Outrage of the Week

[gejoslin]

Outrage of the Week

Posted on May 10, 2013


This week's outrage falls under the category of, "here we go again." A couple of seven-year-old Suffolk, Va. boys were recently suspended from school for violating their school's "weapons policy." Their violation? Pretending their pencils were guns.

Apparently, the two received the disciplinary action after they pointed their pencils at each other as if they were guns and made "gun noises" while playing in class.

You read that right. According to Bethanne Bradshaw of the Suffolk Public School system, "A pencil is a weapon when it is pointed at someone in a threatening way and gun noises are made."

Wendy Marshall, the mother of one of the boys, says they were pretending to be in the military and that neither felt threatened. Still, both were suspended.

There seems to be no end to these cases of "zero-tolerance" policies being applied with zero common sense. We recently reported on a seven-year-old Baltimore student who was suspended for two days for shaping a breakfast pastry into what his teacher thought looked like a gun. And then there was the recent case of another first-grader in Maryland who was suspended for holding his fingers in the shape of a gun and saying, "Pow!" while playing at school. Where does the ridiculousness end?

As we've noted over and over again, we all agree that we want our children to be safe at school, and that reasonable safety measures should be followed. But we must also exercise good judgment and discretion. When school administrators continue to allow zero-common sense enforcement of "zero-tolerance" regulations, we've bypassed reasonable and arrived at outrageous.
NRA-ILA | Outrage of the Week--May 10, 2013
Va. Boy Suspended for Pointing Pencil Like Gun

Tuesday, May 7, 2013 | Updated 6:58 AM EDT

A seven-year-old Virginia boy was suspended for pretending a pencil was a gun at his Suffolk school.
Christopher Marshall apologized for the incident, but the school has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to weapons or threats of weapons.
The boy's father is furious.
"Enough is enough. I mean, where will we draw the line?" said Paul Marshall. " I mean, a pencil. Was it sharpened? Was it not? Was it a No. 2? What's the big deal?"
The school said that they stand by their policy.
"A pencil is a weapon when it is pointed at someone in a threatening way and gun noises are made," said Bethanne Bradshaw of Suffolk Public Schools.
The suspension follows others in the D.C. metro area that have been protested by parents. In March, a 7-year-old Maryland boy was suspended for nibbling a breakfast pastry into the shape of a gun.
In January, a Maryland boy was suspended for a day for pointing his fingers into the shape of a gun and saying "Pow!" while playing. That event was later taken off his school record.
Va. Boy Suspended for Pointing Pencil Like Gun | NBC4 Washington

 

[kelcarry]

An asylum run by its inmates and formerly known as the USA. If they can elect an incompetent moslem socialist as prez, they can come up with anything.

 

[tricolordad]

"Moslem socialist". There's a contradiction.

 

[NCIC105]

In cases like this I feel there should be a test in the womb and abortion should be paid for with our tax money if they demonstrate zero intelligence... They we might get some people that at least have enough sense to pour piss out of a boot....


To say this was a weapon is like saying an ant is a baby Godzilla.

 

[sdprof]

"A pencil is a weapon when it is pointed at someone in a threatening way and gun noises are made."

After all, pencils are weapons of math instruction.

(Finding the corresponding joke is left as an exercise for the reader.)

 

[whitetiger5]

If they could sue the school dist for keeping their kids out of school for nonsense. and take money from them they would stop this stuff. any Lawyer out there? is that a reason for a lawsuit?
right for a education and personal damages for mental harm to a 7 y
ear old that will last for ever!

 

[jcreek]

"A pencil is a weapon when it is pointed at someone in a threatening way and gun noises are made."

After all, pencils are weapons of math instruction.

(Finding the corresponding joke is left as an exercise for the reader.)

......... *crickets*

 

[wolf_fire]

I teach in a high school, and I have to say there are a small number of idiots working there, but there are many more logically minded, common sense type folks.

You report of a story about idiot administrators. Yet, the other day, the forensics science teacher asked me to present to her forensics science class the anatomy of a firearm and what markings are made on the casings and bullets for crime labs to look at. I spent the whole day teaching about firearms, it was a good day. I'll be happy to report, I was not suspended nor any of the students, who I have to say, asked wonderful questions throughout the lesson.

