OK first-grader disciplined for pointing finger like gun - This time IMHO school is right

[RamboLiberal]

Lydia Fox said her 7-year-old son is like any other little boy — vivid imagination, loves to play with GI Joe action figures and Nerf guns.

-----


But pointing his finger in the shape of a gun at fellow students landed Patrick Riley in trouble last week at Parkview Elementary School in the Midwest City-Del City district.

Fox said the first-grader was given in-school suspension Friday for his behavior. Instead of letting him sit in the in-school suspension room for the day, however, she picked him up and took him to work with her.


Fox said this was the second time her son's principal called to discuss Patrick pretending to shoot things with his fingers. She said she talked to him after the first incident and stressed he needs to obey school rules but said it's easy for 7-year-olds to forget.


District spokeswoman Stacey Boyer said in a written statement that “a student attending Parkview Elementary has repeatedly used his hands to simulate a gun and act as if he is shooting fellow students. The child has been told on more than one occasion to stop this behavior. The parent was notified on multiple occasions and has met with the principal to further discuss the ongoing behavior. Mid-Del Schools cannot report on any disciplinary action, however, it can confirm that the student was not suspended.


Read more: http://newsok.com/mid-del-first-grader-disciplined-for-pointing-finger-like-gun/article/3533754#ixzz1Bc3j8pMm

Schools overreact but in this case if the kid has been told not to do it and continues then IMHO the school has the right to up the discipline within reason.

[ret5hd]

1. Anything less than a deep psychological evaluation...

followed by an immediate trip to a secret FEMA camp is putting every one of us in danger!!!

[hlthe2b]

3. ok...

I have to admit laughing at that (I feared you might be serious based on the subject line)...;)

[hlthe2b]

2. kids see this everywhere...Tv, movies (including comedies), magazines,

comic books. I can see why it might be hard for a 7 yo to understand "what the big deal is all about." I applaud the school for setting some policies, but I suspect this is going to be one that requires some flexibility in terms of response.

[bobburgster]

4. Leave it to schools, to go to the extreme. n/t

[Iggo]

5. OK? Well, that's the problem.

If he was Exceptional instead of just OK, we wouldn't be having this discusssion.

[Codeine]

8. I was never punished for it, but I was just kinda "meh."

OK kids are held to a much higher standard.

[Codeine]

6. that's so completely fucking insane it boggles my mind.

That is normal childhood play. Absolutely fucking normal. Absolutely fucking expected. Absolutely fucking harmless.

[onenote]

7. not a lot of context here

From the story its unclear whether the child was attempting to convey a threat or was angry or was merely playing cops and robbers or soldier or cowboys and indians. I know the world is a different place but a lot of us managed to grow up as progressives and even advocates of gun control even though we played games that involved pointing a finger at someone and saying "bang."

[ret5hd]

9. terrorist!

[Obamanaut]

10. What is next? Getting labeled sex offender for flipping someone off? We have

gone WAY overboard.

[HockeyMom]

11. If 10 year olds are given guns as Christmas presents,

and their parents live a gun culture home, do you not expect them to point finger guns, make guns out of blocks, etc.

I work with 4 and 5 year olds, and have also with preteens from violent backgrounds, so why are people so surprised at this?

Yes, my own girls grew up in a house where their father owned guns, went shooting/tried to involved them in it, BUT MOM held more sway over them. They are grown up now and still hold these views, including being Dems (marrying non gun household Dems) over their Republican father.

BTW, I grew up in NYC back in the 1950s. I DID NOT see this then when I was a kid in school. CULTURE. Even back then, there was not a gun culture in NYC.

[derby378]

12. I know a lot of "non-gun-culture" adults who point finger guns for the most nonviolent of reasons

Some of these schools are staffed by oversensitive ninnies who are willing to bend over so far backwards that they've lost anything resembling a spine.

[HockeyMom]

14. These kids are poor and come from violent backgrounds

I have heard the preteens talking about this and the violence in their homes. One kid (11) even got this Grandma's gun and tried to shoot her.

You think this is good thing? Are you really that blind to reality? Guns in the home? We didn't even keep scissors or staple removers, anything that could be used as weapon, in the classroom without being locked up.

As far as the 4 and 5 year olds, nip it in the bud. Get them early before they get even more violent.

[derby378]

17. See, that's exactly what I am talking about

Locking up staple removers in class? For Pete's sake, we always used scissors in school when I grew up - not just rounded-tip "safety scissors," but the pointy kind - and nobody ever batted an eye about it, let alone suggested that they should actually be locked up in a classroom.

Whether those kids come from violent background or not, children learn what they live. You teach them that they cannot be trusted with a simple staple remover, they will grow up to manifest either meek submission or a libertarian streak the likes you never saw before.

[HockeyMom]

18. This was with the preteens

By that age, either they can be trusted, or they can't. These kids, who were one step away from a juvenile detention facility, with actual criminal records, had shown that they couldn't be trusted. That is why I said nip it in the bud with the 4 and 5 year olds.

[HockeyMom]

19. I have also worked in very wealthy school districts

There is no need for this "finger guns", etc., because very few of these kids even DO this. Guns, and violence, are not part of their home lives. Sorry, if you cannot see, or believe this, but there is a difference in these kids home lives. As I said, I never said it as a kid myself growing up. It simply was not part of the kids family life, or culture, back then, or in the rich areas now.

[Odin2005]

13. That is fucking stupid.

[Ezlivin]

15. Confiscate his finger

You can have my digit when you pry it from my cold, dead hand....

[TK421]

16. I'm speechless