Posted on 03/05/2010 6:52:07 AM PST by TornadoAlley3
YAKIMA, Wash.- Manuel Alvarez eats breakfast and gets ready for school. He's eager but nervous. He was expelled Monday from Barge Lincoln Elementary for making a gun with his hands. His mom says it's a hand gesture that could have easily been corrected.
"He didn't know did they talk to him about it what actions were taken to tell him this isn't allowed," Lorena Hurtado, Manuel's mother.
Manuel has a clean record never in trouble before his mother says a warning would have worked or even a parent-teacher meeting. Instead, His mom says, Manuel's afraid.
"I got a call from the School saying he's not raising his hand or speaking up. He's scared after we talked about not doing any gestures, he probably doesn't want to to do it because that could be a gesture. It might get him pulled out for two days," said Hurtado.
Manuel's mom doesn't see anything wrong with her son putting his hands like this and shooting down at the ground. She doesn't think it poses an immediate threat to the school or Manuel's classmates. We took the issue to School District employees and asked them about their policy.
"When students are at school they should be concerned about learning….safety shouldn't be a concern at school, we have a zero tolerance policy," said Dr. John Irion, from the Yakima School District.
Hurtado understands the policy, but in this case doesn't think the punishment fits the crime, especially when the student in question is in kindergarten.
"A five-year-old shouldn't be held to the same policy as a 12th grader...he is in kindergarten," said Hurtado.
Lorena Hurtado is appealing the expulsion and wants to try to clear her son's record. She says she doesn't want her five-year-old to be labeled as a troublemaker.
How about DemocRat?
My 8 y/o son loves to shovel snow.
As I said, I would need to know more information about the particular situation.
Has the kid hurt someone badly before?
Has the kid been a continual discipline problem in the past?
Has the kid been warned multiple times to NOT do such a thing?
How ruff a neighborhood do these kids come from?
Has the kid been caught with real weapons at school before?
Does the kid have psychological problems?
Does the kid have serious abuse issues?
I could go on and on... I know it's easy to jump to conclusions and say BUT HE IS ONLY 5! Yeah, that's YOUR 5 year old, but 5 year olds in Somalia are running around with automatic rifles helping mow down opposing tribes.
Banning thumbs wouldn’t work with my kids, they know daddy has hammerless revolvers at home and would just be pointing at people then blowing the make believe smoke from the fingertip.
from the article
Manuel has a clean record never in trouble before his mother says a warning would have worked or even a parent-teacher meeting.
I guess they could pull it to find out.
An anonymous phone call to the Yakima Police Department stating that Dr. John Irion has a deadly weapon in the trunk of his vehicle might put to challenge the idea of this "zero tolerance policy".
He might get lucky and not have a tire iron in his trunk, but I doubt it.
Bullshit!
I have heard of kids as young as 9 being recruited in Nigeria as soldiers, but they are usually used to carry stuff for the others. A 5 year old is dramatically different from even a 9 year old in physical ability and mental reasoning.
One more epithet for them is always good... ;-)
Am I the only one to notice that these “zero tolerance” policies always punish the GOOD kids from good families to the fullest extent,
but you hardly ever hear of an “at risk youth” being kicked out over something like this?
Oh Please.
The Article says he has never been in trouble.
Plus, I don’t know if you noticed this, but you can not actually load and shoot your finger, even if you say the magic words Bang Bang.
I have a very strong 10 year-old; think gymnast. He was about 8 before he could hold and fire one of our semi-auto rifles, but he certainly couldn't run around, nor even walk all that far. He couldn't reload the weapon, and even has trouble now. At age 5? Nope. No way.
Helping to mow down opposing tribes? Do you work for the MSM?
So if the kid picks his nose with his index finger, do they put him on suicide watch?
This idiot public school would faint when it found out that my 11 year old home schooled son gets together with another home schooled boy and they shoot REAL ARROWS!! OMGosh! The humanity!
http://www.worldpress.org/images/20091015-shariah.jpg
and while your at it you can update wikipedia with your revelations about children not fighting in wars here
and don't even think of looking at this poor kid here that doesn't exist
http://taiyak.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/guns1.jpg
and here is the muslim version
I could go on and on.. all over the world children are being handing automatic weapons as soon as they are old enough to hold them and pull the trigger.
Yakima School District Superintendent John Irion is an idiot.
(Google bomb time)
sorry, put up the wrong link in regards to wiki
here is the correct link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_use_of_children
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