Last year Broward County school officials expelled a 7-year-old for bringing a toy gun to school. This alone causes me to question the intelligence of the school officials who stained this kid’s record over a toy, but that’s not the whole story. When the one-year expulsion expires this month, the school board will then decide whether the expulsion will remain on his permanent record. Really? The boy has already missed a year of school. Isn’t that more than enough punishment? If the school board decides to keep the expulsion on his record every college he applies to will see that he was expelled from school for possessing a weapon on school grounds.
Of course people worry about guns in schools after school shootings at Columbine and Virginia Tech, but this was a toy gun. Even when the principal wrote the report and recommendation for expulsion, it was identified as a clear plastic toy gun.
So, why is the school board punishing this first grader for a toy he didn’t even take out of his book bag? He’s expelled because Florida has a zero tolerance for projectile guns, even water guns, and his toy shot plastic darts. This zero tolerance law was established to prevent crimes like Amanda Collette’s murder by classmate Teah Wimberly, who shot Collette in 2008 on the grounds of Dillard High School.
But how does that compare? How can a school principal or superintendent recommend a 7-year-old miss a year of school because he brought a toy gun to school? How is permanently tainting his record a fit punishment for the mistake of bringing a toy to school? Have I mentioned it was a toy?
Hopefully, the board uses their brains at the meeting later this month and decides to remove the stain from the 7-year-old’s record and realize that one law does not fit all crimes.
