MontCo school suspends 6-year-old for pretend gunshot

TrackerSam

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The 6-year-old, who attends Roscoe R. Nix Elementary School in Silver Spring, made a gun with his hands, pointed it at another student and said "pow," according to Robin Ficker, the boy's attorney. He was given a one-day suspension, with a conference on the matter planned for Jan. 2, the day students return to school from winter break.

"What they're doing is looking at the worst possible interpretation of a young, naive 6-year-old," Ficker said. "This is a little child who can't form the intent to do anything like that."

"Your son ... was involved in a serious incident," Garraway wrote. "[He] threatened to shoot a student. He was spoken to earlier today about a similar incident."

http://washingtonexaminer.com/montc...le/2517080?utm_campaign=obinsite#.UOQpm2_AexU

This is ridiculous. All fingers should have been confiscated at the door.
 
I don't know if he should have been suspended. My kids get in trouble by me for pretending to shoot people. They are not allowed to have toy guns either.
 
Wow......showing my age but when I was that age, we played Cowboys and Indians.....guns and arrows but it was all so innocent. Is it still? I don't know.
 
Wow! Little much, no?

I chaperoned a field trip with Lil Knot's class just a fee days after the Newtown shootings and the boys sitting near me in the back of our bus were making all kinds of shooting gestures and sounds at one another and even making jokes about the killings. And these were 5th graders, and may have had a better grasp of appropriate behavior than a 6 year old.

However, they were just being kids (and as I have posted before, kids living in a big hunting and pro gun area) and as unsettling as I found it, I just smiled and told them they had to remain seated and keep the noise down to a dull roar. After all, it's part of the culture here and not my place to pass my beliefs on to other people's kids.

BUT, had it been MY daughter doing that, I would have put a stop to it and afterwards asked her why she thought Newtown was a game, or something to joke about.

ETA: at the school at which I teach, however, we have a strict "no gun play" policy and it's been that way for as long as I have been there. Granted it is a private, parent-run school, but quite a few of our families are hunters and gun owners and agree to the policy. :)
 
Wow! Little much, no?

I chaperoned a field trip with Lil Knot's class just a fee days after the Newtown shootings and the boys sitting near me in the back of our bus were making all kinds of shooting gestures and sounds at one another and even making jokes about the killings. And these were 5th graders, and may have had a better grasp of appropriate behavior than a 6 year old.

However, they were just being kids (and as I have posted before, kids living in a big hunting and pro gun area) and as unsettling as I found it, I just smiled and told them they had to remain seated and keep the noise down to a dull roar. After all, it's part of the culture here and not my place to pass my beliefs on to other people's kids.

BUT, had it been MY daughter doing that, I would have put a stop to it and afterwards asked her why she thought Newtown was a game, or something to joke about.

ETA: at the school at which I teach, however, we have a strict "no gun play" policy and it's been that way for as long as I have been there. Granted it is a private, parent-run school, but quite a few of our families are hunters and gun owners and agree to the policy. :)

I teach at my local Head Start center--we also have a strict "no weapons" policy that includes play weapons--yep, even fingers. We don't, however, suspend kids for breaking the rules. If we suspended every kid that said or did something inappropriate, well then my class size would be a lot smaller! Just kidding, kinda, but my job is to teach them why that rule exists and offer alternative play suggestions, guidance, etc.

The "zero tolerance" policies seem to frequently lack the room for taking advantage of teachable moments in lieu of punishment. Such a shame, IMO.
 
A culture of fear bordering paranoia is a fantastic environment in which to raise mass murderers.
 
I teach at my local Head Start center--we also have a strict "no weapons" policy that includes play weapons--yep, even fingers. We don't, however, suspend kids for breaking the rules. If we suspended every kid that said or did something inappropriate, well then my class size would be a lot smaller! Just kidding, kinda, but my job is to teach them why that rule exists and offer alternative play suggestions, guidance, etc.

The "zero tolerance" policies seem to frequently lack the room for taking advantage of teachable moments in lieu of punishment. Such a shame, IMO.

1,000 times yes.

We also do not suspend or expel students for things like this.

Especially with my little ones. I had to chuckle at the comment about your class size shrinking otherwise! My kids (especially the boys) do it all the time and we just remind them that even pretend guns don't belong at school, but also give them another activity to draw their interest.

Of course my kids are 3, so a meaningful conversation about the finality of gunshot wounds is not appropriate. :).

We just try to find other outlets for that awesome toddler energy! I run a lot of laps with my kids at recess and we are all the better for it. Especially yours truly. After the Christmas cookies......
 

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