‘Zero common sense’: 5-yo girl suspended from Colorado school for bringing bubble gun

A Colorado school has branded a $5 bubble gun as a “safety concern” and suspended the 5-year old girl who brought it to school under its “zero tolerance” policy. However, the student’s mother argues that the move shows no “common sense.”

“I apologized right away and said that I am so sorry she did that,” the mother identified only as Emma said, according to ABC-affiliate KMGH. “I appreciate that they’re trying to keep our kids safe, I really do. But there needs to be some common sense. It blows bubbles.”

Emma said she didn’t know her daughter had the bubble gun in her backpack when she brought it to Southeast Elementary School; otherwise she would have never permitted it.

The school called the mother after the girl took out the toy in the hallway during indoor recess before the start of the school day.

The management told Emma that she needed to come pick her child up because she had been suspended for the day for bringing the fake gun to school.

When the mother asked if it was really necessary to take the girl home, the school said, “Yes, this is our zero tolerance policy, and somebody needs to come get her immediately,” KMGH reported.

“If they had contacted me and said ‘can you make sure this doesn’t happen again, we just want you to be aware,’ I think that would have been a more appropriate way to handle the situation. Could we have a warning?” the mother told KDVR news channel.

The Southeast Elementary School has issued a statement providing an explanation for its decision.

“The bringing of weapons, real or facsimile, to our schools by students can not only create a potential safety concern but also cause a distraction for our students in the learning process,” the authorities said on Tuesday.

However, Emma, who generally agrees with the school’s policy, thinks the bubble gun is “a silly reason” for suspending her daughter and forcing her to miss classes.

She is also concerned that the school could use this incident against her daughter in the future if other issues arise.

“It’s always going to be lingering there in her school file,” she told KDVR.

The American Civil Liberties Union in Colorado has called the incident “absurd.”

“This is a silly example of a very real problem. Zero-tolerance policies often mean zero common sense,” Nathan Woodliff, the ACLU of Colorado’s executive director, told KMGH.

https://www.rt.com/usa/343493-girl-suspended-bubble-gun/

Dumb and Dumberer!
What will those Pansies think up next?

Ach geez! I messed that title up!

Well .. This is a better article.

Kindergartner Suspended for Bringing a Bubble "Gun" to School — Violated No "Weapon" Policy

“They’re saying it was a fake weapon and that I need to come get her,” said the unidentified Colorado mother of a five-year-old girl who was suspended after bringing a clear, plastic, princess-themed bubble gun to school because she likes bubbles. “I appreciate that they’re trying to keep our kids safe, I really do. But there needs to be some common sense.”

A Brighton, Colorado, School District 27J spokesman refused interview requests, but told an ABC affiliate by email that the kindergartner’s suspension was “consistent with our district policy.”

That policy targets fake ‘guns’ which could be reasonably mistaken for actual weapons — but the district almost inarguably crossed the line into the absurd with a plastic, princess bubble gun.

Nathan Woodliff-Stanley, executive director of the ACLU of Colorado cited by the ABC affiliate, called such incidents a ‘national embarrassment’ — citing another five-year-old’s suspension in 2013 for a ‘Hello Kitty’ gun, another student for shaping his breakfast pastry like a gun, and a third where a student landed a suspension over pointing their finger like a gun.

It would appear overprotection has turned to outright paranoia, if not complete abandonment of reason. Could any reasonable threat be assumed from a plastic gun emblazoned with a princess theme — which shoots only soapy water?

On Tuesday, the school attempted to abate criticism with a statement about the girl’s suspension:

While we hear and understand the parents of this student being concerned about this discipline in light of the student’s age and type of item, this suspension is consistent with our district policy as well as how Southeast has handled similar situations throughout this school year. This has involved similar situations where students have brought items such as Nerf guns to school and also received one-day suspensions. The bringing of weapons, real or facsimile, to our schools by students can not only create a potential safety concern but also cause a distraction for our students in the learning process. Our schools, particularly Southeast because of past instances with students bringing fake weapons to school, make a point of asking parents to be partners in making sure students are not bringing these items to school. this includes asking parents to check backpacks.

