Pa. kindergartner suspended for bubble gun remark

[sarisataka]

MOUNT CARMEL, Pa. (AP) — A 5-year-old Pennsylvania girl who told another girl she was going to shoot her with a pink toy gun that blows soapy bubbles has been suspended from kindergarten.
Her family has hired an attorney to fight the punishment, which initially was 10 days but was reduced to two.
Attorney Robin Ficker says Mount Carmel Area School District officials labeled the girl a "terrorist threat" for the bubble gun remark, made Jan. 10 as both girls waited for a school bus.

http://news.yahoo.com/pa-kindergartner-suspended-bubble-gun-remark-035057936.html

This question from the comments

How is that we seem to be able to locate 5 year olds who smart talk about bubbles, but we can not find mass murderers who kill people by the bus load ! ?

and does anyone think a ten or two day suspension makes any sense in this case?


x-post- was locked in RKBA

[patrice]

1. Appropriate group processing of this kind of behavior is more respectful to the girl & everyone else

[NightWatcher]

2. Good thing that teacher wasn't armed. There would've been a shoot out

I can't believe some want the teachers to be armed when some of them can't grasp "child speak" and seperate it from "terroristic threats".

[Great Caesars Ghost]

3. GUARANTEE- it will be overturned

[DirkGently]

4. This is what we do. Idiotic overreaction solves nothing.

We are so dumb with this zero-tolerance style enforcement. Overreacting to a harmless situation does not protect against a serious situation. Expelling kids for having aspirin does not deter crack use. Forbidding the use of cake knives does not filter out switchblades.

A bubble gun is not a gun.

Jesus.

[watch the sky]

5. a "terrorist threat"?

warranting a ten-day suspension? A five year old? This is insanity, needs to stop.

[bunnies]

6. uhmmm. ok so...

a five year old girl with a bubble gun is a "terrorist threat" but a man in a JC Penneys with an AR-15 is just a guy exercising his rights. Got it.

[Journeyman]

7. And people question why I have so little respect for public school administrators. . .

Twain had it right -- Congress critters and school boards.

[avebury]

8. A bit over the top.

I would have confiscated the toy and told the child that her parents would have to collect it from the Principal's office. I might consider having her parents come and pick her up and send her home for the rest of the day with instructions to have a chat with her about the inappropriateness of her actions. Kids need to understand that not all toys are guns nor are all guns toys. If children are raised that there are toy guns what do you think can happen if they come across a loaded gun? There is nothing that can more more disruptive to a set of parents then finding themselves having to take care of a child on a work day, particularly if both parents work. Consideration could be given to notifying the parents that a second incident could result in a three day suspension. They are the parents, let them monitor what their child brings to school.

Why encourage kids to bring bubble guns/squirt guns to school, it can just be plain disruptive?

Edited to add that, after reading the article:

I would have definitely been inviting the parents to come to the school to pick up the child. If she did not have the "pink bubble gun" on her you don't know what she might actually have brought to the school. We live in a culture where so many children are raised with toy guns and, depending upon how young the child is, he/she might actually think that guns are toys. I would have no problem with telling the parents that, if the child brings any type of gun, toy or otherwise, to school she would be sent home (for perhaps a 3 day suspension, for example) and the school would be checking her backpack every morning. They are the parents, make them parent and be forced to monitor what the child brings to school.

The school could also send home notices (paper or email) to all parent putting them on notice that students are not allowed to bring any type of gun (squirt, bubble, etc.) to school and what the consequences are if a student is found to be in possession of one. If you tell them up front then they have no grounds to complain if their child gets caught breaking the rules. Again, make the parents parent their children and responsible for what their children bring to school.

[etherealtruth]

9. I am probably as "anti-gun" as a person can be

This is utterly ridiculous.

[Enrique]

10. what if they didn't know it was a toy gun?

Ficker says the girl didn't even have the bubble gun with her and has never fired a real gun. He says she's "the least terroristic person in Pennsylvania."

The absurd thing is that we have to fear that it is a real threat. In a society where a child having a real gun is unthinkable, this wouldn't happen.