AUTHORITIES OUT-OF-CONTROL: School Children Reprimanded for harmless play labeled as 'Violent'

[BlastTyrant]

Ya it's not pretty how things are going these days

 

[Samstwitch]

Teen Punished for Stopping a Knife-Wielding Bully From Attacking a Student

Briar MacLean made a split-second decision at school last week.

Sitting in class in Calgary, he heard some students start to bully another student. Briar told Canada’s National Post that he saw one boy put another boy in a headlock. Then Briar, who attends Sir John A. Macdonald Junior High School, heard the flick of a knife.

He wasn’t trying to play a hero when he pushed the knife-wielding bully away from his classmate. But school officials accused him of exactly that. His mother, Leah O’Donnell, said that the school’s vice-principal told her that the school doesn’t “condone heroics” and a teacher should always be called in such situations.

Briar was reprimanded for helping out his fellow student. The bully was suspended and the police were called.

Some bullying experts say that the school should be commending—not punishing—Briar for his actions.

“By reprimanding Briar, the administration is demonstrating to bullies that students who intervene will be reprimanded,” Richard Brenner, author of 101 Tips for Targets of Workplace Bullies, told TakePart. “This can only encourage bullies.”

Brenner said the school appears to have its own problems since it was possible for “a bully to engage a target with a teacher in the room.”

He added, “This administration is sorely in need of some education about bullying policy.”

Areva Martin, a lawyer, is the founder and president of Special Needs Network, Inc., a Los Angeles-based organization created specifically to raise awareness of issues that impact individuals with autism and related disabilities. She says that as many as two-thirds of a classroom may be bullied.

 

[Samstwitch]

Gun play: 'Zero tolerance' toward schoolkids could backfire, says expert

Little boys around the nation keep getting in trouble for guns – whether they’re made of plastic, formed by fingers or even fashioned from Pop-Tarts – but some experts say having “zero tolerance” for games children have played for centuries is turning the adults into bullies and backfiring on kids.

Elementary educators trying to discourage children from settling pretend beefs with pretend guns is nothing new. But in the aftermath of the Connecticut school shooting, and with the grownups increasingly polarized over the Second Amendment, rules for recess, on the bus and in the classroom have become stricter than ever.

Some say too strict.

“These zero-tolerance policies are psychotic, in the strict sense of the word: psychotic means ‘out of touch with reality,’” Dr. Leonard Sax, a Pennsylvania psychologist and family physician, and author of “Boys Adrift,” told FoxNews.com.

In recent months, there have been several examples of children being disciplined for what was once seen as innocent role play.

A group of students was suspended this month from a Washington state elementary school for using Nerf dart guns as part of a math lesson, despite having permission from their teacher.

In March, second-grader Josh Welch was suspended from a Maryland elementary school after unknowingly biting a Pop-Tart into the shape of a gun.

"I just kept on biting it and biting it and tore off the top of it, and it kind of looked like a gun," Welch told a local Fox affiliate.

Last month, also in Maryland, a 5-year-old boy who brought an orange-tipped cap gun onto his Calvert County school bus was suspended for 10 days, according to his family and a lawyer. The child was grilled for more than two hours by a school principal and wet himself, according to his family.

Girls have been swept up in the phenomenon as well. In January, a fifth-grade student in Philadelphia broke down in tears after being scolded in front of her classmates for accidentally bringing to school a piece of paper that was folded into the shape of a gun and given to her by her grandfather. And a 6-year-old South Carolina girl was expelled after bringing a toy gun to school.

Sax said he worries about the long-term effect, particularly on boys, of being told the games they play make them bad.

“Out-of-touch policies such as these, which criminalize behaviors which have always been common among young kids, are contributing to the growing proportion of American kids, especially boys, who regard school as a stupid waste of time and who can’t wait to get out of school so that they can get back to playing their video games,” Sax said.

Dr. Dan Kindlon, a child psychology professor at Harvard University who specializes in behavioral problems of children and adolescents, said school administrators have a strong basis for delivering the anti-gun message to kids.