I'll also give an example of one of the idiot administrators I have run across (she didn't last long). I carry a wallet with a stainless steel chain attached to it (no thicker than 1/4"). Every once in awhile when we passed, she'd point at the chain and ask if it was a weapon, but wouldn't stop for an answer. One day, while I was talking to another colleague, she actually grabbed the chain (way too close for my comfort zone) held it and asked it were a weapon. In front of my colleague, I raised the pen in my hands and asked, "Were you aware that ten pounds of force against the carotid artery with a pen such as this would cause a person to bleed out in about 25-35 seconds, shall we then ban pens?". She dropped the chain and never asked about it again. Knowledge is what people need. Not more knee-jerking reactionaries. This administrator was a knee-jerking reactionary. Fortunately, she did not last long.

Hopefully, these administrators that are bullying our children who are just playing, will find their careers cut short too.

 

[jcreek]

I teach in a high school, and I have to say there are a small number of idiots working there, but there are many more logically minded, common sense type folks.

You report of a story about idiot administrators. Yet, the other day, the forensics science teacher asked me to present to her forensics science class the anatomy of a firearm and what markings are made on the casings and bullets for crime labs to look at. I spent the whole day teaching about firearms, it was a good day. I'll be happy to report, I was not suspended nor any of the students, who I have to say, asked wonderful questions throughout the lesson.

I'll also give an example of one of the idiot administrators I have run across (she didn't last long). I carry a wallet with a stainless steel chain attached to it (no thicker than 1/4"). Every once in awhile when we passed, she'd point at the chain and ask if it was a weapon, but wouldn't stop for an answer. One day, while I was talking to another colleague, she actually grabbed the chain (way too close for my comfort zone) held it and asked it were a weapon. In front of my colleague, I raised the pen in my hands and asked, "Were you aware that ten pounds of force against the carotid artery with a pen such as this would cause a person to bleed out in about 25-35 seconds, shall we then ban pens?". She dropped the chain and never asked about it again. Knowledge is what people need. Not more knee-jerking reactionaries. This administrator was a knee-jerking reactionary. Fortunately, she did not last long.

Hopefully, these administrators that are bullying our children who are just playing, will find their careers cut short too.

I took a forensics class in high school (sorta)! Even though I wasn't technically enrolled in the class it was by far the best class I had in high school. The teacher was awesome. I started studying ballistics when I was about 14 for reloading and long-range shooting so when she didn't know the answer to something about firearms she had no problem letting me jump in and help explain it to the class.

But we had some of those admins too, and god forbid you talk about or even mention firearms outside of that class, they'd suspend you immediately. "Common-sense" wasn't in their vocabulary. I remember once while I was in in-school-suspension for something and one of the other kids in there made a joke about wanting to kill himself. This kid was the class clown and everyone and their Uncle Bob knew this kid was joking when he said it, but nonetheless one of the Asst. Principals called the SRO and had him take him in for a 72 hr hold... It was completely ridiculous.

 

[rifleshooter474]

Me PROUD to live in Obama America.

 

[gejoslin]

I took a forensics class in high school (sorta)! Even though I wasn't technically enrolled in the class it was by far the best class I had in high school. The teacher was awesome. I started studying ballistics when I was about 14 for reloading and long-range shooting so when she didn't know the answer to something about firearms she had no problem letting me jump in and help explain it to the class.

But we had some of those admins too, and god forbid you talk about or even mention firearms outside of that class, they'd suspend you immediately. "Common-sense" wasn't in their vocabulary. I remember once while I was in in-school-suspension for something and one of the other kids in there made a joke about wanting to kill himself. This kid was the class clown and everyone and their Uncle Bob knew this kid was joking when he said it, but nonetheless one of the Asst. Principals called the SRO and had him take him in for a 72 hr hold... It was completely ridiculous.

Zero tolerance is BS! No REAL reason for it. It's not common sense. Trust the liberals to blow things like this completely out of reason. Parents should attend PTO to voice their opinions about this kind of unreasonable enforcement of tolerance. imho

 

[tricolordad]

Zero tolerance is BS! No REAL reason for it. It's not common sense. Trust the liberals to blow things like this completely out of reason. Parents should attend PTO to voice their opinions about this kind of unreasonable enforcement of tolerance. imho

"zero tolerance" policies are not about safety. They are about advancing the far left's agenda. "zero tolerance" is a way to intimidate parents and control, brainwash and institutionalize the children.

