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Student disciplined for pointing finger like a gun
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Student disciplined for pointing finger
2002-09-19
MUSKOGEE (AP) -- An elementary school student who pointed his finger like a gun at classmates has been given five days of in-school suspension.
The incident appears to be the first time that the behavior has been addressed by a school in Oklahoma, said Muskogee School Superintendent Dr. Eldon Gleichman.
Students who receive in-school suspension are taken out of their regular classes and placed in a supervised environment where they work on their assignments.
State and local school officials said increased sensitivity in the wake of school shootings has changed attitudes about what was once considered an innocent game.
Gleichman said that pointing a finger like a gun is not specifically addressed in the district handbook for elementary students. But he said it could be construed as threatening and would be covered under the district's anti-bullying rules.
"Right now, its all kind of in the eyes of the beholder," Gleichman said. "I'm not saying every principal at every school would address it the same way, but they'd have to do something."
Diane Donaldson, mother of the Creek Elementary School sixth-grader, said the punishment was too severe. "It's not like he was threatening anybody," Donaldson said.
She accused the school's principal, Rick Hoos, of treating her son "like a criminal."
"They even put the metal detector on him and wouldn't let him eat breakfast with everyone else," Donaldson said. Donaldson also accused the predominantly white school of racial discrimination against her African-American son and said she plans to file a complaint with the NAACP. Hoos, principal at Creek Elementary for eight years, said the school has a policy against any games involving guns.
"We don't shoot at people at school, playing or otherwise," Hoos said. "It hasn't been accepted, ever."
Donaldson said her son, Bryson, 12, did not know about the rule. Hoos said it is not written down, but teachers have told children not to play gun games in classrooms and on the playground.
"If you asked the kids about it, no one would know," Donaldson said.
She also said the school's story changed between Friday, when her son was punished, and Tuesday, when she scheduled a conference with the principal and district superintendent.
In a written statement explaining the punishment, the principal wrote that her son had pointed his finger in a handgun motion and in a threatening manner toward a girl in the cafeteria, Donaldson said.
When she asked if the girl had reported being threatened, Donaldson said, she was told no. Donaldson also said the girl is a friend of her son's, and that he told her they were pretending to shoot back and forth at one another along with several other children in the cafeteria line.
On Tuesday, she said, Hoos said her son pretended to stand on a street corner shooting at all of the children. Gleichman and Hoos said they could not comment on the punishment of a particular student due to confidentiality laws.
http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=919944&TP=getarticle
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
2002-09-19
MUSKOGEE (AP) -- An elementary school student who pointed his finger like a gun at classmates has been given five days of in-school suspension.
The incident appears to be the first time that the behavior has been addressed by a school in Oklahoma, said Muskogee School Superintendent Dr. Eldon Gleichman.
Students who receive in-school suspension are taken out of their regular classes and placed in a supervised environment where they work on their assignments.
State and local school officials said increased sensitivity in the wake of school shootings has changed attitudes about what was once considered an innocent game.
Gleichman said that pointing a finger like a gun is not specifically addressed in the district handbook for elementary students. But he said it could be construed as threatening and would be covered under the district's anti-bullying rules.
"Right now, its all kind of in the eyes of the beholder," Gleichman said. "I'm not saying every principal at every school would address it the same way, but they'd have to do something."
Diane Donaldson, mother of the Creek Elementary School sixth-grader, said the punishment was too severe. "It's not like he was threatening anybody," Donaldson said.
She accused the school's principal, Rick Hoos, of treating her son "like a criminal."
"They even put the metal detector on him and wouldn't let him eat breakfast with everyone else," Donaldson said. Donaldson also accused the predominantly white school of racial discrimination against her African-American son and said she plans to file a complaint with the NAACP. Hoos, principal at Creek Elementary for eight years, said the school has a policy against any games involving guns.
"We don't shoot at people at school, playing or otherwise," Hoos said. "It hasn't been accepted, ever."
Donaldson said her son, Bryson, 12, did not know about the rule. Hoos said it is not written down, but teachers have told children not to play gun games in classrooms and on the playground.
"If you asked the kids about it, no one would know," Donaldson said.
She also said the school's story changed between Friday, when her son was punished, and Tuesday, when she scheduled a conference with the principal and district superintendent.
In a written statement explaining the punishment, the principal wrote that her son had pointed his finger in a handgun motion and in a threatening manner toward a girl in the cafeteria, Donaldson said.
When she asked if the girl had reported being threatened, Donaldson said, she was told no. Donaldson also said the girl is a friend of her son's, and that he told her they were pretending to shoot back and forth at one another along with several other children in the cafeteria line.
On Tuesday, she said, Hoos said her son pretended to stand on a street corner shooting at all of the children. Gleichman and Hoos said they could not comment on the punishment of a particular student due to confidentiality laws.
http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=919944&TP=getarticle
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
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When I was a child, I thought as a child. But now that I am growen, I just wish I could act like a child and get away with it.
My son was scolded for drawing a picture of a gun at school when he was in the third grade. These people are dumber than dirt and they are teaching their stupidity to children. The parents must then de-program their children. I wish they would simply go back to teaching what they are supposed to and leave the rest where it belongs, at home. But it seems that more and more the parents are teaching the reading and writing and math and the schools are teaching politics, social programming and conformity. It seems like the roles are being reversed, the state wants to raise the kids and teach them their beliefs and standards and its the parents job to simply pay for it all.
When Clinton left office they gave him a 21 gun salute. Its a damn shame they all missed....
*If there is one gun for every 7 people in the world, I'm saving alot of people money*
The reason that schools are teaching all the other stuff is because the parents AREN'T.
If parents taught their kids manners, respect, etc, the schools wouldn't have to try to.
The schools need to get back to teaching the three R's, but the parents won't let them use the discipline they need.
It is NOT just the schools fault here.
A LARGE majority of parents I come into contact with (I run a videogame store) DO NOT take responsibility for their kid's actions. At all. When kids are kicking my cases or something, and I say something to them, parents get all uppity and say stupid things like "My child would NEVER do that!"
There are parents, and there are people with kids. Huge difference.
Merc (who has thrown more than a few people out of his store for not corraling their kids.)
NO! You may not have my guns! Now go crawl back into your hole!
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"Tolerating things you may not necessarily like is part of being free" - Larry Flynt
When Clinton left office they gave him a 21 gun salute. Its a damn shame they all missed....
4god, I agree with some of what you say, but just because YOU think something is "wrong" doesn't mean that it is to others.......don't be so quick to judge. I've seen some mighty fine kids come from gay couples, and some real idiots from straights. It works both ways.
Merc
NO! You may not have my guns! Now go crawl back into your hole!
****************************************
"Tolerating things you may not necessarily like is part of being free" - Larry Flynt
The thing is, it tends to make you more likely to spank your own kids when you grow up. And I don't have any kids, but if I did, I'm not sure how I would handle that. Choosing to spank is one thing, but being "compelled" to spank when you boil over is something even I'm not very comfortable with. Punishment should be served cold.
I have raised my dog these last 5 years and she's hardly had a single whack. She's a very good dog. I've had girlfriends with kids and I know they can drive you very crazy. Luckily, it's never been my job to discipline. But when I thought about bringing them in line, I never thought beating on them would be absolutely necessary to get the job done.
I can tell you this -- I certainly agree that that woman caught on video wailing on her little girl for a good 40 seconds needed to be brought up short. It's not a question of what the kid might have done to "deserve" it. Nobody deserves that. Especially not from their own mom.
- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
If I'm wrong please correct me, I won't be offended.
The sound of a 12 gauge pump clears a house fatser than Rosie O eats a Big Mac !