“It would seem to be an overreaction to discipline a 6-year-old for pretending his finger is a gun barrel, but I am sure that the specter of Sandy Hook, Columbine, et cetera, haunts the dreams of many school administrators,” said Kindlon.

Sax doesn’t disagree, but said those school administrators should get their point across in a less heavy-handed way.

“There are more effective ways to encourage good behavior and to discourage criminal behavior, without disengaging boys from school altogether,” Sax said.

A Hayward, Calif., elementary school is planning a toy gun exchange for later this month, modeled after the exchanges law enforcement authorities hold to collect real guns. Kids who hand in the play weapons will get a book and a raffle ticket for a bicycle. Strobridge Elementary Principal Charles Hill said he hopes rounding up the toy guns will stop kids from growing up to play with real ones.

“Playing with toy guns, saying ‘I’m going to shoot you,’ desensitizes them, so as they get older, it’s easier for them to use a real gun,” Hill told the Mercury News.

While the toy gun trade-in may be a more reasonable way to address the issue than suspending or expelling children, Yih-Chau Chang, spokesman for Responsible Citizens of California, said kids can handle make-believe games, even if their educators can't.

"Having a group of children playing cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians is a normal part of growing up,” Chang said.

 

[Samstwitch]

The system is really screwing with kids' minds! Time to Home School!

9 year old suspended indefinitely from school over toy that “looks like a gun”

 

[Samstwitch]

This is ridiculous! IMO, clearly Unconstitutional. Click on the headline below to see the article.

Seventh Graders Suspended For Nine Months For Playing With Toy Gun… AT HOME

 

[Samstwitch]

They let out all the crazy people from the Insane Asylum, and they are running our world! Protect your children...move to the country and Homeschool!

Airsoft Gun Panic: Boy Faces Criminal Charges, School Locked Down Over Toy Weapon
7-year-old suspended as “weapons offender” for bringing novelty pen onto school bus

Sept 25, 2013 - Following the news this week of two teen boys receiving a one year suspension from school for playing with a toy airsoft gun at home, two more incidents have been reported, in the continuing crackdown on kids playing with anything that even remotely resembles a gun.

In Rome, NY 15-year-old Austin Perks is facing criminal charges for playing with an airsoft gun in the courtyard of his friend’s apartment complex.

Police were called by someone in the neighborhood who saw the boy playing with the toy, according to a report filed by WKTV News. When the officers discovered that the gun was a toy they gave it back to the boy, informed his mother, and left the scene.

But, unfortunately for Austin, that wasn’t the end of the incident. Three weeks later cops showed up on the mother’s doorstep.

The boy’s mother, Naomi Oshel, told reporters that the officer was “Expressing to me that he really wasn’t sure why he was at my home. That he thought it was all very silly but that a couple of people above him were pushing for a charge.”

The charge turned out to be unlawful possession of a weapon, even though police had admitted that the “weapon” was a toy, and the boy was summoned to appear in court.

“I asked police if they had a complainant, somebody that said they were firing upon them. At that point I was told no and asked if they showed up at the scene and found 15 year old children playing with a weapon did they secure the weapon into evidence? And again was told no,” says Oshel.

“I want it dismissed with prejudice.” the mother added, saying she is willing to fight the charge if necessary.

“I don’t want this in any way to hurt my son’s future. If I felt that he had done something, if he was intentionally firing on somebody or had jumped out of a bush to scare someone or threaten and make it look like a real weapon then I wouldn’t be opposed to charges.”

In another incident involving an airsoft gun, a Middle School in Michigan was placed on lockdown for 30 minutes after a student brought one of the toys into the building.

Police were called and a student was taken into custody, according to a local report.

“The student just made a bad choice,” said Bendle school Superintendent John Krolewski. “It wasn’t his intent to do anything. He didn’t realize the gravity of having a look-alike in school.”

These incidents both highlight how officials and police nationwide have stopped exercising common sense in such situations, instead opting to initiate procedures, no matter how ridiculous, based on irrational fears.

Yet another incident this week, not even involving a toy gun, further highlights this.

A seven year old in Harrisburg, Pa was suspended from school as a “weapons offender” for bringing a novelty pen onto his school bus and showing a friend.

