Caskey, was suspended from Milton Moore Elementary School.
KMBC's Natalie Moultrie reported that Tawann was suspended over a 2-inch plastic squirt gun.
"She told me it's a weapon, a little girl saw it and reported to a teacher that he had a weapon," Womack said.
According to Kansas City, Mo., School District policy, the squirt gun is a simulated weapon and a class IV, which is the most serious school offense. Moultrie reported that principals have no discretion in cases like Tawaan's. It is an automatic 10-day suspension.
"We ask our principals for safety of students and staff, and we do follow the code of conduct and do not give exceptions to Class IV offenses. We take it very seriously," the school district's Phyllis Budesheim said.
Moultrie reported that the incident will stay on Tawann's school record. But Womack said her son does not understand why he's not in school.
"I think this could have been resolved in a different way. It's wrong to bring it school, but come on, he's 6 years old. This would not hurt a soul," Womack said.
The school district said it is all policy -- one that the school told students and parents about at the start of the year.
"We regret that this happened. My feeling is that by not giving any exceptions, this young man will not bring a toy gun to school again," Budesheim said.
The school district said that the incident should be a reminder to parents to check their children's backpacks before they go to school.
Moultrie reported that Womack is waiting to state her case before a school district hearing Wednesday morning.
There's been a couple of cases where they wouldn't let someone who'd already joined the military on the delayed enlistment or reporting program, have a photo in the yearbook posed with a cannon or rifle, while they were wearing a uniform.
Indeed, back in the early 60s, when I was in 9th grade, not little kid anymore, some friends and I decided to go hunting after school. We rode our bicycles down a main arterial street in a city of 125,000 or so, with both cased and uncased shotguns over the handlebars. No one called the police, the police would have laughed at them if they had. Now we'd be taken into custody and to juvi hall, even if we hadn't actually committed a crime, but "just in case".
When I was younger, I'd ride that bike down the main street of the business district of what had once been a separate town, with a BB gun. I'd go into stores with it, or leave it with the bike. Usually the stop at the store was for more BBs and maybe a Superman comic book (10-12 cents) and/or a bottle of pop. (10 cents + 2 cents deposit) :)
How could other posters make such disparaging remarks toward a Freeper as eloquent and thoughtful as you? (visited your home page).
I wouldn't send my dog to a public school.
LOL! I dunno - haven't figured that out myself. :-)
Quality journalism!
Just wait 'til you see the picture of the "gun". ;-)
This ping list is for the "other" articles of interest to homeschoolers about education and public school. If you want on/off this list, please freepmail me. The main Homeschool Ping List by DaveLoneRanger handles the homeschool-specific articles.
That's what I did. Socially, I always gave my husband's last name, but legally I kept my maiden name, thinking it would be easier than changing all other documents to my new name. What a mistake! Whether we were buying a house or taking our kids to the hospital, everyone was confused.
The questions I got:
"Are you REALLY married or just saying that?"
"And who are you? You're his... MOTHER? Really?"
It never helped that my kids look nothing like me... lol.
All that said, it is possible that the mother is a single mother who gave her child the father's last name. That's quite common.
And I suppose no one here thinks a kid with squirt gun is just a ~tad~ disruptive in school? Long live freedom and liberty for six year olds and all that?
And then, there is also the issue of what's in the gun – children do some pretty stupid things for reasons often unclear to the adult around them; if their child gets a squirt of bleach or insecticide in he face are most parent going to accept the explanation that “boys will be boys” or “it's only a squirt-gun anyway”?
Finally, there's the question of why any child should be in the possession of any object that's sole purpose in a school is to distract and disrupt.
Excellent post!
Furthermore parents who try to get in the middle and contradict the school instead of supporting school discipline are doing their children a terrible disservice. When I was a kid, if I got in trouble at school, I was in BIG trouble at home. I had better behave, my mommy was not going to get me out of it.
The articles says:
KMBC's Natalie Moultrie reported that Tawann was suspended over a 2-inch plastic squirt gun.
"She told me it's a weapon, a little girl saw it and reported to a teacher that he had a weapon," Womack said.
One of my sons used to belong to a boys-only homeschool club, and one of their favorite activities in the hot weather was a water gun fight. They'd bring all their water guns - a lot bigger than the two-inch red plastic thing this 6 year old brought to school - my son would load up with the double-action squirt guns - and battle each other in teams. (It never turned my son into a bully, that's for sure).
I can understand a school not permitting water guns at all. But I think they should just take the water gun away. Suspending a child for 10 days just because another child "saw" the toy is over the top. :-)
This is absurd. Actually, the mother would be well-advised to find her son some good books to read. He'd learn more from reading at home than from the school lessons.
I hope the mother surfs the internet. Maybe she'll come across this thread and think about homeschooling or private school. ;-)
Class of '82 here. :-) Grew up in PA, not NJ. But now I live in South Jersey. And I believe you. People don't know that much of NJ is rural. A lot of pickup trucks and gun clubs in my area (but, no, I don't own the first, nor do I belong to the second). Still lots of wilderness here, too.
Class of '84, still in South Jersey!
TPK exit 2
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