Kindergartener suspended for making gun shape with his hand

[Tinkmom75]

I just heard on the radio this morning that a Kindergartener in Ionia MI was suspended for making a gun shape with his hand. Thoughts

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/03/ionia_kindergartener_suspended.html

 

[perdidobay]

I just heard on the radio this morning that a Kindergartener in Ionia MI was suspended for making a gun shape with his hand. Thoughts

My thoughts...common sense has gone the way of the dodo bird.

 

[luvmy3]

Of course he should have been suspended, he is 5 years old and knows how to make a shape of a gun with his hand, thank goodness they caught him before he made the bang bang noises.


This is just so ridiculous I can't even take it seriously.

 

[happygirl]

That is beyond stupid

 

[Tinkmom75]

I don't know why, but this story really rubs me the wrong way. Perhaps it's because I have two boys. I just can't believe it.

 

[LukenDC]

Very sad.

 

[Kies99]

Did anyone catch this:

"School officials allege Mason had displayed this kind of behavior for several months, despite numerous warnings."

In my opinion, based on this comment this is one time the school got it right. I agree with everyone that common sense has definitely gone out the window and if it was the first time he'd done something like this and was suspended I'd be outraged as well. It's ridiculous how it's going in schools these days.

However, if he had been warned numerous times (and I'm assuming that his parents were told), then this is the correct thing to do. Not so much because of what he did, but that he knew it was wrong and had been warned not to do it. It's a discipline problem.

I have a 6 year old as well. If they were doing something and had been warned and I had been informed, my 6 year old would understand not to do it again.

 

[Tinkmom75]

The Mom was just on the radio. She was NOT notified previously.

 

[luvmy3]

Did anyone catch this:

"School officials allege Mason had displayed this kind of behavior for several months, despite numerous warnings."

In my opinion, based on this comment this is one time the school got it right. I agree with everyone that common sense has definitely gone out the window and if it was the first time he'd done something like this and was suspended I'd be outraged as well. It's ridiculous how it's going in schools these days.

However, if he had been warned numerous times (and I'm assuming that his parents were told), then this is the correct thing to do. Not so much because of what he did, but that he knew it was wrong and had been warned not to do it. It's a discipline problem.

I have a 6 year old as well. If they were doing something and had been warned and I had been informed, my 6 year old would understand not to do it again.

I did not see the link so I did miss this info and agree its partly a discipline issue. However, there are plenty of K (and other grades) students who repeateadly do things they are told not to and are not suspended for it. I think its because of the nature of his behavior, not just that he has been warned before.

 

[Tink_Or_Belle]

I have a hard time believing there was just one kid in the class doing it ..I used to laugh about the strange things I had to say to kids all the time one of them was "please don't pretend to shoot your friends" I have said it so many times our entire preschool class would have been suspended at that school.

 

[agnes!]

Maybe this behavior had been going on "for months", but did the school call the parents in, did they follow their own procedures? It almost sounds like to me they made it up as they went along, to go straight to suspension...if there aren't any other documented incidents, the school is in some real deep kim-chi.

I can't remember but who saw the alleged 'gun-shaped hand'? Was it an adult or was the alleged incident reported by another kid...I wouldn't put it past some kid to be ticked-off and report something that never actually happened, especially if the alleged miscreant is unpopular or if the reporter and the kid in trouble are on the outs.

I think there's *way* more to this story than what's been reported so far.

ages!

 

[Mickeypooh99]

I was just listening to the radio interview. I cannot believe the opinions of some people. There was a woman on there saying kids should NEVER be allowed to play pretend guns for any reason. I totally understand not allowing toy weapons to school (okay I don't understand the lego one,) but kids will play pretend guns. They can make anything into an imaginary weapon.

Maybe they had warned the child at school, but the mom said (on the radio interview) that she had not been notified before.

Yesterday on the news they did say there had been problems with this child before, but they didn't go into details.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Probably more to the story with discipline problems with the child and they used the "gun thing" to suspend the kid.