The boy’s parents told reporters that the pen is “similar to a ‘clown’ type buzzer that one would hold in the palm of one’s hand to emit a small buzz when shaking hands.” (Continued)

CLICK ME to see Full Article and Related Video

 

[Samstwitch]

Click the Headline below to see the News Video and Article.

8-Year-Old Suspended From School For Forming Gun Shape With His Hand

Mother vows to fight: “A child that has no history of violence is now classified as a violent offender.”

 

[ann holt]

So many school children are being suspended and reprimanded for harmless play or items being labeled as 'Violent' that are totally ridiculous. Please post related articles on this thread.



Fifth-grader suspended at overnight nature camp for bringing Swiss Army knife

A fifth-grader in Cupertino, California was suspended and threatened with expulsion for bringing a small Swiss Army knife on a school-sponsored, science-oriented camping trip.

In early April, Braden Bandermann’s class set off on Garden Gate Elementary School’s annual, week-long pilgrimage for fifth-graders to Marin Headlands, just north of San Francisco.

Before leaving, Braden did what any Silicon Valley 10-year-old faced with the perils of nature might do: He packed his trusty Swiss Army knife. As any camper knows, the multi-tool device is nothing if not versatile. Braden’s particular model contains a can opener, tweezers, a toothpick, a nail file, a tiny pair of scissors and a small blade.

The little blade landed the boy in big trouble.

“They called me,” explained Tony Bandermann, Braden’s father. “They said, ‘You have to come and get him. He has a weapon. He needs to be suspended or possibly expelled.’”

At the time, the elder Bandermann was on a business trip in Sacramento, roughly 100 miles away. His wife, Braden’s stepmother, was at the camp with Braden, but they had arrived by bus and had no private transportation. (Braden’s mother was also unable to go to the camp so that he could serve a suspension.)

The school principal, Brandi Hucko, allegedly wanted Bandermann to rush to the site of the science camp, pick Braden up for a one-day suspension and then deliver him back to camp.

Bandermann told The Daily Caller that he was frustrated over Hucko’s insistence “that I risk my job and go get him out of the program for a one-day suspension all over a Swiss Army knife.”

The multi-tool instrument did not present a threat, Bandermann believes.

“I went to the very same trip when I was a child at the same school, and I had a very similar Swiss Army knife,” he said. “In fact, most of the kids did.”

Principal Hucko disagreed. According to Bandermann, she was adamant that punishment must be swift and severe.

Consequently, Bandermann told TheDC, school officials forced Braden to serve a one-day suspension at camp. He was allegedly isolated in a teacher’s lounge area from all the other children. He was forced to eat meals by himself. He was forced to sleep in an area separate from all the other children. He missed an entire day of activities.

Bandermann believes school officials overreacted.

“This is not Sandy Hook,” he said. “Get real. He brought a stupid Swiss Army knife to camp.”

Bandermann said that he suggested to Hucko that perhaps someone could take away the knife and discipline his son once he was returned to the urban comfort of Silicon Valley. However, Hucko would not negotiate.

The Cupertino Union School District would not respond to questions from The Daily Caller. School district representative Jeremy Nishihara said answering questions would violate Braden’s privacy.

Garden Gate Elementary’s parent handbook, available on the school’s website, stipulates a stern “zero-tolerance” policy for “violence, weapons, and drugs on school campuses or at school activities off campus.”

“State Law, district policy, and regulations of [sic] California Education Code support Zero Tolerance by requiring the immediate suspension and recommendation for expulsion of any student who possesses or furnishes a firearm, knife, explosive, or similarly dangerous object on school grounds or at a school event off school grounds,” the policy reads.

“Our schools also have prevention and intervention programs to help students make decisions, solve problems, and deal with conflict,” the policy also adds.

This incident is the latest in a long line of extraordinarily strong reactions by school officials to things students have brought to school — or talked about bringing to school, or eaten at school, or taken to a nature camp — that vaguely resemble weapons but aren’t, actually, anything like real weapons.

