Punishment Upheld for Kindergartner Who Imagined Finger as Gun

AP ^ | June 22, 2003

[sarcasm]

AYREVILLE, N.J., June 21 — The Sayreville school district did not violate the civil rights of a kindergartner it suspended three years ago for pretending his hand was a gun and threatening to shoot his friends as they played during recess, a federal appeals court has ruled.

The ruling, issued Thursday by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia and first reported in The Home News Tribune of East Brunswick, affirmed a federal court decision last year. In that decision, a Federal District Court in Newark had dismissed a lawsuit filed by the boy's parents.

The parents, Scot and Cassandra Garrick, sued the school district after their son and three other pupils at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School were suspended for three days after an incident on March 15, 2000.

The children were playing at the time, pretending that their fingers were guns and saying to one another, "I want to shoot you." Their words were overheard by classmates, who told teachers.

The suspensions, part of the district's "zero tolerance" policy on violence, came just two weeks after a Michigan first grader killed a classmate with a handgun he had taken to school.

The Garricks were the only parents to bring a civil suit against the district. They sought unspecified damages and wanted the suspension removed from their son's permanent record. The Garricks enrolled their child in private school after the incident.

The court ruled that the district had not violated the Garrick boy's rights to free speech and due process. It said there must be a balance between the "freedom to advocate unpopular and controversial views in the classroom" and "society's countervailing interest in teaching students the boundaries of socially appropriate behavior."

The superintendent of schools, Dennis Fyffe, called the ruling a victory for the district.

"These students were suspended under the school policy that deals with general school behavior," Mr. Fyffe told The Home News Tribune. "This was not cops and robbers."

Nisha N. Mohammed, a spokeswoman for the Rutherford Institute, a conservative Virginia-based nonprofit group that is representing the Garricks, said the parents were outraged by the ruling and were determined to appeal.

[Bobby777]

"Gigli" is the Ben Affleck-Jennifer Lopez movie dud of the summer ... all Madonna movies are bad (I've heard, never actually saw one, except about 5 minutes of "Desperately Seeking Susan") ... the Leroy Nieman paintings, I believe, are like the dogs playing poker, etc.

referenced in "Top Secret" ... fun if you liked "Airplane" ...

[goldstategop]

Its insane. We're punishing kindergartner toddlers for playing cops and robbers. This isn't zero tolerance; this is political correctness run amok. Shame on the court for upholding this travesty of justice!

[Squantos]

Hows that Florida Heat getting to ya ? Ready to get back up here to the Panhandle . Gonna be near zero this December....I know you'll miss that !

Stay Safe !

[Mr. Mojo]

Can you imagine what these feeble-brains must think of the game "cowboys and indians"?

[Joe Brower]

[ladylib]

I think poor Dan Rather is getting blasted by everyone about his program on homeschoolers/child abusers, especially when people found out that the producer of the show told a North Carolina homeschooling group that they wouldn't be "happy with the report" and that the reason for the show was to increase governmental control over homeschoolers. That's pretty one-sided reporting as far as I'm concerned. I e-mailed CBS saying that.

The reporting staff and Rather just showed their ignorance of homeschooling and the fact that they have an agenda (regulating homeschooling). I wouldn't doubt it if the NEA put them up to it.

[DJ MacWoW]

Okay. So, thinking this through, you can "give" the finger and it's ok. You can "point" a finger and it's ok. But you can't point a finger and verbalize. Or was it the 5 yr olds powerful recoil action that gave away that he had a loaded finger? Hmmmm. Do you think he'd have gotten in less trouble for a spitball?

[DannyTN]

"I think poor Dan Rather is getting blasted by everyone about his program on homeschoolers/child abusers, especially when ..."

I hope you are right. I hope he is getting blasted by more than just the conservative press.

I read where the major media is complaining because Bush is starting to bypass them and go directly to local affiliates to tell them the progress made in Iraq.

[DannyTN]

"Do you think he'd have gotten in less trouble for a spitball? "

Depends entirely on whether he imagined the spitball was an artillary shell or not.

[gcruse]

Hiya, SQ. It's 82 during the day, 60 at night. Usually partly cloudy and a good rain every now and then. The neighbors haven't watered their lawn since May yet the place is a green as a jungle. Ah, the good life. Cheers!!

[Jim Cane]

is it OK to use sarcasm, when replying to sarcasm?

Why do you let people use you like that?

[BBell]

I picked my son up at daycare one day and him and a friend were shooting each other. One had a plastic chicken thigh and the other a plastic banana. Oh the horror!

[bk1000]

"Can you imagine what these feeble-brains must think of the game "cowboys and indians"?"

That would be the worst! Imagine small children perpetuating the genocide of the evil white invader against the peaceful indian. This must be stopped! (/sarcasm)

[asformeandformyhouse]

agreed ... but what to do?

Homeschool. Nothing makes the point to the NEA better.

[DannyTN]

"Why do you let people use you like that? "

because he gets turned on and off by it.

[Semaphore Heathcliffe]

Their words were overheard by classmates, who told teachers.

"OK, class. Everyone raise you hand if Daddy has any guns at home."

[Gritty]

"Zero tolerance" my @$$. These are 5 year olds playing a harmless game which every kid has played.

This is nothing but a political agenda to do to guns what they have already done to tobacco! Imagine the demonization of firearms going on in the heads of all these little kids this very minute. This is an extremely impressionable age, and the fascists in this country know it and and are taking advantage of their position running the education bureacracy - with our money, of course!

[DJ MacWoW]

Depends entirely on whether he imagined the spitball was an artillery shell or not.

I'm sitting here giggling cause I used to defend my little playground battler and he grew up and became an artillery gunner. LOL!!! He didn't use spitballs though. But you can light golf balls by shooting them out of a cannon. *ahem* Goodness, this school is lucky my kids are grown and were never in their district.