A 7-year old boy attending Park Elementary in Brooklyn Park is suspended for using food to make “inappropriate gestures” which disturbed a class. It seems the 2nd grader was eating a pop-tart and at one point, the uneaten part resembled a gun. A teacher saw this, sent the boy to the Principal who suspended him for 2 days.


The school sent home a letter advising that the school counselor would be available for anyone that was “troubled” by the incident. While it is admirable that the school has a zero tolerance policy on weapons and threats, I am not so sure that eating a pop-tart escalates to the level of a threat; much less warrants a suspension. The “perpetrator” was a 7 year old boy. It seems the only tragedy averted was some cherry filling that may have been spilled on his shirt.

But, the Anne Arundel County Schools have already set a precedent for this type of suspension. In May of 1999, a 4th grader at Windsor Farms Elementary in Arnold was suspended for drawing a gun on a piece of paper.

According to a recent report on Fox 45, the schools have now said that the boy was suspended for disrupting the class, which seems to contradict the wording in their letter to parents–”no physical threats were made and no one was harmed, the student had to be removed from the classroom.”

Has political correctness run amok in Anne Arundel County Public Schools or was this an appropriate punishment. Or are they just overly cautious because the day before, the school sent home a letter advising parents of a man approaching students at the bus stop and at their homes offering them candy? (Note: the letter is dated 2012, however, it was put online 2/28/13 and the URL confirms the date)

http://www.eyeonannapolis.net/2013/03/0 ... -tart-gun/

From Lowering the Bar:

http://www.loweringthebar.net/2013/03/u ... ident.html

UPDATE II: School Offers Counseling for Students Troubled by Pastry-Gun Incident
As you know if you have been following this dramatic story unfolding in Brooklyn Park, Maryland, seven-year-old Josh Welch has been suspended for two days after he allegedly fashioned his breakfast pastry into the shape of a gun.

Did I say "dramatic"? I meant "stupid."



The elementary school that was the scene of Josh's brutally harmless rampage sent students home Friday with a letter describing the incident as if it had actually been serious:

Dear Parents and Guardians:

I am writing to let you know about an incident that occurred this morning in one of our classrooms and encourage you to discuss this matter with your child in a manner you deem most appropriate.

During breakfast this morning, one of our students used food to make inappropriate gestures that disrupted the class. While no physical threats were made and no one [was] harmed, the student had to be removed from the classroom.

* * *

As you are aware, the ... Code of Student Conduct and appropriate consequences related to violations of the code are clearly spelled out in the Student Handbook, which was sent home during the first week of school and can be found on our website, www.aacps.org....

If your children express that they are troubled by today's incident, please talk with them and help them share their feelings. Our school counselor is available to meet with any students who have the need to do so next week. In general, please remind them of the importance of making good choices.

Pretty sure that if your children are "troubled" by another kid biting a pastry into something that looks sort of like a gun and waving said pastry around, you have already failed as a parent.

The two-day suspension indicates that the school considered this a "Level 3" violation, but exactly what part of the Code was in play is not clear. The letter suggests Josh disrupted the class, but the reference to "inappropriate gestures" involving food can only mean he was also charged with a pastry-based-weapons violation. The Code defines "other weapons" as:

Any gun of any kind, loaded or unloaded, operable or inoperable, including any object other than a firearm which is a look-a-like of a gun. This shall include, but is not limited to, pellet gun, paintball gun, stun gun, taser, BB gun, flare gun, nail gun, and air soft gun.

Josh's gun was not a firearm, because it was a pastry, and it seems highly unlikely that it qualified as a gun "look-a-like," again because it was a pastry. It certainly is nothing like any of the "look-a-like" items set forth in the list, largely because those items are not pastries.

Josh's father expressed amazement at the school's reaction to the incident, which involved a pastry.

"I'll just call it insanity," Josh's father said. "It's a pastry."

I didn't find the part in the handbook about how one bites into pop-tarts.

My first reaction reading this was "any 7yo who can bite a pop-tart into identifiable shapes is talented!" ~ ~

I am "anti" strict zero tolerance policies, most especially in early grades, which I see as doing far more harm than good ~ and I'm pissed off that this illogical "suspension" is now formally on the kidlet's record, which [in today's world] could cause him serious problems in the future ~

Sooz

Think I should e-mail this to the school for inclusion in their handbook?

http://www.wikihow.com/Eat-a-Pop-Tart

This is a prime example of why education is much to important to leave to teachers.

It's really hard to think about this incident without injecting humor or sarcasm- and not nearly as much fun. But this is the school district where I live and I think it is very serious that a kid would be treated this way, that the adults involved in any way thought that this was an appropriate response, that there are other recent egregious incidents in this school district, and that Maryland has been named by Education Week for having the best schools in the country for the last few years. I'm sure when all this settles the child's record will be expunged, the teacher will have some silly undeserved sanction, and the wrong lessons learned and unintended consequences will be what we are left with.

The teacher sent the kid to the principal. Teacher washed his/her hands of it.
The principal, who should know better, ...

As much as I've chastized WWII about the "good ole days", I certainly can see it in this. I remember the innocence of playing "cowboys and indians" as a child with toy guns or cap guns. My how things have changed.

If he did say "bang", then by all means have discussion with the child about why that isn't fun or funny these days. He's 7, not 17. No discipline needed, just some instructional talks.
Perhaps a school assembly to talk about why that isn't fun/funny is in order, since his classmates know about it all. A good time to go over emergency plans too.

Yeah. Tell the brat to say "Fu*k", instead.