Ariz. school suspends 13 yr old boy for sketching gun

mrpayroll · 08-22-07, 06:22 PM

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...n_N.htm?csp=34

Quote:

MESA, Ariz. (AP) — School officials suspended a 13-year-old boy for sketching what looked like a gun, saying the action posed a threat to his classmates.

The boy's parents said the drawing was a harmless doodle and school officials overreacted.

"The school made him feel like he committed a crime. They are doing more damage than good," said the boy's mother, Paula Mosteller.

The drawing did not show blood, bullets, injuries or target any human, the parents said. And the East Valley Tribune reported that the boy said he didn't intend for the picture to be a threat.

Administrators of Payne Junior High in nearby Chandler suspended the boy on Monday for five days but later reduced it to three days.

The boy's father, Ben Mosteller, said that when he went to the school to discuss his son's punishment, school officials mentioned the seriousness of the issue and talked about the massacre at Colorado's Columbine High School, where two teenagers shot and killed 12 students, a teacher and themselves in 1999. Mosteller said he was offended by the reference.

Chandler district spokesman Terry Locke said the crude sketch was "absolutely considered a threat," and that threatening words or pictures are punishable.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Posted 3h ago

I'm going to stick this story in here, per this thread. But I swear, if I don't get any responses, it's back to The Other for me.

I think the school's reaction is a little overkill.

Chris

General Zod · 08-22-07, 06:26 PM

This would never have happened in Svalbard

Here's a little tip for kids and for parents to tell their kids.. Keep the talk, drawings, and references to guns and bombs out of your school. Is it really that hard to get through the day without them?

And yes the school over-reacted.

kvrdave · 08-22-07, 06:29 PM

Around here, they figure it is hunting season.

mikehunt · 08-22-07, 06:35 PM

hell, I used to draw out full battle scenes across the tops and margins in my notebooks while taking notes

wishbone · 08-22-07, 08:10 PM

Once again cartoons are to blame!

Draven · 08-22-07, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikehunt

hell, I used to draw out full battle scenes across the tops and margins in my notebooks while taking notes

I did flipbook sketches of gory sword and gunfights in my notebooks.

To date I have never shot up a school.

porieux · 08-22-07, 08:20 PM

This is the kind of sick treatment that fucks up kids minds.

If I were the parents I would keep the kid the hell out of that school, which is clearly run by psychopaths.

JumpCutz · 08-22-07, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Draven

I did flipbook sketches of gory sword and gunfights in my notebooks.

To date I have never shot up a school.

To date.

Jason · 08-22-07, 09:09 PM

maybe his classmate had drawn a picture of a polar bear?

movielib · 08-22-07, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by porieux

This is the kind of sick treatment that fucks up kids minds.

If I were the parents I would keep the kid the hell out of that school, which is clearly run by psychopaths.

stingermck · 08-22-07, 10:30 PM

Shit. Ive been saying for years I would be kicked out of HS nowadays. Its only been 10 years since HS, but me (and others) did some crazy stuff in our art classes. We'd probably be locked up now.

yakuza70 · 08-23-07, 12:15 AM

It's sad that it's come to this. I agree, the school did seem to overreact even though I'm sure we don't know the entire story. However, you can bet the uproar that would occur if this kid ever did become violent with a gun. I can hear the critics saying "There were signs! He drew pictures of guns in school or god's sake! Why wasn't anything done? The schools are incompetent!"

DVD Polizei · 08-23-07, 12:39 AM

What's next?

Giving police authority to shoot kids on site for making a gun with their fingers and pointing them at people, yelling, "Bang!"

DonnachaOne · 08-23-07, 12:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DVD Polizei

What's next?

Giving police authority to shoot kids on site for making a gun with their fingers and pointing them at people, yelling, "Bang!"

"You'd have to be really dodgy on the heart for that to work..."

al_bundy · 08-23-07, 09:44 AM

lesson of the story is if you draw a gun, draw a wild animal in front of it

wendersfan · 08-23-07, 11:49 AM

I would have been suspended every day, along with just about every other boy in my school.

achau9598 · 08-23-07, 12:03 PM

an image of the drawing has been released

General Zod · 08-23-07, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yakuza70

It's sad that it's come to this. I agree, the school did seem to overreact even though I'm sure we don't know the entire story. However, you can bet the uproar that would occur if this kid ever did become violent with a gun. I can hear the critics saying "There were signs! He drew pictures of guns in school or god's sake! Why wasn't anything done? The schools are incompetent!"

Absolutely. After the Columbine shootings there were talk that they used to talk about guns, draw photos, etc.. why didn't the school do something? Why didn't they know they were a danger?

Then when the schools take proactive action they get blasted for it. People in this country love to have things both ways.

I think an appropriate thing to have done here is to call in the parents and speak with them about it to make sure their kid didn't have some fascination with guns and the like.. and leave it at that unless there are other signs down the road. I don't think a suspension was necessary. But, like you say, we are only really hearing one side of this story..

Draven · 08-23-07, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by General Zod

Absolutely. After the Columbine shootings there were talk that they used to talk about guns, draw photos, etc.. why didn't the school do something? Why didn't they know they were a danger?

Then when the schools take proactive action they get blasted for it. People in this country love to have things both ways.

I think an appropriate thing to have done here is to call in the parents and speak with them about it to make sure their kid didn't have some fascination with guns and the like.. and leave it at that unless there are other signs down the road. I don't think a suspension was necessary. But, like you say, we are only really hearing one side of this story..

Whenever people say that kind of stuff, I don't know why the response is never "millions of kids for generations have drawn guns and not killed anyone. You probably did it at some point in your life. There are far more factors than a drawing of a gun."

