In response to the above caption-perhaps there was confusion between a child drawing a gun on someone with a child's drawing of a gun. But to be honest, my first thought was that this is definitely a case of school officials overreaching. Again, this was my knee jerk reaction based on the initial reporting of this story. Upon further analysis, it's a little deeper than the child drawing a picture of a pistol. As the above picture demonstrates, the child's picture depicts a gun being pointed at another party. Perhaps we are still talking about an over reaction on the part of school officials but I believe the public has just had enough. At best, the child should have been probed to determine the origin of such a picture. But let's take a look at the article in question and I'll let our readers decipher this issue:
Courtesy of nbc10.com:
Parents Weigh In On Child's Gun Drawing
7-Year-Old's Mother Angry Over School Suspension
A drawing by a South Jersey second-grader sparked a clash of opinions.
The picture got the child suspended from his Cape May County school, and students and parents were weighing in on the incident.
When a Dennis Township second-grader drew a picture of himself pointing a gun at another child, he was suspended. The school district said it's appropriate but some said the suspension was an overreaction.
The sketch showed two stick figures. One, with what the student said is a water gun, pointed at the other.
When 7-year-old Kyle Walker drew a picture showing him shooting at his friend David while riding on a school bus last week, Shirley McDevitt said she wasn't concerned.
"When a child draws at that age, they are not drawing something with thought," she said. "Especially when Kyle told me, 'Mom it was a water gun' and he does not have a problem with David."
David showed the picture to his parents who turned it over to Dennis Township primary school officials who sent home a letter saying it was a threat and suspended Kyle for a day noting they have a zero tolerance violence policy.
"It states that they will not tolerate guns, knives, weapons being brought into the schools and if his pencil drawing is a weapon then I'm sorry," McDevitt said.
Jenna Arch's little sister is a friend of Kyle's.
"I think kids will be kids," Arch, of Dennisville, said. "It does concern me to an extent but like I said he's a child. I think he's expressing his art."
Kyle was back in school Monday.
Heather Sudll, a parent, said a picture like that should raise some eyebrows.
"You have to take precautions these days especially with all the shootings taking place in schools," she said. "It taught him a lesson at least, and it will teach the other kids."
McDevitt said the suspension did not teach Kyle a lesson.
"They taught him nothing," she said. "They taught him that if he draws a gun, he can get a day off from school. And the only thing that bothers me -- they kept my child from a day of learning."
The school district released a statement saying, "It is the position of the Dennis Township Board of Education to protect and preserve the confidentiality rights of all of our public school students in the Township of Dennis. These rights are afforded to school children under federal and state statutes."
"Therefore, the district believes that any discussion regarding students or student matters will violate those statutory rights. This would be to the detriment of not only this child, but all school children in the state of New Jersey," the statement said.
The district had no further comment on the matter.
Several people voiced their opinions to NBC 10 about the incident. A few comments are listed below.
"This is as far from teaching kids right from wrong as it gets. At this age, without any aggression being shown, the parents could easily have been contacted and the issue discussed with the child before any action was taken," David from Cherry Hill wrote.
"This is 'political correctness' gone mad. How can we rely on good education for our children when some school administrators have no brains?" Mike wrote.
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