The mother, in this scenario let The Press know…the result was a public response:
Just like the mother of the child with whom I worked (violent behavior, violent drawings), the parent of a troubled child took to the public to voice concerns. The mother of my student went to a bar and shared my workshop request. How do I know? Other parents told me. They were some of the parents who wrote their own letters of concern so many years ago.
Since the mother of a child in Dennis Township, NJ went public, some of us responded. Here is my response. And below it, is a response with another point of view to my opinion. I remember Mork and Mindy. I taught first grade at the time. "NaNoo NaNoo". Unfortunately, "Mork" is dead now too.
School’s concern was well founded—
Regarding the October 20 story- “Stick figure sketch lands boy, 7, on school suspension”:
(The stick figure drawing was published.)
The drawing shows very clearly that one named person is at the receiving end of another person with a gun. I would like to congratulate the child who did the right thing regarding school safety. According to the article, the child who was given this picture on the school bus gave it to his parents, who then contacted the school. The Dennis Township school district then took action, based on a policy set in place because of the extremes in school violence nationwide.
Every child and adult in every school has the right to be safe. When anyone, child or adult, violates the right to be safe, action may and should be taken. In this case, a picture is worth a thousand words. If a person stated that I am going to kill you, even without a weapon, only a foolish person would not take action.
Some may disagree with the type or amount of consequences given for a poor choice, but consequences do occur naturally and logically. Now the school district should find out why the incident occurred. The mother (of the offending child), who chose to go public with her complaints, should be grateful for the concern shown and should work with the school to solve the problem.
Marian R. Carlino
Two other editorials thought the school district over reacted. One is included below. People talked about the issue on the radio too. Both writers assumed a suspension was done before talking to the parents.
Let’s lighten up on boy’s sketch
How complicated was the behavior of the second-grader who was suspended for a day because his art work included a stick figure hold a weapon pointed at another stick figure?
Did he know about the zero tolerance policy? Was he crying for help? Or was he concerned about the president’s veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program?
He’s 7 years old, for God’s sake.
Anthony Notturno
Villas
The drawing shows very clearly that one named person is at the receiving end of another person with a gun. I would like to congratulate the child who did the right thing regarding school safety. According to the article, the child who was given this picture on the school bus gave it to his parents, who then contacted the school. The Dennis Township school district then took action, based on a policy set in place because of the extremes in school violence nationwide.
Every child and adult in every school has the right to be safe. When anyone, child or adult, violates the right to be safe, action may and should be taken. In this case, a picture is worth a thousand words. If a person stated that I am going to kill you, even without a weapon, only a foolish person would not take action.
Some may disagree with the type or amount of consequences given for a poor choice, but consequences do occur naturally and logically. Now the school district should find out why the incident occurred. The mother (of the offending child), who chose to go public with her complaints, should be grateful for the concern shown and should work with the school to solve the problem.
Marian R. Carlino
October 10, 2007
The stick figure had a boy’s name David with another stick figure, named, Me holding a gun at the back of the David stick figure.
This is a response from a reader online: (spelling errors of the response are not corrected)
This is a response from a reader online: (spelling errors of the response are not corrected)
No, Marian Carlino is an idiot who writes to the papers
frequently and spouts off nonsense. She
doesn’t understand that a 7 year old doesn’t posess the cognitive skills or
thought processes to sit and form intent that was alleged by the stupendously
stupid school district. The only danger
here was the risk of a paper cut. This
was a typical knee-jerk reaction by a bunch of morons who biggest concern is to
wrap up a days work in time to get home and watch Mork and Mindy reruns on TV
Land.
I hope this childs mother sues tha pants off the school
district and wins millions. Maybe then
voters will think twice before electing morons to the school board who make
stupid policies and actually elect a few people with intelligence. What was needed here was a careful, measured
response. Would it have killed the principal
to talk to the child and parent? Maybe
do a little education, you know, like schools are supposed to do. Posted by Scott on Sat Oct 27, 2007 2:19 pm
Two other editorials thought the school district over reacted. One is included below. People talked about the issue on the radio too. Both writers assumed a suspension was done before talking to the parents.
Let’s lighten up on boy’s sketch
How complicated was the behavior of the second-grader who was suspended for a day because his art work included a stick figure hold a weapon pointed at another stick figure?
Did he know about the zero tolerance policy? Was he crying for help? Or was he concerned about the president’s veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program?
He’s 7 years old, for God’s sake.
Anthony Notturno
Villas
How many people lightened up on Cruz, (not Tom) or the Columbine killers, or all the others- when they were 7?
Young children form intent.
Marian R. Carlino
June 23, 2018
