Student suspended for bringing toy gun to principal
Child Suspended After Finding Toy Gun At Bus Stop
10-year-old Frasier McCart found a gun at his bus stop. He thought it was real so he hid it in his backpack so nobody would get hurt. He planned on turning it over to his principal at Oakwood Manor Elementary School.
“I was thinking, ‘I’ll give it to the principal, she’ll know what to do,’” Frasier said.
“It did look like a real gun,” Principal Marla Wasserman said.
She said the boy had good intentions, but while making his way through the hallway to her office, he told another student what he had in his backpack. Wasserman said the boy should not have told another student. She then suspended him.
She suspended him for having a toy guy that he was trying to turn over to her. The reason for the suspension was he told another student what he was doing. This goes beyond unbelievable. The kid tries to do what he has been taught to do and gets punished for it. The principal is basically saying that a kid who finds a gun should not give it to an authority figure.
“I’m sitting here wondering, ‘Why? What’d I do?’ I did the right thing,” Frasier said
His mother is also disappointed.
“It’s hard to find somebody that can be honest and do the right thing,” said Tracy Johnson. “And to punish him for doing the right thing, that just doesn’t paint a pretty picture.”
I wonder what Superintendant Thomas Cummings thinks of this. I’m certainly going to ask him.
(Tip credit to merezog and Ginger)
Wasserman said the boy should not have told another student. The boy’s mother said he was then suspended. The principal said she then gave him in-school disciplinary action.
So, he was suspended for telling another student. Anything that compromises the appearance of control is a threat to the administration.
Wow. Just wow.
Okay Marla goes to the front of line. this is just stupid.
Barry I am interested in your take. Please tell me You dissagree with the principle on this one. Please please restore my my faith in human kind.
I can’t believe someone is being punished for telling someone else they are complying with the rules! This is stupid beyond belief.
OH MY!!!! When does it end?
Hats off to this boy who did the right thing, and I won’t say what I would like to about the Principal…..
Well, that (stupid) teacher expected 10-year old Frasier to think and act like an adult. It’s too bad she didn’t act like one. He is to be congratulated for doing the right thing.
Well, that (stupid) teacher expected 10-year old Frasier to think and act like an adult. It’s too bad she didn’t act like one. He is to be congratulated for doing the right thing.
Did he REALLY do the right thing? All the material I’ve seen regarding gun safety for kids says “DON’T TOUCH IT - TELL AN ADULT IMMEDIATELY!” It would seem that his first opportunity to bring the matter to the attention of an appropriate adult would be the BUS DRIVER.
If it had been a real gun, and loaded, who’s to say it couldn’t have inadvertantly discharged in his backpack? It’s not that inconceivable - anybody familiar with the Ruger revolver recalls? The proper action would have been to tell the bus driver upon his arrival at the stop, and let that adult be the only one to touch the weapon.
So, since a child was TRYING to do the right thing, even mistakenly, Dweeb, he should be rightly suspended?
That kind of thing builds a culture of fear.
And don’t lose sight of the fact that it was not a gun. It was a toy. He was suspended for having a toy that he was trying to turn in to his principal.
I’m not saying the punishment was appropriate, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The child in question BELIEVED it was a real gun, so for purposes of divining intent, etc., it might as well be one. If it had been a real loaded gun, and it had discharged when he tripped in the hallway, killing another student, would you like to be the one to tell that kids parents “but he was trying to do the right thing.”
Lots of harm has been done by people who believed what they were doing was right, so let’s set his intentions aside for a moment. There is a correct course of action, and an incorrect one. He took the incorrect course, one with potential to endanger other students. That’s a problem.
Should he be punished like a kid who intentionally smuggled in a gun with malicious intent? No, but neither should he be congratulated. His actions still fell badly short of the mark. It seems that the entire school needs to sit through the Eddie Eagle video, which tells kids, when they see a gun “Don’t touch it - stay away from it - tell an adult.”
Part of the problem is that the kid did NOT know what to do. And god forbid that elementary school kids ever be shown anything about firearms, even if it might keep them safe.
Dear Dweeb,
Before you get on this boy’s case for trying to do the right thing, why don’t you ask yourself WHO did the right thing here?
Sounds like no one was teaching the right process for dealing with a gun, and I seriously doubt that punishing this boy who made an ignorant attempt to do the right thing is appropriate.
Before anyone should condemn this boy or any child, we should make sure the child knows what your expectations are.
This is wrong and the principal is wrong.
If the school AND the parents haven’t instructed the kids in what to do, then there’s certainly room for leniency, but that DOESN’T mean the kid should be lauded for potentially endangering others. None of the points raised do anything to ameliorate the risk, had it been the real gun he thought it was. Clearly, when he boarded the bus, he walked RIGHT PAST AN ADULT IN CHARGE, without saying a word. This makes me question what his real intent was. If his goal was to do the right thing, WHAT WAS WRONG WITH TELLING THE BUS DRIVER? If nothing else, he’s guilty of a breach of basic common sense. A lot of problems result from misguided, poorly thought out attempts to do the right thing. Common sense says you tell the first adult you see, and establish your good intentions from the beginning, if only to cover yourself.
Sorry Dweeb the kid did do the right thing. was it the best right thing. Perhaps not. But He brought the gun to the first authority figure he thought of. he should be praised, told that he did he good thing and then he should be informed that while he made a good descion in the future it best to leave it be and inform the first responsible figure of authority about it and let them deal with it.
Would you sugjest they suspend a student for putting out a fire and then telling a teacher. no way. you let him now he did a good thing put that it was potentialy dangerous and that while your actions were good under other circumstances they could have been very dangerous and you make sure he knows what is the best option.
I don’t know about you, but when I was growing up if I told the bus driver I found a gun, even if it was a toy, he/she would have thought I was going to hijack it.
Most bus drivers aren’t the sharpest crayons in the box. Even now, when thinking of whom I would take said object to, they would probably be a trusted teacher or administrator.
Or, I wouldn’t tell anyone and just keep it for myself. Thinking as a 10 year old boy, having grown up in the 80’s, it would have been a cool find.
How do we know he was going to turn it in to the principal? Because he said he was? Please.
He did bring it to the principal. His crime was letting another kid know that he had it while he was en route to her office.