Now, if he had drawn a gun pointed at a picture of his principal with his brains blown out, I could understand a parent-teacher conference. But zero-tolerance removes this need, as everything is against the rules.

Here's an example: my real name is Christian, which is what I've always gone by. I had a teacher in 2nd grade who didn't like writing it out, and wanted me to shorten it. So I wrote "Christ" at the top of my papers...wasn't trying to be a smartass, I honestly didn't know what she meant. They called my parents about it (my dad's a minister and my mom's also a teacher and they both got a big kick out of it since my teacher was being such a bitch about the whole thing.) They talked about it, resolved it with me and that was that.

Why that couldn't happen here is beyond me. If they are legitimately concerned about the safety of the school, they should have called the parents in and discussed the situation. That way, if he DOES shoot up the school, the school officials can point to the fact they talked to the parents about the "warning signs" and the parents chose to ignore them.

Or sent the kid to Norway.

08-22-07, 06:26 PM	#2
General Zod DVD Talk Legend Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Where it all happens - SoCal Posts: 15,816	This would never have happened in Svalbard Here's a little tip for kids and for parents to tell their kids.. Keep the talk, drawings, and references to guns and bombs out of your school. Is it really that hard to get through the day without them? And yes the school over-reacted. __________________ "Kneel Before Zod" Last edited by General Zod; 08-22-07 at 06:29 PM.

08-22-07, 06:29 PM	#3
kvrdave DVD Talk God Join Date: Aug 1999 Location: Pacific NW Posts: 79,122	Around here, they figure it is hunting season. __________________ Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. - C.S. Lewis

08-22-07, 06:35 PM	#4
mikehunt DVD Talk Hero Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Bartertown due to it having a better economy than where I really live, Buffalo NY Posts: 29,148	hell, I used to draw out full battle scenes across the tops and margins in my notebooks while taking notes __________________ USS Ben Sisko's Mother F***ing Pimp Hand - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT2Xpfm7Iq8&feature=plcp Vote for freedom not political parties. .... MOΛΩN ΛABE If they had a philosophy. If they weren't too busy gnawing on your insides.

08-22-07, 08:10 PM	#5
wishbone DVD Talk Legend Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 13,681	Once again cartoons are to blame! __________________ "Wishbone is spelled with an E not a 3..... Be gone" - Minor Threat

08-22-07, 08:20 PM	#7
porieux DVD Talk Platinum Edition Join Date: Jan 2000 Location: Next stop, Earth. Posts: 3,262	This is the kind of sick treatment that fucks up kids minds. If I were the parents I would keep the kid the hell out of that school, which is clearly run by psychopaths. __________________ Game Center: DethBoxx XBL Gamertag: DethBoxx PS Network ID: DethBoxx Last.fm

08-22-07, 09:09 PM	#9
Jason DVD Talk Legend Join Date: Aug 1999 Location: Lower Gum Curve Posts: 15,021	maybe his classmate had drawn a picture of a polar bear? __________________ “There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” Issac Asimov

08-22-07, 10:30 PM	#11
stingermck DVD Talk Hall of Fame Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Wilmington, NC Posts: 8,432	Shit. Ive been saying for years I would be kicked out of HS nowadays. Its only been 10 years since HS, but me (and others) did some crazy stuff in our art classes. We'd probably be locked up now. __________________ "We wouldn't have to "regress" so much if it wasn't for that weird period in comics history when EVERYTHING in comics had to be awful and bleak. Characters died, became killers, were crippled and had lots of pouches and belts on their costumes, and we, this generation of creators, represent the undoing of that." - Ethan Van Sciver. My Batgirl site http://batgirlarchives.8m.com/

08-23-07, 12:15 AM	#12
yakuza70 Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: San Francisco Bay Area Posts: 151	It's sad that it's come to this. I agree, the school did seem to overreact even though I'm sure we don't know the entire story. However, you can bet the uproar that would occur if this kid ever did become violent with a gun. I can hear the critics saying "There were signs! He drew pictures of guns in school or god's sake! Why wasn't anything done? The schools are incompetent!"

08-23-07, 12:39 AM	#13
DVD Polizei DVD Talk Hero Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Overpricedville, OR Posts: 36,727	What's next? Giving police authority to shoot kids on site for making a gun with their fingers and pointing them at people, yelling, "Bang!" __________________ Blu-ray Titles: ~380 \| HD DVD Titles: ~323 "I don't sell airplane parts. I've never sold airplane parts."

08-23-07, 09:44 AM	#15
al_bundy DVD Talk Hero Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: in da cloud Posts: 26,196	lesson of the story is if you draw a gun, draw a wild animal in front of it

08-23-07, 11:49 AM	#16
wendersfan Moderator Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Where homophobes don't get slut sauce Posts: 28,260	I would have been suspended every day, along with just about every other boy in my school. __________________ "Fifth Element may be as dumb and artless as Johnny Mnemonic, but since a frenchman made it it must be ART!" -Pants "...I think it's a low blow to draw attention to wendersfan's drunken state. " - dork "Just because their victims are still alive doesn't mean they didn't commit murder." - grundle "You concentrate on the sad wanna be hooliganism and let us worry about the actual soccer." - rocketsauce (final score: Columbus 2-Chicago 1)

08-23-07, 12:03 PM	#17
achau9598 DVD Talk Ultimate Edition Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Baltimore, MD Posts: 4,847	an image of the drawing has been released __________________ Tyler Perry is the black Uwe Boll - Joe Molotov Xbox 360 Live gamertag: ZombieReign\|\| Wii Friend Code 3594 9793 4462 5322 \| PS3 zombiereign CHANGE - It's what will be left in your pocket Last edited by achau9598; 08-23-07 at 12:07 PM.