Va. boy suspended for pretending pencil was gun

[The Straight Story]

SUFFOLK, Va. (AP) — A Suffolk second grader has been suspended for making gun noises while pointing a pencil at another student.

The 7-year-old boy was suspended for two days for a violation of the Suffolk school system's zero-tolerance policy on weapons. He was playing with another student in class Friday at Driver Elementary.

"When I asked him about it, he said, 'Well I was being a Marine and the other guy was being a bad guy,'" Paul Marshall, the boy's father, told WAVY-TV (http://bit.ly/16OVKIL). "It's as simple as that."

Marshall, a former Marine, said he believes school officials overreacted in suspending his son.

But Suffolk Public Schools spokeswoman Bethanne Bradshaw said a pencil is considered a weapon when it's pointed at someone in a threatening way and gun noises are made.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Va-boy-suspended-for-pretending-pencil-was-gun-4494203.php

[mike_c]

1. good to hear the adults are in charge....

Sheesh.

[The Straight Story]

7. Well, to be fair I think he said bang bang, not just one bag. So a semi-auto pencil

[Journeyman]

2. That'll teach the "budding psychopath" to show signs of an imagination in a schoolroom setting...

(and still, there are those who wonder why I have little respect for school boards and all the attendant bureaucratic garbage)

[gordianot]

3. There is something in the air that causes schools to lose reason in the Spring of the year.

What ever happened to a teaching moment, talking to students, and working with parents?

[deutsey]

4. It apparently violates policy these days.

[deutsey]

5. "In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made School Boards."

[Kolesar]

6. It's only fun until there's an eye put out...eom

[marions ghost]

8. Pretend killing in schools

is kinda "out" (of fashion) You can understand why.

Blame it on the NRA if you think it gets in the way of nostalgia about shooting pretend guns.

[The Straight Story]

9. I understand over reaction, which this is

Though I am sure some believe that this actually makes them safer.

[marions ghost]

10. I dont think

anyone thinks this makes them safer.

It's an educational place. Guns and pretend guns don't belong. There is a connection these days.
Between fantasies and acting out.

The only way to get back to the good old days when kids could pretend shooting guns would be if the chance of them shooting a real one was non-existent.

[galileoreloaded]

14. respectfully

"The only way to get back to the good old days when kids could pretend shooting guns would be if the chance of them shooting a real one was non-existent."

is the logic of a child.

[Demo_Chris]

11. Hopefully they waterboard the little terrorist...

[lpbk2713]

12. "We have to look like we're doing something so let's fuck up this kid's life"

No sarcasm intended. Some times I honestly think this is what motivates some of these assholes.

[The Straight Story]

15. They are trying to help out the private prison industry

screw up when they are young, profit later.

[ileus]

13. Today a pencil tomorrow an airsoft.

No one should prepractice killing people.

[derby378]

16. Oh, come on...

How many of us grew up with toy machine guns and turned out okay regardless of that fact?

End zero tolerance. Now.