Common Sense has escaped you!
http://www.chanute.com/news/article_be4861c0-80c5-11e4-9433-0b2d9486f3e8.html
Chanute elementary student suspended for spent shell casing
Joshua Vail
Tribune reporter
A student at Chanute Elementary School was
suspended last week over possession of an empty rifle shell casing on
school grounds. The suspension began Dec. 3 and ended Tuesday.
The student's mother, Deana Carlson of Chanute, believes the suspension was inappropriate.
Carlson said her son, Camron Carlson, was out
with her the night before, Tuesday Dec. 2, where she was sighting a
rifle for deer hunting season with a friend, and he picked up one of the
empty shell casings and put it in his pocket.
Carlson said her son had told his friends that
they had been sighting rifles the night before, and that the shell
casing fell out of his pocket.
"There was no threat," she said. "My child's
never been in a fight at school. He was just being a boy and bragging
because it's cool."
Carlson was called into the school office where she saw her son had been crying.
Carlson said she was not happy with her son for
having the shell casing, which everyone agrees he should not have had at
school. She said she was told by Principal Gary Wheeler that the
incident could lead to a 168-day suspension, but they could possibly
reduce it to five days if he spoke to Superintendent James Hardy.
"I looked at him and I said 'this is the wrong
call,'" she said. "I could understand if there was a student who had
multiple offenses there was nothing dangerous about what he had done."
Carlson said Wheeler then told her "you need to just go on."
"My child should not have been bawling," she
said. "The principal made him feel that an empty shell was dangerous. In
some people's eyes maybe it is."
Carlson said Wheeler questioned her son before she arrived and without another adult present.
"My son is being discouraged and looked down upon for being a boy," she said.
Carlson also believes her son is owed a
disciplinary committee hearing regarding his suspension, and said she
was not specifically told by Wheeler that he would not be pursuing a
long-term suspension until she asked about the status of the hearing.
According to the Chanute Elementary School
student handbook, the disciplinary measures for minor infractions is
detention, conference about correct behavior, and parent notification.
The weapons policy requires a 186-day expulsion
for possession of any firearm or ammunition for any firearm. Neosho
County Attorney Linus Thuston said he does not consider spent shell
casings to be ammunition, legally.
None of the alleged statements from Gary Wheeler on the consequences for Camron Carlson match either set of rules.
"It doesn't seem like he followed the procedure," Carlson said.
An official notification of the disciplinary
measure emailed to Carlson claims that Camron was showing the shell
casing to his friends in the bathroom, which Deana Carlson believes and
Camron Carlson said is not true.
Camron Carlson said the casing fell out of his
pocket as he was exiting the bathroom, and another student saw it and
told the teacher.
Camron said he was taken to Wheeler's office and
told that the shell casing was harmful and that he would be suspended.
He said he started crying when he was asked where his mother worked.
Camron's grandmother, Mary Sue Carlson, said she
feels the school's actions were not just about breaking school rules,
but about attacking what Camron is taught at home.
"Our family does a lot of deer hunting," she
said. "This is hunting country. This child has been led to believe that
that's not okay."
Assistant Superintendent Diane Watkins sent a comment from the school district via email.
"Student and staff safety is of the utmost
importance in our district. The consequences for violating policy are
found in our Board Policy Manual. USD 413 follows these policies to
ensure that every effort is made to provide a safe place to learn and
work. It would not be appropriate to comment on an individual student."
The Kansas State Rifle Association responded:
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Contact: Patricia Stoneking
December 15,
2014
913-608-1910
Chanute
Elementary School Decision Lacks Common Sense
(Bonner Springs, KS)
- The Kansas State Rifle Association is calling for a public apology to be
issued to Camron Carlson and his Mother Deana Carlson.
Nine year old Camron
Carlson was suspended from school for five days because one empty shell
casing fell out of the boys coat pocket at school on December 3, 2014. He had
been with his Mother the evening before sighting in a rifle for deer hunting,
a common activity in Kansas.
"I have
interviewed the Mother and find that the actions of the school are inappropriate
at best. To suspend a 9 year old child for having an empty shell casing in
his coat pocket sorely lacks any common sense." said KSRA President
Patricia Stoneking. "It reminds me of the kid who chewed his pop tart
into the shape of a gun being suspended from school. I think we have to draw
the line and choose to be more careful about what we want to classify as zero
tolerance violations."
When Deana Carlson
arrived at the school after being called by the principal she found her child
in tears after an alleged interrogation by the principal before she arrived
in which her son was told that this inert, empty, already fired piece of
brass was dangerous. That is absolutely inaccurate as an already used piece
of brass is simply that, a piece of brass, which has no capability of causing
any harm whatsoever.
Stoneking said,
"Certainly children have no business bringing guns or live ammunition
rounds to school but that is not what happened here. To persecute a child for
a piece of spent brass and tell him he did something dangerous is ridiculous
and totally lacks common sense."
By all accounts it
seems apparent to us that the school was more interested in attacking the
philosophy this young man was being taught at home than the actual supposed
offense of having a spent piece of brass in his possession at school.
We call upon school
administrators in Kansas to recognize the difference between common sense
rules and persecution of a belief system and to act accordingly in the
future. This child made an innocent mistake by not emptying his coat pocket
before going off to school and we see absolutely no reason for a suspension
to have taken place over this. The school should make a public apology to
Camron and his Mother for their lack of common sense in taking this action.
