A NO-TOLERANCE POLICY is what I've got for school administrators who have no common sense and are bullies towards the children with whom they are entrusted to protect.
If there was a song for this melodrama, the melody would be from "Yellow Polka Dot Bikini," with the following lyrics about Principal Evelyn Mastroianni of Staten Island Public School 52:
She was afraid to come out of the grade school
She was nervous as she could be
She was afraid to come out of the grade school
She was afraid that somebody would see
Two, three, four, tell the people what's in her hand
It was an itsy, bitsy, teenie, weenie, two-inch plastic Lego toy
OH NO -- A GUN !
The boy is 9-year-old Patrick Timoney. Patrick and a buddy were playing with Lego figures in the school cafeteria on Staten Island last Tuesday. That's when the trouble started.
BLAM! The principal took Patrick into her office.
POW! Principal Mastroianni called Patrick's mom on the phone.
ZLONK! The principal told Mom Laura Timoney that bringing the teenie weenie toy gun to school was worth a suspension for Patrick.
ZAP! Another kid with an action figure holding an ax was unbothered by the principal.
KAPOW! Mom is irate and blasts the principal:
"This principal is a bully and a coward, and needs to be held accountable. The school should be embarrassed. This is a common-sense issue."
Mrs. Timoney also suggested to the Staten Island Advance, "If there's a real threat, why not call the Police Department?"
Uh-oh! Be careful with the police comment, Mrs. Timoney. Last spring another school's elementary teachers did call the police. Believe it or not, they had an 8-year-old autistic girl arrested, handcuffed and taken in a police car to jail. Talk about traumatic! And, the terrible reason? The little girl refused to take off her favorite jacket. These teachers felt so enraged that this child did not do what she was told to do, and that she resisted when several teachers forcibly held her down on the floor, leaving bruises on her legs, while they attempted to remove her little jacket. You can imagine how terrified the little girl must have been. Unbelieveable! There is an Ethic Soup post on this incident.
DADDY WAS A COP
Back to Staten Island -- Patrick Timoney Sr., the boy's father, is a former 72nd Precinct cop and commented that he couldn't believe his son was nearly busted over something so obviously inauthentic.
"It's a 2-inch gun," he said. "She went overboard. She should have said, 'Put the toys away' and that would have been the end of it."
The issue was finally resolved with a meeting between the principal and the parents. Patrick was spared any further disciplinary action by promising to leave the Lego toy at home.
But there's still emotional residue from the incident, certainly for Patrick. His mom said he asked to stay home from school because he thought the principal was mad at him.
THE PRINCIPAL'S DISCRETION -- ABSENT
The Department of Education rules that imitation weapons are prohibited in schools because they are regarded as harmful to the school community. However, the principal can evaluate if the weapon looks realistic (read: looks like it is a real gun) before considering suspension.
Sources:
by Sharon McEachern
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