2nd Grader Suspended for Drawing Gun

[old medic]

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/local/capemay/story/7511004p-7409304c.html

Expunge suspension for sketch, mom says
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, 609-463-6713
Published: Monday, October 22, 2007

DENNIS TOWNSHIP - Kyle McDevitt walked from the front door of the house to a red bicycle in the gravel driveway, apparently unconcerned about the half-dozen journalists on the lawn talking to his family about him.

The 7-year-old lifted the bicycle off the ground Sunday and hopped on it. As he rode down the street with friends, his mother reminded him to strap on his blue helmet.

Then Shirley McDevitt told reporters at a news conference in front of a relative's home that she wants her son's permanent school record expunged.

He was suspended Thursday after drawing a stick figure shooting another stick figure, McDevitt said.

One smiling figure had the name "me" written above it. The other smiling figure had a schoolmate's name on it.

Kyle Walker told his mother it was a water gun and that he and the boy were friends.

After stepping inside the house for dinner, Kyle said to a reporter he wasn't nervous about all the attention.

He is studying maps in Social Studies in the second grade at the Dennis Township Primary School. He has an older brother.

He said he wasn't worried about going to school and what the other children might think after his one-day suspension received national attention.

He spoke more in nods than in words, with a finger in his mouth.

Family members said he was obviously nervous but was too young to understand how his pencil sketch could draw so much attention.

"He knows why they're here," his mother said of the media. "I don't know that he knows why it's so serious."

He cried the night he was suspended, she said, because he thought he was going to miss a school field trip.

McDevitt said the Dennis Township School District overreacted by suspending her son for a day last week.

Now she says she doesn't want that mark on her son's permanent record, and she wants the school to remove it.

She said she worries the blemish could hurt him later in his school life.

"When a child draws at that age, they're not drawing with thought," said McDevitt, of Belleplain.

McDevitt said she was told he was suspended because of the school's zero-tolerance policy for guns. The drawing was discovered, she said, after the schoolmate brought the drawing home and his parents expressed their concerns to the school, she said.

The school district declined comment on the incident Friday.

Superintendent of Schools George Papp could not be reached at his home Sunday afternoon.

 

[Strike]

The whole world is going crazy.  I was just informed at taekwondo last night that we are no longer to refer to one of the stances as "fighting stance" as the parents didn't like the term.  We must now refer to it as "sparring stance."

Forget the fact that WTF taekwondo is an Olympic sport that entails unarmed COMBAT!

Maybe I'll just stick to the Korean term for it: Kyerugi Seogi.

 

[Munxcub]

So is it safe to assume no one plays "hangman" in school anymore? I'm pretty sure we used to play this as a class on the chalk board...  ;D

 

[vonGarvin]

The whole world is going crazy.  I was just informed at taekwondo last night that we are no longer to refer to one of the stances as "fighting stance" as the parents didn't like the term.  We must now refer to it as "sparring stance."

Forget the fact that WTF taekwondo is an Olympic sport that entails unarmed COMBAT!

Maybe I'll just stick to the Korean term for it: Kyerugi Seogi.

This is whack.  Given that "to spar" is defined as "To fight with an opponent in a short bout or practice session, as in boxing or the martial arts."

What do the parents say when their precious little children actually try to strike their opponents....er..."sparring partners"?

This just kills me.  Even my 7 year old knows that when I go to Afghanistan I won't be going over to hand out candy.  She knows that I'm going over, and part of my job may include killing bad guys.  With guns.  Or cannon.  Or whatever.  Don't sugarcoat things for kids, they'll not respect you when they find out the truth.  My 11 year old knows a bit more about the history of the Taliban, etc, and why we fight, but...

Anyway, I'm with you on this one.  Call spades "spades", not "heart shaped earth removal tools"

 

[aesop081]

Anyway, I'm with you on this one.  Call spades "spades", not "heart shaped earth removal tools"

I dont like the term "removal" its mean and implies that something is excluded from something else

 

[xena]

Is "displacement" better?

Heart shaped earth displacement tool?

 

[TCBF]

Is "displacement" better? Heart shaped earth displacement tool?

- I find the use of the word 'tool' in that context offensive.