Calling a plastic bubble gun even a facsimile of a weapon defies common sense, logic, reason, and the limits of intelligence. Our culture has, perhaps — and in no small part due to the war against the concept of terrorism — has coddled itself right into a laughable preposterousness.

In 1954, Indiana Conservation Officer Rod Rankin reacted to a growing number of children killed in careless firearm accidents by implementing a permission-based gun safety course for school students. The argument he employed still rings true now, particularly in light of such absurd fear of guns — education, in combination with a healthy respect for weapons, will reduce fascination and increase awareness and safety for any child who encounters a gun.

Though his plan certainly garnered critics, many students learned the safe and responsible use and storage of firearms, particularly, “never point a gun at anybody, even in play, and always check immediately to see if the gun is loaded,” as Life Magazine described that year.

But Colorado’s suspension of a kindergartner for an object about which it would take an enormous leap of logic to describe as a fake weapon counters anything to do with safety — or weapons.

Just because the district boasts the student’s suspension is consistent with others for similar incidents — a Nerf gun? — doesn’t make the policy any less a foray into the absurd.

In 2013, Huffington Post listed six highly suspect suspensions for so-called fake weapons brought to school by young children.

A seven-year-old Maryland second-grader was suspended for nibbling a Pop-Tart into the shape of a gun. Another in the same state for a bright red cap gun — which, though the suspension was lifted, inexcusably remains on the student’s record. That student’s mother told the Washington Post her child was interrogated for two hours over the incident — which understandably scared him to the point he wet himself.

In Pennsylvania, a five-year-old girl caught a suspension for a bright pink-and-yellow Hello Kitty bubble gun. An eight-year-old in Florida was suspended — for playing cops and robbers. He pointed his finger at another student during the game, saying ‘pow pow.’

Perhaps most dystopically telling of all, two Virginia middle school students were suspended for a full year for playing with airsoft guns — at one of the student’s homes. A supposedly concerned neighbor called the cops — despite the fact she claimed she knew the guns were fake, which she told the dispatcher. What excuse, then, could she possibly have used to call police in that incident?

This is what happens when a cowed culture allows the State to decide what’s best — as if we, as a people, somehow possibly couldn’t parse that out on our own. It’s ludicrous. It’s nonsensical. And it needs to be reined in before a single other kindergarten’s record is permanently tarnished because of cultural paranoia surrounding guns.

Education and rationality, not confiscation and wholly unjustified fear, is key to gun policy — and to generally helping the U.S. get a grip
The Covert Guide to Concealed Carry (Ad)

Claire Bernish writes for TheFreeThoughtProject.com, where this article first appeared.



http://www.activistpost.com/2016/05/kindergartner-suspended-for-bringing-a-bubble-gun-to-school-violated-no-weapon-policy.html/ " Embedded Links*

That's kind of the point of "Zero-tolerance" policies.
So anyone without common sense can't screw them up.
And they have to be pretty clear and simple.

Like:
"No weapons or weapon shaped objects. Real or facsimile. If you bring one to school you are suspended."

Can't really screw something like that up.
"If you do x, y happens, absolutely."

And what horrible punishment did this kid receive?

OMG! Noooooooooo! Where's the justice?! Where's the common sense?!
She was suspended for the day?!
How dare they enact such a harsh penalty on such a poor sweet child!
That poor wee child is missing 2.5-5 hours of school!
That's going to keep her from the college of her choice!
Oh no! She might seek out revenge and bring a real gun to school since all her classmates and friends have moved ahead several grades by the time her punishment is over.


Why aren't the parents of a 5 y/o girl aware of what she's bringing to school?
Don't they check to make sure she has all her books, crayons, whatever before she goes to class?
She's 5. She could have a turd in her pocket.

Or were they aware she had this and thought "gee, it's a good idea to let a kid go to school with an annoying toy, its okay if she fills the room with bubbles. The teacher won't mind that at all! It will help keep all the kids calm, mindful, and paying attention."

* My kids have the same cool toy. It has flashing lights and blows tons of bubbles. Great fun toy.
* Schools are only a child warehouse today and have no relevance to education or child's healthy development.
* I guess this child was lucky to not be imprisoned as an example to others.
* Zero tolerance requires zero thought or thinking.

