re: In today's WTF school news- 5 year old suspended for bringing bubble gun to clas

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The story is sensationalized to the hilt. The girl's mom had to pick her up from school because her kid brought a toy bubble gun. The girl came back to the school the next day. Its as a one day "suspension."

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That's still ridiculous. The mom had to drop what she was doing and drive to school to pick up her kid because she brought a bubble gun to school.

They could've just taken it away from the kid, called the mom to explain the situation, and asked her to make sure her daughter doesn't bring it again.

And guess what the craziest part of this common sense solution is...Everyone saves time and effort, and the little 5-year-old girl isn't made to look like she's on the path for juvie by the time she's a teenager.

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Zero tolerance for the intent of the rule. A bubble gun wasn't why the rule was written. It in no way resembles a real gun.

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If my kid went there I wouldn't really care if she was suspended or not for the bubble gun, but the idea that the school should treat it on a case by case basis is a slippery slope. If a gun that is clearly a toy is allowed to go without punishment, is this ok too?


What about this?



Or this?



All clearly toys, yet the "mommy come pick me up from school for the day" suspension should differ?

ETA: If you want to just take it away that is fine with me too, but the rule and punishment shouldn't distinguish between what sort of toy guns are allowable and what isn't.

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If my kid went there I wouldn't really care if she was suspended or not for the bubble gun, but the idea that the school should treat it on a case by case basis is a slippery slope. If a gun that is clearly a toy is allowed to go without punishment, is this ok too?

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This is what we have eyes and cognitive functions for. We can distinguish objects that look differently from others.

For your examples...

In the case of the water gun, take it away from the student and give it back at the end of the and explain why they can't bring it to school.

For the Nerf gun, same as above. Maybe with a little harsher tone.

For the airsoft guns, now we're talking stricter punishment. They clearly resemble ACTUAL weapons capable of prompting panic, and I would suspend a student without hesitation for bringing one of them to school. Maybe expel depending on the circumstances.

But all of these depend of what the exact situation is. How old is the student? What are they doing with the toy? Are they being belligerent or deliberately trying to scare or harass their classmates?

These are all factors that a HUMAN administrator can use his/her BRAIN for and decide an appropriate punishment.

Otherwise, why don't we just let our school discipline be administrated by computers. What's the fricking difference?

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These are all factors that a HUMAN administrator can use his/her BRAIN for and decide an appropriate punishment.

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Now you've crossed the line. We all know government employees can't think for themselves. It's hard to blame people for the mental handicaps they have endured all their life.

You're not getting the point. Idc what the punishment is, I care about the consistency from the administration. This isn't a one off situation, and the school board made that clear. For kids this age with a toy gun this year, a one day suspension has been the punishment handed down.

If this was a daycare, you'd have a point, but an entire school system needs to have cut and dry rules that enforced evenly and fairly. If school systems enforced all of their rules evenly and fairly we'd be much better off.

Darth the punishment could be a 5 minute timeout for all I care, the point is that I'd rather the rule be enforced on all toy guns so you remove all ambiguity from the rule. I don't want a teacher or administrator deciding whether a toy crosses some threshold of looking enough like a gun or not.

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but the idea that the school should treat it on a case by case basis is a slippery slope.

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Literally nothing in the world works on zero tolerance. The idea that we are going to completely remove context from discipline is moronic and lessens us as a society. Zero tolerance is the reason valedictorians get expelled from school for having a butter knife fall between their car seats in the school parking lot when the intent of the rule is to protect students from actual weapons in the hands of people who actually want to harm people.

It's nonsense.

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I could use that and get charged with armed robbery

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Only if you used it in the facilitation of a robbery where the victim reasonably believed the weapon posed a chance of harm.

That's called "intent" and its the cornerstone of criminal law.

You don't get charged with armed robbery with a bubble gun if you are running around your backyard, spraying bubbles at your kids.

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Darth the punishment could be a 5 minute timeout for all I care, the point is that I'd rather the rule be enforced on all toy guns so you remove all ambiguity from the rule. I don't want a teacher or administrator deciding whether a toy crosses some threshold of looking enough like a gun or not.

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A moment ago you said the punishment was fine. Now you're saying you don't care what the punishment is as long as it's consistent.

Would you be fine if they expelled her and sent her to juvenile detention until she turned 18 as long as they're consistent?

you don't think I am serious? I think school administrators are complete morons with these policies now a days. I recall a few years ago a child getting suspended/expelled for using his finger as a gun during recess...WTF is wrong with the people in charge