LIST OF OTHER RELATED INCIDENTS

In rural West Virginia, an eighth-grader was suspended and, astonishingly, arrested after he refused to remove a t-shirt supporting the National Rifle Association. When he returned to school, he wore the same shirt, as did several other students in a show of support. (RELATED: Eighth-grader arrested over NRA shirt returns to school in same shirt)

Officials at an elementary school in small-town Michigan impounded a third-grader boy’s batch of 30 homemade birthday cupcakes because they were adorned with green plastic figurines representing World War Two soldiers. The school principal branded the military-themed cupcakes “insensitive” in light of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. (RELATED: School confiscates third-grader’s cupcakes topped with toy soldiers)

At Genoa-Kingston Middle School in northeast Illinois, a teacher threatened an eighth-grader with suspension if he did not remove his t-shirt emblazoned with the interlocking rifles, a symbol of the United States Marines. (RELATED: Junior high teacher tells kid to remove Marines t-shirt or get suspended)

At Park Elementary School in Baltimore, Maryland, a student was suspended for two days because his teacher thought he shaped a strawberry, pre-baked toaster pastry into something resembling a gun. (RELATED: Second-grader suspended for having breakfast pastry shaped like a gun)

At Poston Butte High School in Arizona, a high school freshman was suspended for setting a picture of a gun as the desktop background on his school-issued computer. (RELATED: Freshman suspended for picture of gun)

At D. Newlin Fell School in Philadelphia, school officials reportedly yelled at a student and then searched her in front of her class after she was found with a paper gun her grandfather had made for her. (RELATED: Paper gun causes panic)

In rural Pennsylvania, a kindergarten girl was suspended for making a “terroristic threat” after she told another girl that she planned to shoot her with a pink Hello Kitty toy gun that bombards targets with soapy bubbles. (RELATED: Kindergartener suspended for making ‘terroristic threat’ with Hello Kitty bubble gun)

At Roscoe R. Nix Elementary School in Maryland, a six-year-old boy was suspended for making the universal kid sign for a gun, pointing at another student and saying “pow.” That boy’s suspension was later lifted and his name cleared. (RELATED: Pow! You’re suspended, kid)

Schools turn a blind eye to certain kids and their bullcrap! My fifteen year old daughter had to be pulled out of school and put in online homeschool because of severe bullying. I was at that school over the same group of girls threatening her for an entire year, went to the police station and threw a fit, school principal told them I was exagerating. I tried for an epo, got told no because the threats were indirect and not coming from her ex boyfriend, but his sister. Basically the girl doing most of the threatening was a teachers favorite. The schools really only freak out if it is a kid from a poor family or a kid who is not of the popular crowd. My daughter faced a lot of jealousy at school because she is tiny with a big chest and looks like a real life version of tinkerbell and pulls straight A's. The whole thing is a load of garbage. Government schools pull more crap than people realize and they are full of teachers who seem to think that life is better if you pretend everything is perfectly alright regardless of who is hitting you in the face! Yeah nowadays, if a kid punches your kid in the face, and your kid tries to defend themselves they get into trouble too! HA! i have taught my kids, to hell with the schools crap. Do not start the fight, but always finish it! and I will take you shopping on your suspended days just like my mother did for me when I finally stood up to a bully and got suspended LOL!

 

[ann holt]

A friends kid got threatened with suspension after the teacher thought he made a gun gesture with his fingers -_-; the kid is 4 he had no clue what he was doing, welcome to the Nanny states of america

I have a friend who's son was given detention in school for making gun sounds with army men. On top of that? The school counselor and principal recommended the child undergo a psychological exam. The f***? The kid is only six years old.

Wow, the schools are really trying ti sissyfy our sons aren't they. Not to say a kid who doesn't like army guys is a sissy, but most little boys are into super heroes kicking monsters butts and getting dirty and GI joe! It's normal! Boys should not be acting like cowards and afraid of violence. The world is full of violence and until enough people stand up to it and yell no more it won't stop. Bully's will just get more arrogent the more people who try to ignore it. This is why home invasions and crap are on the rise!!!

 

[ann holt]

Stupid schools!

