Following a school shooting on the first day of the 2012-13 school year in Baltimore County and the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., school systems have expanded the use of zero-tolerance policies when it comes to anything that looks like a gun.
It’s therefore not surprising that the school year should close with a story about a boy suspended for bringing an orange-tipped cap gun onto a school bus in Calvert County, Md., the Washington Post reports.
The 5-year-old kindergartner at Dowell Elementary School in Lusby was first issued a 10-day suspension for his possession of an unloaded cap gun on Wednesday, May 29. After a disciplinary conference on Friday morning, though, the suspension was reduced essentially to “time already served,” and he was allowed to return to school this morning.
The suspension for possession of a look-alike gun may be expunged from his permanent school record, but that hasn’t been decided yet. Any action on the part of school officials is not likely to be reported, however, so we’re leaving this story right here.
[NB. This portion of the story, in blue, may be inaccurate. See the comment below.] The troubling thing about this case is that the boy was questioned for about two hours before his parents were called in. This type of questioning of a 5-year-old seems a bit harsh and no doubt caused a great deal of stress: the boy’s mother told the Post that he “uncharacteristically” wet his pants during the course of the questioning.
Although toy guns are a fairly recent concern in our schools and officials have probably received very little professional advice about how to question 5-year-olds on the subject of toy guns, these actions don’t fill kindergartners with confidence toward authority figures. We think, at the very least, before questioning becomes too harsh or lengthy, the student’s parents should be brought in.