"The act of
sighting in a deer rifle and hunting are perfectly lawful in Kansas and it is
not a school administrators place to impress their personal feelings against
it to a child." Stoneking said.
http://www.chanute.com/news/article_be4861c0-80c5-11e4-9433-0b2d9486f3e8.html
Chanute elementary student suspended for spent shell casing
Joshua Vail
Tribune reporter
A student at Chanute Elementary School was
suspended last week over possession of an empty rifle shell casing on
school grounds. The suspension began Dec. 3 and ended Tuesday.
The student's mother, Deana Carlson of Chanute, believes the suspension was inappropriate.
Carlson said her son, Camron Carlson, was out
with her the night before, Tuesday Dec. 2, where she was sighting a
rifle for deer hunting season with a friend, and he picked up one of the
empty shell casings and put it in his pocket.
Carlson said her son had told his friends that
they had been sighting rifles the night before, and that the shell
casing fell out of his pocket.
"There was no threat," she said. "My child's
never been in a fight at school. He was just being a boy and bragging
because it's cool."
Carlson was called into the school office where she saw her son had been crying.
Carlson said she was not happy with her son for
having the shell casing, which everyone agrees he should not have had at
school. She said she was told by Principal Gary Wheeler that the
incident could lead to a 168-day suspension, but they could possibly
reduce it to five days if he spoke to Superintendent James Hardy.
"I looked at him and I said 'this is the wrong
call,'" she said. "I could understand if there was a student who had
multiple offenses there was nothing dangerous about what he had done."
Carlson said Wheeler then told her "you need to just go on."
"My child should not have been bawling," she
said. "The principal made him feel that an empty shell was dangerous. In
some people's eyes maybe it is."
Carlson said Wheeler questioned her son before she arrived and without another adult present.
"My son is being discouraged and looked down upon for being a boy," she said.
Carlson also believes her son is owed a
disciplinary committee hearing regarding his suspension, and said she
was not specifically told by Wheeler that he would not be pursuing a
long-term suspension until she asked about the status of the hearing.
According to the Chanute Elementary School
student handbook, the disciplinary measures for minor infractions is
detention, conference about correct behavior, and parent notification.
The weapons policy requires a 186-day expulsion
for possession of any firearm or ammunition for any firearm. Neosho
County Attorney Linus Thuston said he does not consider spent shell
casings to be ammunition, legally.
None of the alleged statements from Gary Wheeler on the consequences for Camron Carlson match either set of rules.
"It doesn't seem like he followed the procedure," Carlson said.
An official notification of the disciplinary
measure emailed to Carlson claims that Camron was showing the shell
casing to his friends in the bathroom, which Deana Carlson believes and
Camron Carlson said is not true.
Camron Carlson said the casing fell out of his
pocket as he was exiting the bathroom, and another student saw it and
told the teacher.
Camron said he was taken to Wheeler's office and
told that the shell casing was harmful and that he would be suspended.
He said he started crying when he was asked where his mother worked.
Camron's grandmother, Mary Sue Carlson, said she
feels the school's actions were not just about breaking school rules,
but about attacking what Camron is taught at home.
"Our family does a lot of deer hunting," she
said. "This is hunting country. This child has been led to believe that
that's not okay."
Assistant Superintendent Diane Watkins sent a comment from the school district via email.
"Student and staff safety is of the utmost
importance in our district. The consequences for violating policy are
found in our Board Policy Manual. USD 413 follows these policies to
ensure that every effort is made to provide a safe place to learn and
work. It would not be appropriate to comment on an individual student."
The Kansas State Rifle Association responded:
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Contact: Patricia Stoneking
December 15,
2014
913-608-1910
Chanute
Elementary School Decision Lacks Common Sense
(Bonner Springs, KS)
- The Kansas State Rifle Association is calling for a public apology to be
issued to Camron Carlson and his Mother Deana Carlson.
Nine year old Camron
Carlson was suspended from school for five days because one empty shell
casing fell out of the boys coat pocket at school on December 3, 2014. He had
been with his Mother the evening before sighting in a rifle for deer hunting,
a common activity in Kansas.
"I have
interviewed the Mother and find that the actions of the school are inappropriate
at best. To suspend a 9 year old child for having an empty shell casing in
his coat pocket sorely lacks any common sense." said KSRA President
Patricia Stoneking. "It reminds me of the kid who chewed his pop tart
into the shape of a gun being suspended from school. I think we have to draw
the line and choose to be more careful about what we want to classify as zero
tolerance violations."
When Deana Carlson
arrived at the school after being called by the principal she found her child
in tears after an alleged interrogation by the principal before she arrived
in which her son was told that this inert, empty, already fired piece of
brass was dangerous. That is absolutely inaccurate as an already used piece
of brass is simply that, a piece of brass, which has no capability of causing
any harm whatsoever.
Stoneking said,
"Certainly children have no business bringing guns or live ammunition
rounds to school but that is not what happened here. To persecute a child for
a piece of spent brass and tell him he did something dangerous is ridiculous
and totally lacks common sense."
By all accounts it
seems apparent to us that the school was more interested in attacking the
philosophy this young man was being taught at home than the actual supposed
offense of having a spent piece of brass in his possession at school.
We call upon school
administrators in Kansas to recognize the difference between common sense
rules and persecution of a belief system and to act accordingly in the
future. This child made an innocent mistake by not emptying his coat pocket
before going off to school and we see absolutely no reason for a suspension
to have taken place over this. The school should make a public apology to
Camron and his Mother for their lack of common sense in taking this action.
"The act of
sighting in a deer rifle and hunting are perfectly lawful in Kansas and it is
not a school administrators place to impress their personal feelings against
it to a child." Stoneking said.
