This just boggles my mind.
A 16-year-old Cypress Lake High School student, who wrestled a loaded revolver away from a teen threatening to shoot, is being punished.
The student grappled the gun away from the 15-year-old suspect on the bus ride home Tuesday after witnesses say he aimed the weapon point blank at another student and threatened to shoot him.
The student, who Fox 4 has agreed not to identify because he fears for his safety ... was suspended for three days.
. . .
The teen we spoke to and authorities both confirm the Revolver was loaded. According to the arrest report the suspect, who Fox 4 is not naming because he is a minor, was "pointing the gun directly" at another student and "threatening to shoot him."
That's when the student we spoke with says he and two others tackled the teen and wrestled away the gun. The next day the school slapped him with a three day suspension.
"It's dumb," he said. "How they going to suspend me for doing the right thing?"
According to the referral, he was suspended for being part of an "incident" where a weapon was present and given an "emergency suspension."
. . .
The 15-year-old suspect was arrested and charged with posession of a firearm on school property and assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill.
He was taken to the juvenile justice center.
There's more at the link.
So, let me get this straight. An unarmed teenager wrestles a loaded gun away from another kid who's threatening to shoot someone . . . and instead of giving the hero a medal, you suspend him?
The bureaucrat(s) who took this decision are obviously not from this world. Clearly, they're from Planet Dumbass!
I note that Lee County Public Schools has a Web site. Its Superintendent is Dr. Joseph P. Burke. May I request readers of this blog to please let Superintendent Burke know of their reactions to this travesty of justice? And may I suggest that those living in or near Lee County should begin a campaign to have a honking great medal for courage conferred on the student who disarmed the attacker?
Peter
I also saw where a 6-7 year old was suspended for eating a breakfast snack that looked like a gun after he chewed on it. I guess you can't fix stupidity !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteNasty-gram sent. Idiots. Ugh!
ReplyDeleteLet me play the Devil's advocate:
ReplyDeleteMaybe he was suspended from school to keep him away from the "perp's" friends in school who might seek revenge?
After a couple of day the authorities could identify the possible threatening students and banish them thus making it safe for the young innocent lad to return.
Just saying.
Speaking as someone who taught school for a long time... a few thoughts.
ReplyDelete*It's certain we don;t know everything that happened here.
*It's possible the administrator who did the suspending may have had an excellent reason she is not allowed to speak publicly about.
*It's possible that administrator is a complete moron with delusions of self importance and systemic arrogance.
*It's possible the administrator who did the suspending is bound by a school policy she had no hand in making, and the real culprit is some fat headed moron of a politically appointed superintendent.
*It's likely that school admin is utterly guilty of playing a part in this violent incident themselves, probably involving willful ignorance.... and we'll likely never know what that part is.
It is possible that the administrator is a gun control wacko, and these three kids deprived him of a school shooting incident that could have been used to further his agenda. Instead of having a tragic incident to further the need for gun control, you have a story about three courageous kids.
ReplyDeleteMy stepson attends school in NY, where they have a policy regarding fights -- anyone involved in a fight is suspended. Even if they're the victim of an attack -- and don't lift so much as a finger in their own defense.
ReplyDeleteIn light of that sort of asinine zero-thought policy, *why not* fight back and kick the tar out of your assailant? You're going to get suspended anyway -- might as well make it worth it!
Some points made in an email to the County Superintendent:
ReplyDeleteI read the story raging ‘round the internet about the courageous teen at Cypress Lake High School who acted decisively – and correctly – to disarm another student with a gun. When I read that the student had been suspended, I was aghast. I took time to dig up other reports, only to find they all told essentially the same story.
It is apparent that school administrators as well as teachers have been, shall we say, “emasculated”. Political Correctness has engendered rank cowardice in the majority, and has diminished teachers’ ability to think for themselves, if at all. At least, that’s my conclusion after re-verifying the huge number of times pictures, words on t-shirts, and other expressions of free and innocent speech have been criminalized because of school employees not knowing their limits.
It could be that I’m mistaken. They may simply be that ignorant and incapable of comprehending the issue.
If such stupidity, deliberate or not, by teachers and principals is the norm in your school system, perhaps it’s time we started a campaign to review budgets, salaries, and manpower authorizations throughout. It appears you have unqualified people holding too many positions, else this sort of thing would never happen.
I hope you will take immediate action to not only “un-suspend” the student, but to praise him while condemning the administrators who perpetrated such an injustice. They by their actions have shown they are not trustworthy and certainly should no longer be allowed around children unless closely supervised.
This is the letter I sent:
ReplyDelete...
Those boys deserves medals, not a punishment. Having seen the footage and read the reports, I don't know how that incident could have turned out any better. Surely you can't believe that simply ignoring the gunman would have been better? But if they had done just that, they wouldn't be suspended, would they? By punishing these young men you send a dangerous message, that doing your civic duty is wrong, that being a victim is better than standing up to violence and terror.
Dr. Burke, I hope that you can turn this around, and soon, before it becomes a permanent stain on your school district. I hope you publicly honor them in the school and community, that you encourage selflessness and right actions in all your students.
Sincerely,
He may be a bonehead, but I'm not a troll. I'm taking the high road.
Antibubba
The staff who suspended these young heroes should be terminated, period.
ReplyDeleteThey are simply not fit to be the managers of anyone children, as they overtly have shown they have not iota of common sense.
How do such idiots end up in leadership roles in the first place? These functionaries should be put out, now.
We are on our final months of any of our children being in public education and a rue the decision we made to not homeschool them. Fortunately my lads have enough backbone and are worldly enough that they saw the "man behind the curtain" and more than we as parents did they realized their school was crap.
Our society's High School and College graduates have been indoctrinated in the most base and evil distortions while the actual basics of education are skipped.
Then they face these "Alice in Wonderland" nonsense events like this "punishment of the heroes."
When youth who act Heroically are punish then George Orwell's 1984 truly has arrived......