5 year old points crayon at another student and says "pew pew" - made to sign no kill contract

[Liberal_in_LA]

WPMI) An Alabama mother is furious that her 5-year-old daughter was forced to sign a school contract stating she wouldn't kill herself or anyone else at school.

School officials told Rebecca, who did not want to give her last name, they had to send 5-year-old Elizabeth home after an incident in class.

"They told me she drew something that resembled a gun. According to them she pointed a crayon at another student and said 'pew pew'," Rebecca explained.

Rebecca says her daughter was then given a questionnaire to evaluate her for suicidal thoughts and given a Mobile County Public School safety contract to sign stating she wouldn't kill herself or others.

"While I was in the lobby waiting, they had my 5-year-old sign a contract about suicide and homicide," Rebecca says. "There should be a different way to handle this situation. If this is protocol it needs to be looked at again."

Rebecca is pushing to have the incident removed from her child's record. She says school officials have requested her child see a psychiatrist. She refused.



http://www.wate.com/story/26749042/5-year-old-told-to-sign-suicide-contract-at-school

[CAG]

1. silly overreaction seems to be rampant in

some schools these days.

[LoisB]

2. Has common sense been outlawed in schools?

[ManiacJoe]

19. Unfortunately, there is nothing common about Common Sense.

[Enrique]

3. it's probably not binding

[Journeyman]

4. America how can I write a holy litany in your silly mood? ~A. Ginsberg . . .

[leeroysphitz]

5. Why am I supposed to be outraged by an example of school staff

intervening to educate a young child regarding the dangers of gun violence when it is obvious the the parents have failed to do so?

[Downwinder]

7. Educating with an invalid unenforceable contract?

[Action_Patrol]

9. I'm sorry, I thought this was the

Planet Earth and we were discussing a 5 year old. My apologies. Must have gotten off on the wrong stop.

[CAG]

11. My only surprise is it took this long for

A fellow du'er to believe that this school's reaction to a 5 yo kid with a friggin' crayon was within reason.

[alp227]

22. Not an honest framing of the situation.

Should we really consider innocent child's play a slippery slope to growing up to be the next Sandy Hook shooter?

[yeoman6987]

31. I don't even recognize common sense anymore

The child is 5. She was having fun. Big deal. Hopefully Mom pulls her from that ridiculous school.

[leeroysphitz]

32. What, did I just stumble into an NRA meeting?

[Codeine]

39. Troll elsewhere. nt

[marble falls]

6. Seeing the form, my first thought, "Onion". This whole thing is way too stupid.

[Mister Nightowl]

8. The National Crayon Association is suing the school district

In a statement posted on the powerful lobby's Facebook page, Executive Vice President Lane Whopper condemned the school's actions as "acts of tyranny which infringed upon an American child's God-given, Crayola-guaranteed rights."

[scarystuffyo]

21. Oh really

Coincidence I think not

[Comrade Grumpy]

10. God damn! The stupid, it hurts. n/t

[Louisiana1976]

12. The girl's teacher and principal ought to be made to sign a no-stupidity contract.

[Crunchy Frog]

13. I have two 5 year old sons and I worry about this sort of shit.

Maybe I should teach them never to sign anything unless Mommy, Grandma, or a lawyer is present.

[kentauros]

23. That's an excellent idea, in my opinion.

It might give these button-down bureaucrats pause.

Maybe when you show up, shout "BANG!" and see if any of them die

[uppityperson]

14. k&r for wtf.

[d_r]

15. how bizarre

An idea to force a five year old to sign a "contract" parent should sue BC they did not have her consent for child to sign.

[spanone]

16. is that real?

[scarystuffyo]

17. I support this "pew pew" should not be spoken in school

[unblock]

27. yeah, i mean, what happened the separation of church and state?

[bhikkhu]

18. Perhaps I'm alone, but I think its a reasonable response by the school

suspension would have been over-reaction. When my kids were that little I would give them little lectures about play-violence. In a school setting, I don't think its unreasonable to have a mild "sign this" policy, which should make the kid and the parents at least consider that play-violence isn't ok with everyone.

Of course, it is a little silly, and a child's signature has no legal value, but it should make them think. The parents would be better off talking to their child and moving on.

