Written by A 9-year-old student at Old Mill Pond Elementary School in Palmer, Massachusetts will be taken to Juvenile Court on the charge of bringing a weapon to school. The “weapon” in this case is an Airsoft TOY (let me say that again in case you missed it. A TOY!) gun to school. While on the school bus, the student realized that he accidently left the TOY gun in his backpack. But it was too late, a student saw that he brought the gun on the bus.
Police Chief, Robert Frydrk said that ,”the boy then shot himself in the leg with the plastic gun to prove it wasn’t real” (http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/palmer_9-year-old_
headed_to_juvenile_court_for_bringing_airsoft_
gun_on_school_bus.html#incart_mcm). But even though the TOY gun only shoots plastic pellets that can’t do any damage, according to Frydryk the TOY gun is still considered a weapon because it “fires” (I guess that means that water guns are considered weapons since they “fire” water).
Even though Frydryk acknowledges that “No one was in danger. It had nowhere near the velocity of a BB gun. [And that] Nobody, neither us, or the school administration, thinks he brought it to school to harm anyone.” (http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/palmer_9-year old_headed_to_juvenile_court_for_bringing_airsoft_gun_on_school_bus.html#incart_mcm). Frydryk also says that “We have to file the charge because it is not appropriate to bring any kind of weapon on school grounds” (http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/palmer_9-year old_headed_to_juvenile_court_for_bringing_airsoft_
gun_on_school_bus.html#incart_mcm) and that the school is right in calling the police and taking the boy to juvenile court.
The reason that the school was right in calling the police and charging the boy with bringing a weapon to school is that the school has a “zero tolerance policy” and that the police have to respect the wishes of the school even if the school is acting inanely and ruining a child’s life (the last part is mine).
First of all, in my opinion the school acted reprehensibly and idiotically. My advice to any parent who cares about their children is to remove their children from Old Mill Pond Elementary School and find a school that recognizes the difference between a TOY gun and a real gun. To call in the police, send the student to Juvenile Court with a possibility of being convicted of bringing in a weapon to school will not only make the child have on his records as committing a criminal act (if found guilty), but this charge will impact his future in terms of employment (many jobs ask if one has ever been convicted of a felon and if the answer is “yes” will not hire such a person) and admissions into future schools. While the school might have a “zero tolerance” rule in order to make the school safe, the consequences of having such a rule can have a profoundly negative effect if the school views TOY guns that can’t cause harm as the same as REAL guns that can cause harm.
The school might justify their actions to call the police as a safety precaution, but this is really just an irresponsibility and a lack of concern for the 9 year old student.
There are plenty of things the school could have done other than call the police, such as calling the students parents and telling them that they have to go to the school to pick up the TOY gun and failure to do so will result in the child being sent home for the day. Or the school could have just used some common sense (which seems to be less and less common these days) and realized that a TOY gun that shoots plastic can’t hurt anyone.
“Zero Tolerance Policies” in general are destructive and are anathema to common sense. Zero Tolerance also means “Zero Thought” since the bureaucrats are just mindlessly following procedure instead of taking these as a case by case basis by using judgment, common sense and concern for the individual students.
The staff at Gary Rome Auto Group would to hear your thoughts. Where you as disgusted as us on how insensitively the school acted or do you think the school did the right thing?
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