 

[escapedthematrix]

"zero tolerance" policies are not about safety. They are about advancing the far left's agenda. "zero tolerance" is a way to intimidate parents and control, brainwash and institutionalize the children.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Training for living in a prison planet. Creating a condition of hoplophobia in our children. Retarding thier development by punishing them for playing in a natural human male way. And now MSNBC runs propeganda advertisements saying your children are not yours anymore. The department of ecucation needs to be erased and the establishment of public education given back to the states to control. Check out Charlotte Iserbyt's book "The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America". She is a whistleblower who served as a Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education.

 

[Dunewolf]

If i ever was to have kids (which I probably wont) but yeh Id be home schooling them, then to allow the continued injection of stupid by the public education system on my children.
I learned at a young age that the public education system is horribly broken when I fell into these "zero tolerance" policies.. Like telling a teacher they are WRONG, and the BOOK was wrong and proving it was so.. I got in trouble. Soo yeh. The public education system is failing, and people who do have kids in these schools (indoctrination centers) Should be pulling them out and getting with fellow like minded people and home schooling them.

Up here in Michigan, I have seen news reports of many schools shutting down due to lack of money, Well.. lets shut them all down, cause its only causing more issues, and the system has failed to properly teach for the most part anyway. Gone are the days of unbiased education, its currently all "my way or the highway" in teaching. Not to mention the increase in students who develop learning deficiencies because of poor teachers.

I used to like saying the pledge of allegiance in school. Gone are those days... Cause it might upset foreign born students? whose family came here for a better life?
Gone are the days of kids being kids, getting into little kid fights that end with handshakes, now its gotta be knives/guns/weapons of some sort..
Seriously only use for public education system is to be babysitters for parents who don't wish to take the time to properly raise their own kids..

 

[gejoslin]

This is showing my age but, how many remember the Pledge, prayer and reciting the Golden Rule in class everyday before school?

 

[Warrior1256]

I can still remember playing army with my friends on the playground at recess. Ah, days gone by.

 

[HoJo]

I can still remember playing army with my friends on the playground at recess. Ah, days gone by.

Don't forget cops and robbers and cowboys and indians (cowboy and muslims today).

 

[zeebea]

Wolf_fire....you are lucky you were not drawn and quartered for you attack of this teacher. The sad fact is an increasing amount of teachers are stupid and as such they are sending out a multitude of stupid children which in turn will someday run our country. Look no further than our own potus for idiocy in charge.

 

[jcreek]

I learned at a young age that the public education system is horribly broken when I fell into these "zero tolerance" policies.. Like telling a teacher they are WRONG, and the BOOK was wrong and proving it was so.. I got in trouble. Soo yeh.

I know exactly what you're talking about... One of the reason I got sent to ISS so much in HS was because I refused to let my teachers teach incorrect information to the class. My Junior English teacher, who was one of the most favorited teachers in the school (probably because she was really hot), could not speak proper English for the life of her. Every time I corrected her, regardless of how polite I was about it, I would be kicked out of class. One time she graded a vocab test of mine and marked off a word I had spelled correctly and rewrote it spelled incorrectly. I finally got fed up and took the test to Admins to prove what I had been telling them about her incompetency. What happened? Suspended..

 

[Bigcarlover]

I'll also give an example of one of the idiot administrators I have run across (she didn't last long). I carry a wallet with a stainless steel chain attached to it (no thicker than 1/4"). Every once in awhile when we passed, she'd point at the chain and ask if it was a weapon, but wouldn't stop for an answer. One day, while I was talking to another colleague, she actually grabbed the chain (way too close for my comfort zone) held it and asked it were a weapon. In front of my colleague, I raised the pen in my hands and asked, "Were you aware that ten pounds of force against the carotid artery with a pen such as this would cause a person to bleed out in about 25-35 seconds, shall we then ban pens?". She dropped the chain and never asked about it again.

You should have told her to stop yanking your chain. :biggrin: