Toy soldiers run afoul of school's weapons ban

[brendan120678]

Toy soldiers run afoul of school's weapons ban
By MICHELLE R. SMITH (AP) – 2 hours ago

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Christan Morales says her son just wanted to honor American troops when he made a hat decorated with an American flag and small plastic Army figures.

But the hat ran afoul of the district's no-weapons policy because the toy soldiers were carrying tiny weapons.

"His teacher called and said it wasn't appropriate because it had guns," Morales said.

Morales' 8-year-old son, David, was assigned to make a hat for the day when his second-grade class would met their pen pals from another school. She and her son came up with an idea to add patriotic decorations to a camouflage hat.

Earlier this week, the Tiogue School in Coventry sent the hat home with David after class. He wore a plain baseball cap on the day of the visit instead.

Superintendent Kenneth R. Di Pietro said the principal told the family that the hat would be fine if David replaced the Army men holding weapons with ones that didn't have any.

"The issue for us was, can it be done in a way that didn't violate the zero-tolerance for weapons?" he said. "Nothing was being done to limit patriotism, creativity, other than find an alternative to a weapon."

Di Pietro said the district does not allow images of weapons or drugs on clothing. For example, it would not allow a student to wear a shirt with a picture of a marijuana leaf on it.

The principal "wasn't denying the patriotism," he said. "That just is the wrong and unfair image of one of our finest principals."

Morales said her son was inspired to honor the military after striking up a friendship last summer with a neighbor in the Army.

Banning the hat "sent the wrong message to the kids, because it wasn't in any way to cause any harm to anyone," she said. "You're talking about Army men. This wasn't about guns."

The story was first reported by Providence TV station WPRI.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iMXgWX1my2TrMvxt5JNxRShwyzBwD9GD56SO0

[slackmaster]

1. Someone is unclear on the distinction between "weapon" and "harmless, miniature toy"

:nuke:

[PavePusher]

2. At a school, no-less...

Massive Face-Palm moment here... :eyes:

[brendan120678]

4. No kidding...and we're not even talking "toy guns" here...

We're talking about two or three-inch high poorly cast plastic soldiers, holding what may look like plastic toothpicks.

[panader0]

3. Do they teach history at that school?

Didn't the Minutemen carry weapons? Or the Civil War soldiers? Or the Doughboys? Or the vets of WWII, Korea or Vietnam or the current wars? How about the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Are those pictures allowed in the history books?
Absurd application of the school rules.

[benEzra]

8. Good point. Are history books allowed in class? (n/t)

[spin]

5. Our school system has turned into a total farce ...

it's obvious by the quality of high school graduates that our school system has lost sight of the meaning and purpose of education.

But that's not surprising when you read of incidents such as this where a "no weapons" policy is interpreted by school management to include toy soldiers on a hat.

I'm sure the school management involved has plenty of education, but they failed to learn commonsense along the way.

[FiveGoodMen]

6. zero tolerance = zero brain cells

The whole concept of officially rejecting common sense -- in advance! -- should never have gotten any traction.

[benEzra]

7. Toy soldiers can be very dangerous in the wrong hands.

If we don't stop this grave threat now, it is only a matter of time before criminals are robbing banks with 1" plastic toy guns, and terrorists wielding little green plastic rocket launchers will be shooting down airliners.

:eyes:

[proteus_lives]

14. Ever read that Stephen King short story, "Battleground"?

Or seen the film version?

[Nailzberg]

15. Oh, now that you remind me of that story, I am switching to the Ban Army Men side.

They are a menace!

But seriously, that was a good story, didn't know they made a film version. I don't enjoy King's novels as much as his stories and short novels. They also make better movies cause the screenwriter doesn't have to condense anything.

[proteus_lives]

16. The film version is nice.

It was part of a TNT movie series. It starred William Hurt.

King is a far better at the short story or novella.

[beevul]

9. Sooner or later...

Sooner or later some ticked off parent will have had enough of this business, and bring an encyclopedia - one of the schools own - to these meetings they have over things like this, opened to "sam colt", or "firearm" or "rifle".


What then?

Ban encyclopedias?

Or have made special "encyclopedia britannica: zero tolerance edition"?


Jiminy christmas.

[rrneck]

10. Technocrats strike again. nt

[David West]

11. Zero tolerance policies are a joke.

When I was in 6th grade, the school received an "anonymous bomb threat" (from a prankster student, no doubt) and I was searched as some sort of "usual suspect" because I had drawn weapons on the name tag on my desk. Medieval weapons. Swords, bows, spears, and the like. They even went so far as to check inside my ravioli-filled thermos despite my teacher telling them they were wasting their time and I was a good kid. True story.

I probably should have been offended, but I just thought it was funny.

[The Green Manalishi]

12. Obviously a sublimated penis issue

I kid, I kid!!!!!
Welcome to DU :)

[friendly_iconoclast]

13. Better ban quarters, too. The students might be carrying one of these:

It's the only way to be safe!

[Francis Marion]

17. Isaac Davis

Anybody know who that is on the Massachusetts quarter?
Isaac Davis, captain of the Acton Minutemen.

He was a gunsmith who made sure that the men in his unit were equipped with bayonets and cartridge boxes. Some of their equipment he made.

He had four sick kids at home when he received the word to muster and assist Concord.
His wife remembered that he paused at their door, turning to say, 'Take care of the children,' and then he left to lead his men to Concord.

Davis' company assembled outside of Concord with militia and minutemen from Concord and small towns nearby. One person remembered that he had sweat streaming down his face from marching his company quickly.

Smoke was seen to rise from Concord. Davis volunteered to lead the American column into Concord to see what was going on, saying that he had not a man who was afraid to go.

Davis led the column toward the North Bridge to Concord- a bridge occupied by companies of Redcoats- British Regulars. The Redcoats began to shoot Americans for the second time that day; a volley of musket fire erupted from the British ranks.

Isaac Davis was shot through the heart. His blood drenched his friends nearby. With his last moments of consciousness, he tried to raise his musket to return fire. Davis's minutemen kept calm and formed up to return fire, which they did keenly- half the British officers were shot. Davis' company were proficient in shooting thanks to twice-weekly marksmanship practice sessions in Davis' backyard, something they'd been doing for a number of months.

The accuracy of the American return fire was sufficient to break the British line- the surviving Regulars fled. A British survivor of this incident noted the impression made by the Acton Minutemen and other American militia as they 'advanced with the greatest regularity.' This is the impression made by a well-regulated, that is, militarily proficient/disciplined, militia upon a soldier who recognized well-regulated troops when he saw them.

Isaac Davis's friends had to pry the musket out of his dead hands; the same musket which Davis had made and kept above the mantle. Hannah Davis became the first widow of an American officer. The Davis children lost their dad.

The sorry excuse for an education policy, zero tolerance, makes me wonder why Davis bothered. If we're just going to let everything go to hell, and trust to people who will not think with the job of educating our kids, without a word of protest, outrage or correction...

We must raise hell to re-establish sanity in policy, but we will instead submit and comply.

The education system works very nicely.

[Endangered Specie]

18. In school we used to play cops and robbers with 'finger guns' during recess...

I'm guessing these bunch of geniuses would have had us tazered.

[gravity556]

19. Those little green men are dangerous!

Have you ever stepped on a bayonette wielding army man with your bare feet? Plastic perforation danger!

(sorry, it had to be said)

But I digress. Zero tolerance rules are pure idiocy-they allow no room for any reasonable thought by requiring a response by rote.