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4th March 2015, 02:29 PM
Colorado Springs first-grader suspended after pointing fingers in shape of gun at classmate
Posted 8:24 am, March 4, 2015, by Chuck Hickey
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A first-grader at Stratton Meadows Elementary School was suspended after pointing his fingers in the shape of a gun at a classmate and said, “You’re dead.”
The incident happened Monday, KRDO reported.
A school administrator spoke with 6-year-old Elijah about what it means to be dead and to not confuse “make-believe” or things in games with reality. The suspension was for one day.
“I know they have zero tolerance, but more of a maybe no recess,” the boy’s father, Austin Thurston, told KRDO. “Going as far as a one-day suspension is a little extreme for a 6-year-old in a first-grade class.”
A spokeswoman for Harrison School District 2 said administrators felt the suspension was appropriate.
“Of course I think he was playing,” Thurston said. “What 6-year-old doesn’t play cops and robbers, or cowboys and Indians?”
Thurston said he and his wife have spoken with the boy about guns.
“We just told him there’s a time and a place for everything, and we told him school is never a place for that. We let him know that the guns in the wrong hands will be very dangerous,” he said. “He knows the difference between really doing that, and just putting your finger up and saying, ‘boom you’re dead.’ We made sure he understands the severity of what he said.”
Posted 8:24 am, March 4, 2015, by Chuck Hickey
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A first-grader at Stratton Meadows Elementary School was suspended after pointing his fingers in the shape of a gun at a classmate and said, “You’re dead.”
The incident happened Monday, KRDO reported.
A school administrator spoke with 6-year-old Elijah about what it means to be dead and to not confuse “make-believe” or things in games with reality. The suspension was for one day.
“I know they have zero tolerance, but more of a maybe no recess,” the boy’s father, Austin Thurston, told KRDO. “Going as far as a one-day suspension is a little extreme for a 6-year-old in a first-grade class.”
A spokeswoman for Harrison School District 2 said administrators felt the suspension was appropriate.
“Of course I think he was playing,” Thurston said. “What 6-year-old doesn’t play cops and robbers, or cowboys and Indians?”
Thurston said he and his wife have spoken with the boy about guns.
“We just told him there’s a time and a place for everything, and we told him school is never a place for that. We let him know that the guns in the wrong hands will be very dangerous,” he said. “He knows the difference between really doing that, and just putting your finger up and saying, ‘boom you’re dead.’ We made sure he understands the severity of what he said.”