The school admin are morons. Tell the girl they're holding onto it and her parents can pick it up if they want to....AFTER school. The suspension...and calling a parent in to pick up her now suspended child....is dumb.

Personally I am sure there is a zero tolerance policy and well it is the parents job to check packs etc...

Sorry this time I am siding with the school.

I usually don't but here yes.

The is the parents responsibility to make sure contraband of this nature isn't at school and if they let this slide what would next be allowed to slide.

Yea sure wouldn't want sope bubble'
s shot at me .

Humm okay so she got suspended for breaking the rules.

Think about it next child will bring in a water gun that looks just like a real gun so where do you draw the line?? Or is it a water gun an not one they found, or their parents that was not locked up??

I always checked what was in my kids back packs when they went to school at that age. Once they got older and knew better if they had broke the rules and got caught with something then they should have known better..

This is on the parents hard lesson the kid had to pay for their actions.. They learn as they grow up... If we don't teach them then they will get caught..

Cool toy or not if she got away with it and it is a Zero Tolerance Rule~~ Come on, now days we all know they can't take even toys to school unless it is some special day and they tell them they can with a note sent home it is okay..

The Zero Tolerance Rule on any type of item that looks like a gun is their for a reason.. Don't forget those kids they have found with real guns at that age all due to careless parents or one they found on the way to school in a field ect~~

Sure it was obvious it was a toy, but like I said they have water guns that look like real guns. So you think they should be easy on her and the kid that brings a water gun gets suspended cause his looks more like real gun? Still a toy!

better to teach these delinquents a lesson while they are young, than letting
them move to the harder stuff, like playing with BB guns, when they get to
be 12 year olds, like Tamir Rice, and become a threat to law enforcement officers
who, fearing for their lives, had to pump a couple chest shots into him at
point-blank range within 2 seconds of arriving on the scene....

Bubble guns need a fan .
Water guns need pressure.

So tho at that age I would have though to have kerosene or lamp oil in it to use the bathroom...

Mmmmm I think it's silly
Kids put things in their bags to show others.
She's five years old
How is this going to make her feel? Rejected.
Some people need to stop being up them selves and show a bit of mercy.
A great way to start her education.

So dramatic.....and I thought you removed political topics from your forums and was proclaiming how better your forum experience was for doing it? Didn't you post that somewhere?
What changed your mind? Graduate to pull-ups and figured you'd give it another go out here? If so, welcome back

BTW...google a pic of the toy Tamir Rice was holding and compare it to a clear plastic bubble gun with Cinderella stickers on it. I'd post a "swing and a miss" gif for you but it ain't even worth my time.
Liberalism is a disease that uses emotional arguments instead of rational thinking and its definitely infected our public schools.

This is an example of an incident NOT to react to in a purely knee-jerk way.

Were I to have been the principle of the school, I think that I might have taken the girl to the office, called her parent, and explained that her gun was being confiscated, and that if there was anything ELSE like this, that she (or anyone else... use this as a general way to make it clear to the whole school) that she WOULD be suspended.

But I also side mostly with the school.

I support the basic principle that in order to have the most freedom, we must require individuals to take full and real responsibility for themselves and their actions.

It was the Parents responsibility to make sure their child went to school properly dressed, with all her supplies, and no disallowed items.

If the policy is written as instant suspension, then that was right for them to do.

That's my equation: you want personal freedom? You accept personal responsibility. You want to be allowed to make mistakes, without consequences? You then have to GIVE UP your freedom, and let others run your life.

your medication for *clostridium difficile* ....is ready...
take two piles immediately and call back in the morning

those Administrators would get Cannibbling-Fits if they saw what stuff we used to bring to School!

Every Fall,before the Fall Youth-Rifle Championships,our Teacher would bring his Military Rifle to School,so we could do Target-practice with the same Weapon used in the Championships!
He would go home,and we did Practice with the Weapon until the Custodian came by to lock up for the Night!

our ag teacher took us hunting a few times... and we had to ride in the back of a pickup to get there...with our shotguns...

Thanks Rebel they look like a neat toy.
I wouldn't be suspending a kid for that

Some take things a little to far