Charlotte, NC –-(Ammoland.com)- Another sad battle by the agents of political correctness in their war on childhood was waged last Friday, when 10-year-old Milford, Mass., fifth-grader Nickolas Taylor was suspended for two days following an incident in the Stacy Middle School cafeteria.
The offense? Armed only with his index finger and a vivid imagination, Nickolas reportedly cut in front of two classmates in the lunch line while firing an imaginary “ray gun” and making corresponding ray gun sound effects.
According to a report in the Milford Daily News, the two pupils who claimed Nickolas cut in line informed a school official of the behavior. When the matter was brought to the attention of Assistant Principal Noah Collins, the administrator deemed Nickolas’ actions a threat and issued the suspension.
Thankfully, it appears reasonable adults have now taken over the situation.
According to the Milford Daily News, during a Milford School Committee meeting School Committee Chairman Scott Harrison stated, “Quite frankly, I have zero tolerance for zero tolerance policies.”
Harrison added, “We need to make sure we’re not treating situations as black and white when there are shades of gray.” Milford Superintendent Robert Tremblay also suggested that “[r]emoving a child from school may be in effect positively reinforcing a negative behavior.”
In any event, the Taylor family has decided to make other plans for Nickolas’s education. Nickolas’s father Brian told the Daily News that he has submitted the paperwork to pull Nickolas out of Stacy Middle School in order to home school him.
While some forward-thinking local school officials have shown an interest in fixing policies with absurd consequences, NRA is working to change state laws to make sure incidents like these don’t occur in the first place. In Florida NRA helped enact the “Right to be Kids” act, which states that “[s]imulating a firearm or weapon while playing or wearing clothing … that depict[s] a firearm or weapon or express[es] an opinion regarding a right guaranteed by the Second Amendment … is not grounds for disciplinary action or referral [for prosecution].”
Regrettably, overreaction to normal childhood behavior has become common in our nation’s public schools. With millions of students at the mercy of nonsensical zero-tolerance policies that unreasonably punish harmless behavior, and the sometimes thoughtless school administrators who enforce them, state legislatures may be school kids’ best hope for graduating with their records and reputations intact.
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Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the “lobbying” arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Visit: www.nra.org
There is no doubt in my mind that the assistant principal who, despite whatever academic credentials he may possess, is not qualified to work with children. Perhaps a drug or alcohol rehabilitation program, where black-or-white reasoning and strict adherence to written rules is integral to an addict’s well-being, is more suitable to this particular administrator’s philosophy. It is a good thing that the School Committee chairman and the Superintendent of Schools were in a position to castigate the assistant principal for his asinine declaration of suspension, and even better that the chairman spoke out against zero-tolerance policies.
Touche’ ! Middle school children…any aged child, is just so B&W. They should no better: they should walk w/their peers, in hallways in a straight line, mouths zippered shut; hands at their sides whenever walking/sitting; never step in front of a peer w/out said peers approval in writing, w/signature & countersigned by an official of the school board; raise their hand to speak in a classroom or anywhere deemed non-appropriate, prior to written approval; never, mimic a toy w/a gesture of any kind, & never use their voice to do the same; never laugh, sing, have fun or act the… Read more »
It just never ends the excessive over reaction and over reach that these school districts have and show when they do such actions as this!!! For people who are supposed to show and teach education and maybe common sense, they nedd a complete reteaching of these topics asap!!!
And I used to get in trouble for excercising my 1st amendment right with the middle finger.
Looks like another control freak/adult bully has been outed.