A middle schooler was handed a 10-day suspension from school simply for ‘liking’ a picture of a gun on Instagram. The student didn’t post the image, nor did he comment, he simply ‘liked’ the image of a gun with the caption ‘ready’ as he was scrolling through his Instagram feed.
The parents were straight up shocked when they received notice that their son had been suspended 10 days, and rightfully so, the child did nothing more than ‘like’ an image on social media.
“I was livid, I mean, I’m sitting here thinking ‘you just suspended him for ten days for liking a picture of a gun on a social media site,” father Marty Bowlin said. “He never shared, he never commented, he never made a threatening post… anything on the site, just liked it.”
The picture in question is of an airsoft gun, and according to the students’ parents, their child didn’t comment on the post but simply liked the picture.
“I liked it, scrolling down Instagram at night about 7, 8 o’clock I liked it,” Zachary said. “The next morning they called me down [to the office] patted me down and checked me for weapons.”
Once the parents received notice of the suspension and flipped shit, the school withdrew the child’s suspension, and rightfully so….However, they didn’t withdraw the suspension until after sending an email to all the student’s parents claiming that there was a ‘threat’ and that the ‘threat was addressed’.
What’s most unbelievable is FOX 19 contacted the school’s superintendent about this and instead of admitting the foolishness of the suspension he doubled down and tried to defend the suspension in a statement:
“Concerning the recent social media posting of a gun with the caption “Ready”, and the liking of this post by another student, the policy at Edgewood City Schools reads as follows:
The Board has a “zero tolerance” of violent, disruptive, harassing, intimidating, bullying, or any other inappropriate behavior by its students.
Furthermore, the policy states:
Students are also subject to discipline as outlined in the Student Code of Conduct that occurs off school property when the misbehavior adversely affects the educational process.
As the Superintendent of the Edgewood City Schools, I assure you that any social media threat will be taken serious including those who “like” the post when it potentially endangers the health and safety of students or adversely affects the educational process.”
Welcome to 2017. Where ‘liking’ an image on Instagram can be perceived as a threat to humanity. Where people in charge can’t admit when they’re acting like children. This is the world we’re living in.