 

[ElizK]

This is about the most ridiculous thing ever. How stupid and politically correct are we as a country going to go?? Little boys (and heck, little girls, too!) like to play cops and robbers or cowboys and indians (do kids still play that??). There is absolutely nothing wrong with it, and it does not lead to violent behavior later in life. This kid was being a normal little boy.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

I didn't even read the article, but every time something like this comes up, I have to keep in mind the fact that the school's lips are pretty much tied by confidentiality concerns, and we're hearing one side of the story.

Was this a kid who just one time made a gun shape with his hand and showed it to his classmates on the playground, or is this a kid who has a history of aggression and threat making against peers, who got in another child's face and used the gesture in a threatening manner, reducing the other child to tears.

Were the parents "never contacted" or were they asked repeatedly to come in to conferences and never showed, and then stopped answering the phone altogether when caller ID showed it was the school?

I don't know. I'm not saying it's the latter, but when only one side is allowed to talk, it's really hard to say what's going on.

 

[tchrrx]

Of course he should have been suspended, he is 5 years old and knows how to make a shape of a gun with his hand, thank goodness they caught him before he made the bang bang noises.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

I totally agree that zero tolerance has become too extreme. That being said, I have known about zero tolerance ever since my kids started school, and also how out of hand it can become. So I have been telling my boys from day one, "no finger guns, no stick guns, no toys from home taken to school." They never did it, but they also never did understand why. And guess what one of my boys received from the treasure box one year? (Kindergarten, I think). A toy set from the dollar tree that had a plastic gun in it! Not kidding! I didn't say anything, but I wondered how that happened.

Imagine a first grader being handcuffed and escorted from school by the police because his lunch that an adult had packed for him had a knife in it to cut his apple. Probably a grandmother who was not familiar with procedure and zero tolerance. You know it couldn't have been a sharp knife for a first grader.

Lord, this is the kind of thing that I worry about..something accidentally and innocent happening and all heck breaking loose over it.

 

[luvsJack]

This is about the most ridiculous thing ever. How stupid and politically correct are we as a country going to go?? Little boys (and heck, little girls, too!) like to play cops and robbers or cowboys and indians (do kids still play that??). There is absolutely nothing wrong with it, and it does not lead to violent behavior later in life. This kid was being a normal little boy.

I do so agree with this. Watch a group of boys for a few minutes. It won't take long until they find some way to play a game that includes shooting. They will use sticks, blocks, rocks, pencils; anything they can hold in their hand, to be a gun and short of having those they will make the shape with their hands.


"Repated warnings"? How about "Johnny, put your hand down" and leave it at that. Johnny puts his hand down and all is right with the world again. Not ever little thing has to go through this huge discipline procedure. "STOP" works pretty good for some things. (and yes sometimes you have to say it more than once, but there are some things that just do not warrant more than that)

Maybe they should stop making such a huge issue out of every little thing kids do just being kids.

 

[daughtersrus]

Here's another one. This girl said no to drugs but because she touched it, she was suspended.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/01/zero-tolerance-drug-polic_n_480647.html

 

[luvmy3]

I do so agree with this. Watch a group of boys for a few minutes. It won't take long until they find some way to play a game that includes shooting. They will use sticks, blocks, rocks, pencils; anything they can hold in their hand, to be a gun and short of having those they will make the shape with their hands.
"Repated warnings"? How about "Johnny, put your hand down" and leave it at that. Johnny puts his hand down and all is right with the world again. Not ever little thing has to go through this huge discipline procedure. "STOP" works pretty good for some things. (and yes sometimes you have to say it more than once, but there are some things that just do not warrant more than that)

Maybe they should stop making such a huge issue out of every little thing kids do just being kids.

So true. When my boys were younger and we didn't have any gun toys, they used the snorkel tubes from their swimmasks as guns.
My ds has a friend who makes guns out of paper in school. He has brought a few home and they are so cool and creative but its a shame his friend has to hide her creativity.
FTR- I have told my ds that he shouldn't be playing with them in school, and he knows and says they don't. She makes them during free time and gives them to her friends to take home.