Toy gun prompts criminal probe
The 7-year old student took his toy to school last week and showed it to another student in the parking lot. That other little boy told his parents about it on Tuesday night.
They promptly alerted authorities and an investigation was launched by the Sheriff’s Office and school workers.
The alleged culprit and his parents cooperated with police, Bukoffsky said.
“They helped us locate the gun,” he said.
When the hammer of the toy is cocked, a red light shoots out of the barrel.
No one was injured.
The weapon was bagged into evidence Wednesday but the boy will probably not face criminal charges.
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Teen Arrested With Toy Gun At School
An Eatonville High School 9th grader was arrested for bringing a toy gun to school.
Students notified school officials after they saw the teen with a toy gun in his backpack.
Police were called to the school and they removed the boy from class and questioned him Tuesday [5/18] morning.
The toy gun, similar to a BB gun, was in the student’s locker. The school superintendent stated that he would be expelled from school.
Updated 28 May 2004: Response received from school system to email inquiry.
Student Whose Hair Set Afire Told To Stay Home
Courtney Glowczewski is 13 years old. She is a good student but has a problem - she’s a target for bullies because she has a small arm and leg due to her cerebral palsy. Last week the bullying got much worse when she was threatened with a knife and then had her hair lit on fire.
“He pulled out a knife, a silver knife, a pocket knife, and then he said ‘What!?’ So I was scared and didn’t know what to do,” said Glowczewski.
As she walked to her seat she smelled smoke and one of her classmates was patting her hard on the back.
“I looked and there was a black spot on the back of my shirt. And then I saw some black hair falling from my hair,” said Glowczewski.
Her hair was on fire and the other student said that she was trying to help put it out.
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Student gets max for including steak knife in his project
The fifth grader at Grasonville Elementary School had a project called “What would you take on a camping trip and why?” and had assembled a number of tools in a decorated shoe box. One of the items was a steak knife. He turned in his project on May 10 and a week later he presented it to his class. The teacher then saw the steak knife and contacted Principal Anne Dodge. Things rapidly went downhill for the student.
“It was a tool. He brought in different types of tools,” Dodge said. She, too, said the student never threatened anyone.
The student and his possessions were removed from the classroom, a parent was notified and the sheriff’s office contacted, Dodge said. Dfc. Kristy L. Murphy investigated.
Parents of children in that reading class were contacted by phone and a letter went home to them, Dodge said.
He was suspended for 10 days. There is no note in the article about whether the police investigation ended with criminal charges filed.
The child had included a knife among tools to take on a camping trip. The teacher had possession of it for an entire week. Nobody was ever threatened. And they called the cops on him? Ah, the magic of zero tolerance.
(Tip credit to Best of the Web and Richard Emerson)
Family Kicked Out of Graduation for Cheering
Clapping and whistling got Brandon Sample’s family (including his mother, father, aunts, and even his 86-year-old grandmother) kicked out of his graduation ceremony. Grandview High School had a strict dress and behavior code for the ceremony and they had the police there to enforce it.
On home video, a police officer said, “You’ve got to leave.”
A woman said, “This is a celebration, sir.”
The police officer said: “I know. The school didn’t want you, them doing that. You don’t leave, you go to jail. You understand that?”
It was all over this short burst of celebration.
“We were proud. It was one those where it was like the proudest moment in your life, and so we cheered. It was just a cheer, and then we were quiet,” said Joy Sample.
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LBJ student shot in the chin at school
High school student charged with assault
Monica Torres, a 15-year-old student at LBJ High School in Northeast Austin was taking pictures of other students in her English class as they rehearsed a class play. She was shot in the chin by a BB gun, one of three that were brought into the class as props for their rendition of Romeo and Juliet (apparently they were reproducing the DiCaprio/Danes version over the Bard’s classic venue).
“I was taking pictures and I didn’t even know that I had got shot until I started bleeding � I didn’t feel anything; it just went numb,” Torres said.
The BB is still embedded in Torres’ chin. Doctors told the family it must be surgically removed by a plastic surgeon or she risks scarring.
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Girl Scouts a security threat?
Girl Scouts, dads have fun zipping around downtown
Sorry for the title, I’m practicing how to write for Reuters. This story isn’t a scholastic issue but it’s zero tolerance and it’s kids so here we go:
The Martin County Girl Scouts have an annual father-daughter day that includes a scavenger hunt and shopping for Mother’s Day gifts. They picked the perfect venue for it at Treasure Coast Square mall. They even went forward and got the support of the shops and vendors. Unfortunately the mall said no. It seems that Girl Scouts are hazardous to mall patrons.
Rachelle Crain, the mall’s marketing director, had a different take, and rejected the May 1 event, citing a post-Sept. 11 security policy banning group activities.
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“Historically, we have enjoyed a positive relationship with the Girl Scouts. In this case, however, upon reviewing their request for the father/daughter event, we felt the scavenger hunt portion was not conducive to the mall environment.”
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Parents Turn to Courts to Stop Bullying
Education groups say more and more parents are taking school officials to court for failing to stop other youngsters from bullying their children.
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Though it’s hard to quantify the prevalence of such suits � a spokesman for the Association of Trial Lawyers of America said they aren’t tracked � some say this type of litigation appears to be on the rise.
In 1996 Nabozny v. Podlesny opened the door when Jamie Nabozny won a $900,000 settlement against a Wisconsin school district that failed to protect him from years of bullying.
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Eric Kok of Chichester High School wanted to be class president. The school handbook requires that candidates carry at least a 2.0 grade average to be eligible. That should have been no problem for Eric because his GPA is about 2.2, right? Wrong.
At some point prior to the election, the requirement was apparently raised to 2.5, which made Kok ineligible for the position. (The student handbook is posted on the Chichester School District Web site and states that the minimal cumulative GPA needed to participate in sports and extra-curricular activities is 2.0.)
So Kok tried to run a write-in campaign by hanging a few homemade posters around the school, asking students to write his name on the ballot. School officials responded by confiscating the posters last Friday, escorting Kok off the property and suspending him until after the election.
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Updated 24 May 2004: Henson allowed back in school (detail at bottom of post).
Student may be punished for bat
Sophomore Cory Henson of Diamond Hill-Jarvis High School has been suspended and faces a conference with administrators today. His crime? Possession of a weapon on school property. The weapon? An eight inch bat (separated from a baseball trophy) that officials saw in his locked car.
Cory’s mother was confused why the eight inch bat was considered a weapon while the full sized bat in the trunk was not. Do I need to mention that Cory plays ball too?
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