Proposed Bill, Students Who Form Finger In Shape Of Gun Would Not Be Suspended

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Zero tolerance for zero tolerance. That’s how one lawmaker feels about young children being suspended from school for forming their finger or food in the shape of a gun.

As Gigi Barnett explains, he has a bill designed to keep students in class if they’re caught.

State Senator J.B. Jennings says he does not intend for this bill to be a part of the growing gun debate in Maryland, but he does say he wants it to bring some common sense discipline to state schools.

Anne Arundel County school leaders suspended 7-year-old Joshua Welch last week for eating a pastry in the shape of a gun.

“When you compare the caliber of the offense to the caliber of the punishment, they don’t match up,” the boy’s father said.

Back in January, 6-year-old Rodney Lynch received the same punishment for forming his fingers in the shape of a gun. Montgomery County school leaders sent Rodney home for two days.

“These kids are 6 or 7-years-old. They don’t understand what they’re doing,” said Sen. J.B. Jennings.

State Senator J.B. Jennings says zero tolerance rules on school campuses are going too far, so he wrote a bill. It bans school leaders from suspending students who make the shape of a gun with their fingers or food, or students who draw a gun on a piece of paper.

http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2013/...hildren-who-form-finger-food-in-shape-of-gun/

 

I am sick to death of these zero tolerance policies in schools.