;D

 

[aesop081]

heart-shaped soil uplifting miracle

 

[emmiee]

Is "displacement" better?

Heart shaped earth displacement tool?

Ummmm  I'm having a problem with "heart - shaped"

 

[aesop081]

non-denomational geometricaly- unspecific all purpose relocation aparatus

 

[emmiee]

non-denomational geometricaly- unspecific all purpose relocation aparatus

Wow, that sounds like an official military definition.  :-\

 

[aesop081]

When the 1991 Gulf war started, our high school principal came over the PA and asked all students to come to school the next day wearing a black shirt to "mourn the death of peace"....

I showed up with a black t-shirt that had the picture of a Paveway II laser-guided bomb that said "Its gonna hurt but its gonna go in"

 

[emmiee]

When the 1991 Gulf war started, our high school principal came over the PA and asked all students to come to school the next day wearing a black shirt to "mourn the death of peace"....

Crikey  I knew I was older but geez!

 

[aesop081]

Wow, that sounds like an official military definition.   :-\

well.....

non-denomational

As not to offend any specific religion

geometricaly- unspecific

For those who dont like "heart" shapes or circles, triangles or any other shapes.....

all purpose

We dont want to forget about any of the many uses for this so this way its all-inclusive

relocation

This word is much less negative that "displacement"

aparatus

Well...i couldnt use tool so ....

 

[xena]

emmiee, I hear ya and feel your pain...

But it just occured to me, as this kind of stuff is going on, perhaps service personnel should wear black arm bands to "mourn the death of common sense".

The kid drew a picture...  a freakin' picture!  That's all!

Ooo!  I just had a thought (no comments please!)

This principal that thought it'd be a good idea to "mourn the death of peace", or some such drivel:  was he or she aware of any recent history?  Think about it, how many wars had been fought between WW2 and Gulf1 throughout the world?  Was there any period of time that did NOT have a war going on somewhere?  Do people honestly think that there are no wars going on unless the media shoves it under their noses repeatedly over a long period of time?

Time to mourn common sense and general awareness...

 

[onecat]

When the 1991 Gulf war started, our high school principal came over the PA and asked all students to come to school the next day wearing a black shirt to "mourn the death of peace"....

I showed up with a black t-shirt that had the picture of a Paveway II laser-guided bomb that said "Its gonna hurt but its gonna go in"

I wish i could of been at school, I was not a supporter of the Gulf War, but that principal is on crack.

 

[proudnurse]

Roy,
Hey I'm with ya on that one.  That's the way it is in Ontario.  2 yrs of Kindergarten before they start Grade 1.  I know what you mean.  God forbid kids act like kids.  On another note, he had a minimum of 45 mins of homework each night if you can believe that.  I kid you not.

Last year, when my daughter was in 1st grade. She had not one but two homework books per week. One was due on a Tuesday, and the other due on a Friday.

~Rebecca

 

[aesop081]

I was not a supporter of the Gulf War,

One country invades another and you dont support kicking them out.......... ???

 

[armyvern]

One country invades another and you dont support kicking them out.......... ???

Kind of reminds you of that old saying:

"every country has a military; it's own or someone else's."

Good thing for Kuwait that they got Saddam's and then someone else's yet again was willing to go in and kick the first "someone else's" out for them.

 

[MarkS33]

To be completely honest, I wouldn't mind being a teacher. I love using my talents to help others learn and to be honest, this is horse ****. I drew guns and planes and bombs all through out school... I still do. Hell, in grade 7, 8, and 9 I drew some pretty controversial pictures of guys getting limbs blown off and heads shot in and their mourning buddies and squad mates... powerfull stuff, and not only that, I went to a Catholic school. when i was done, i submitted them in a nation wide contest and in all three years, I won prize money in the remembrance day drawing contests that those drawings were entered in... $1500 total from THE FEDERAL GOV'T!!!!!!!! and now to hear this crap just drives me insane. I encourage and teach responsibility with weapons of any type. There is no end to war and guns in sight, so we should defiantly not breed ignorance and discontent towards it. I believe the saying is "knowledge is power". I just hope this world will come around. we need more male teachers in this society...




P.S. if i can, maybe ill find my drawings and let you guys see what i did. i still get comments from school buddies on how powerfull it was.