View attachment 869

Kid Suspended Over Gun-Shaped Pop-Tart Gets Lifetime NRA Membership

The National Rifle Association has given an 8-year-old boy a free lifetime membership, the Baltimore Sun reports. His achievement was chewing a Pop-Tart into the shape of a gun.

The NRA gave Joshua Welch the free membership — which usually costs $550 — at a fundraiser Wednesday night for Anne Arundel County Republicans. Welch returned to playing games on his cellphone after he got the award, the Sun reported.

Welch got on the news after his March 1 suspension from Park Elementary School for the Pop-Tart incident. He was 7 then and denied trying to make the Pop-Tart look like a weapon.

When pressed by a CBS Baltimore reporter, though, Welch said, "When I was done, it turned out to be a gun, yeah."

Park Elementary told parents it would give counseling to any children who needed it after the Pop-Tart incident.

A lawyer has filed an appeal to get the two-day suspension off Welch's record.

Park elementary offered counseling to kids after the pop tart incident???? Why? Do they think kids are going to have PTSD and go into a panic episode everytime they walk into a grocery store and see a berry? OH the horror of it all!!!!!! Please! no more cinnamon!!!!!
In all seriousness this is a truly horrifying incident, little girls will not be able to go grocery shopping in the breakfast isle without reliving the terror. Their children will have to go hungry or learn to eat sandwiches and cold pizza for breakfast now. The impact on future generations living in the aftermath of this heinous act will echo for many years to come. I myself will not be able to eat my favorite smores pop tarts without remembering the carnage. And what about the poor children who's parents have no time for a lengthy toaster strudel? They will suffer the most.....
Yeah I know it sounds funny, but it is pathetic to offer kids counseling over a gun shaped pop tart.

 

[ann holt]

View attachment 838
Virginia second-grader Christopher Marshall was suspended from school after he held his pencil like it was a gun and made shooting sounds.

Zero tolerance: Virginia 2nd-grader suspended for pretending his pencil was a gun

Where would the Founding Fathers stand on a right to bear pencils?

A second-grader was suspended from school for two days for pretending his pencil was a gun while playing with his friend in class Friday.

"It's an effort to try to get kids not to bring any form of violence into the classroom, even if it's violent play," school spokesperson Bethanne Bradshaw said.

During a game of make-believe, Christopher Marshall, 7, imagined he was a Marine like his father Paul Marshall, who thinks his kid was just being a typical boy. He and his wife Wendy Marshall said the Driver Elementary School in Suffolk, Va. is overreacting.

“I find it ridiculous that he cannot use his imagination and be a boy,” Wendy Marshall told the Daily News. “When my son wants to pretend he’s a Marine or a Navy pilot like his granddad or an auto mechanic like his other granddad, I don’t think that should be an issue.”

Bradshaw said that the school has a zero-tolerance policy for weapons. She thinks that a pencil can be considered a weapon if someone makes gun noises while pointing the weapon at another person in a threatening way.

Christopher said that he is sorry and will not pretend to play with guns in school any more. His parents were quick to point out that, according to the suspension note, Christopher stopped when the teacher told him to do so.

The other student, also 7, was suspended as well.

Paul Marshall understands that people feel uneasy about guns in schools considering the onslaught of recent school shootings but feels that Driver Elementary School failed to use common sense.

"It's gone too far. Enough is enough," he told local station Fox 43. "Where do we draw the line? A pencil - was it sharpened? Was it now? Is it a No. 2? I mean what's the big deal? He's just being a kid."

This is only the latest in a series of gun-play suspensions that have occurred since the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn.

A kindergartener from Hopkinton, Mass. got suspended for bringing a toy gun to class in March and another boy was sent home from his Hyannis, Mass. elementary school for building a gun out of Legos in January.

I was just thinking, if we put that much emphasis on the taboo of guns, what are the teen agers going to do when they rebel? What is the first thing any rebelous teen aged kid does? they go do the one thing that they have been told is the boogy man! In the long run, they are actually giving these kids a form of reverse psychology and encourage the gun role in later years. Especially to any kid who is unhappy with school. A kids thought pattern, " I hate this place" ie "I am going to do exactly what they tell me not to."[/quote]