Editorial

A lot of trouble for a little fun

By Nicole E. Avery GVL Columnist
2/7/2010

Ever doodled on a classroom desk or taken a favorite toy to school when you were younger?

I use to keep a giga-pet in my pocket and feed it during class. I know-- I was quite the rebel.

Everyone pushes the boundaries of school rules in one way or another but generally you're not caught and if you are you're rarely more than scolded when reprimanded for breaking the rules.

You certainly were not threatened with being expelled or dragged and cuffed out of your classroom.

In the news this week there were two separate instances where children were disciplined surprisingly harshly for actions that would generally be deemed normal, if not typical behavior, in any average school.

Partick Timoney, a fourth grader from Staten Island, N.Y., was escorted out of the cafeteria when the principal of the school caught him playing with a Lego toy man who happened to be holding a 2-inch toy replica of a gun.

Even harsher disciplinary actions were taken against 13-year-old Alexa Gonzales, a student from a school in Queens, N.Y., when she was caught doodling "Lex was here" on a desk in lime-green dry erase marker.

Alexa was removed from class, cuffed and hauled across the street to the precinct where she was detained for several hours according to Nydailnews.com.

Of course, and rightfully so, none of these disciplinary acts resulted in the children actually being expelled, but the experience has definitely left a permanent mark.

I understand that graffiti, vandalism and gun violence are issues plaguing inner-city schools, but aren't these principals overreacting?

What they may see as being pro-active by nipping a problem in the bud may have good intentions, but their methods are overkill.

The reaction to Patrick's harmless play with his toy Lego gun was ridiculous.

The fact he only played with his toy during lunch and not during class shows he wasn't deliberately trying to break any rules.

Surely having a toy wasn't the cause of the controversy but even so it was a toy gun and barely 2 inches long.

Shouldn't the principal have taken that into consideration and checked her reaction before traumatizing a child?

If the kid was walking around in a pint-sized trench coat and loaded up like he was Neo from the "Matrix," by all means reprimand him -- if that had been the case you probably would want to do more than just reprimand him.

The principal should have walked up to the child, told him to put the toy away and then if necessary, contact the parents and discuss the issue further.

I think the same method of discipline would have been more than efficient for the other student, Alexa.

I'm not saying these students shouldn't have had their behavior at least verbally corrected, but disciplining with the "teach them a lesson they'll never forget" method does more harm than good.

navery@lanthorn.com

Comments: