A Five-Year-Old Was Suspended After Bringing A Weapon (Which Was A Clear Plastic Bubble Gun) To School

Via Denver 7 News:

“A 5-year-old Brighton girl has been suspended for a day after bringing a clear plastic bubble gun onto school grounds. The child is a kindergarten student at Southeast Elementary in Brighton, part of Adams County School District 27J. The mother, who requested her identity be concealed due to privacy concerns, said she didn’t know her daughter had put the toy into her backpack Monday morning.

“I apologized right away and said that I am so sorry she did that,” said the girl’s mother. “I appreciate that they’re trying to keep our kids safe, I really do. But there needs to be some common sense. It blows bubbles.”

Before school started, the kindergarten student took out the bubble gun in the hallway during indoor recess. The school called the mother, telling her to come pick up the child because she was suspended for having a fake gun in school.

“If asked, ‘Is it really necessary for me to come get her?’ And they said, ‘Yes, this is our zero tolerance policy, and somebody needs to come get her immediately.”

Monday night, she said her daughter was so upset, she asked to stay home and help clean house instead of going to school. A spokesman with School District 27J in Brighton denied a request for an interview with the principal and the superintendent, but released a statement defending the action:

“This suspension is consistent with our district policy as well as how Southeast has handled similar situations throughout this school year.”

However, the district policy does not necessarily support suspension in a case like this.

According to the District’s policy for weapons in school, discretionary discipline may be used if a student displays “a firearm facsimile that could reasonably be mistaken for an actual firearm.”

“It’s absurd to send a 5-year-old home for a bubble-maker,” said Nathan Woodliff, the executive director of the ACLU of Colorado. “This is a silly example of a very real problem. Zero-tolerance policies often mean zero common sense.””

Personally, I support the school’s suspension of little Suzie Shoot ‘Em Up. You never know what could be used as a weapon. When I was in the 3rd grade, I was Captain Hook for Halloween and I wasn’t allowed to wear my hook because it was a weapon. Hindsight, it’s a good thing I didn’t, because yaboi Lil’ Hook probably would have gone for an eye-gouge if I saw some punk running around the schoolyard dressed like Peter Pan. Kids are sneaky. One second they’re holding a clear plastic bubble gun and the next they’re holding a kid down and shooting soap directly into their eye. Plus, who’s to say that a weapon that can fire liquid soap projectiles can’t also be loaded up with a few real bullets? I sure can’t. Parents should be thanking the school officials for not being understanding of this student. I mean, obviously there’s no way a 5 year-old girl could have potentially brought a toy to school without understanding the severity of it. She was out for blood. And thankfully, she also had soap, so she could have cleaned up the crime without anyone noticing. There are enough unsolved Amber Alerts out there, we don’t need anymore.