[Crunchy Frog]

20. I think it's insane, and I do hope that you're alone.

This is a five year old that we're talking about.

My young sons have on occasion played around with making pretend guns and pretend shooting them. I came down on them like a ton of bricks because I know how insane the school system can be about this.

I could see maybe, in the presense of a parent, having the child sign some sort of agreement not to engage in pretend gun play in school, but that's not what this child was made to sign, and there was no parental involvement.

I would hate to have one of my sons go through this and then have to explain to him what killing people with guns meant and what suicide with guns means. At that age this is not something that they even conceptualize.

The problem in this society is not with toddlers playing pretend guns with crayons, it's with adult babies playing with real assault weapons and other deadly firearms. Let's address the real issues and not dump on little kids.

[bhikkhu]

25. I don't remember being taught a single thing when I was that age

but I have no doubt that parents and teachers corrected and taught me regularly. Kids learn, and there are an abundance of teaching moments. Any 5 year old is probably quite accustomed to being told what's is good behavior and what is not, and what is appropriate in a given situation. That's a big part of any kid's development.

Its very hard to judge the particular incident without knowing the child and being present through the interaction, but the people involved at the school were there, and did know the child. It is possible that they handled things very reasonably, however it looks to uninvolved adult eyes from a great distance.

[Crunchy Frog]

33. So they were using a "teaching moment"

to explain to a child what is "good behavior and what is not" and "what is appropriate in a given situation"? Did you look at the wording on that document?

If I am having thoughts of harming myself/others or committing suicide/homicide, I will do the following:

Few 5 year olds could even understand those words, let alone the concepts behind them. You really think a 5 year old should be taught about that stuff in the context of playing with crayons? You think that is the equivalent of teaching what is "good behavior or not"?

I think it is pathological on the part of the adults, and I would be livid if it were one of my kids, and would be looking at persuing legal remedies against the school.

I do have some memories of Kindergarten. I remember being hit with a wooden paddle because I suffered from severe early childhood depression, and would not speak when I didn't have a parent present.

I'm sure that they too were handling things very reasonably, however it might have looked to uninvolved adult eyes.

[unblock]

30. it's an astounding display of ignorance as to how humans behave. it only serves to plant a seed.

talk to the kid, sure.
ask where he heard or saw someone point and make a "pew, pew" sound, sure (i'll assume video games for convenience).
ask if he understands that that's just video game play and never to be done in real life, sure.

and stop there.

even asking a 5-year old if they've ever thought of killing themselves is most likely putting a thought in the kid's head that was never there to begin with.

[shaayecanaan]

37. I think that a response like this risks pathologising an otherwise perfectly normal child...

It was probably a situation where a quiet word would have sufficed.

I deal with autistic children, if I adopted this approach the kids would be signing contracts like Countrywide was writing mortgages.

[knitter4democracy]

24. Odd. I just talked with my student about it last week.

I had a 7th grader use a pencil and pretend to shoot at a couple of students video game style, and I just took him aside and explained why that's not okay, what will happen next time, and why isn't like a video game. He's been a model student since, and honestly, he just plays a lot of video games and was probably thinking of that at the time.

[Quackers]

26. I doubt the child could even read all of those words, let alone understand what she was signing.

[Kalidurga]

28. Well that's a bit of an over reaction

but at least the girl now knows what to do if she is feeling suicidal.

[Politicalboi]

29. The little girl should have said

Bang! Bang! Using Pew! Pew! means she has a silencer, and those are illegal. Totally understandable.

[Crunchy Frog]

34. Is it an open carry state?

If so, I don't think the school had a leg to stand on.

[Calista241]

35. I drew pictures of tanks and jets when i was a kid.

It was how I learned there's not a single artistic bone in my body.

[ileus]

38. didn't she see the no gun signage on the front door?

[Jenoch]

40. Kids that deal in pretend.

If she were olaying house with a 5 year old boy that teacher and principal would make her sign a contract promising not to be promiscuous.

[chrisa]

41. I would have been expelled from school and arrested.

I used to draw elaborate battle scenes with stick figures decapitated, maimed, exploded, shot multiple times, etc. etc. I'm pretty sure I've never killed anyone or myself, and hate real violence in any form.