"8-year-old [Samuel Burgos] hasn't been in school for a year and will likely miss another year if the Broward County School Board has its way," NBCMiami.com tells us.
Why?
Burgos was suspended from school in November after a teacher found a toy gun in his backpack.
Horrors! You know, that anyone can be compelled by the state to enter a Fourth Amendment-free zone...
So--at most--did the teacher tell him to pack it away, take it home and not bring it back to school?
Not exactly:
The 8-year-old boy hasn't been in school for a year and will likely miss another year if the Broward County School Board has its way.
Why?
Two words: "Zero tolerance."
School board officials said the rules are quite clear and that the toy gun constituted a weapon. A school board report on the incident mentions that Samuel showed the toy gun to another student and it was capable of firing projectiles.
I remember those. They were fun! And you should see the Johnny Seven OMA my kid brother had! Talk about faux firepower!
Methinks that school board would have had a collective stroke.
So now that they've taken their revenge on their hapless young victim and punished him beyond reason for the crime of ...what, exactly [?], what's in store for the unfortunate lad?
The school board said they would admit Samuel into a correctional school for problem children who have been expelled located in Hallandale Beach.
Yep, throw him in the hole with the other misfits and rejects. That'll do wonders for that "self esteem" these types are always hawking as the most important quality to cultivate (or is it "tolerance" for all things "progressive"?), right down to trophies for all. Not to mention the effect this will have on young Samuel's trust and respect for adults and authoritah.
That'll teach him!
Naturally, this official public humiliation and cruelty has had its effects. We're told he "has been set back emotionally."
Yeah, no kidding. The kid is eight. He's a freaking second grader, and now, probably a repeat one--way to fulfill your primary (and only, really) task of educating, Broward County Schools!
They've probably made him think there's something wrong with him, and something wrong with being a boy who acts like one.
Hey, at least he wasn't wearing a verboten shirt. And he's lucky ATF didn't charge him with machine gun possession!
If he were older, he'd be better equipped to understand the issue is with the mindless and inhumane policies of the statist bureaucracy--obedience being the forced outcome and the rules being more important than the reasons for having them--rules administered by dour party functionaries who are personally unaccountable for their actions. There's always an excuse for why they have no choice.
No one does. Except the top commissars. That's the way collectives work.
Also see:
Broward School Board approves property tax hike, $3.4 billion budget
Maureen Dinnen: What School Board Corruption?
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Comments
The best solution possible......homeschool the boy, he will be better educated in the end anyway.
Took the words right out of my mouth.
Just FYI, the picture near the top, is not the child the story is about. Watch the MSNBC story.
To anon: we are limited to using photos that:
A. Are Getty images, which Examiner has a license to use.
B. Are our own,
C. We have permission of the copyright owner to use.
So in order to illustrate a story, we are often left with the choice of no photo, or else one that meets the criteria above and that illustrate/reinforce the topic.
Well it's to bad really that kids now days can't grow up and play the way we did in our childhood. This school board needs to realy review their policies if this is what they call a "weapon". And to suggest he be put in a 'correctional institution for kids'? Nearly a year suspension. Hell sakes, drunk drivers don't even get that much time in some states. Get a life people!!!
Come on people. Isn't this a bit of an over kill too. When can this idiotic board be voted out?
I guess home schooling has it's place in life now.
How can I help this kid and his family? I hope they are able to send him to school somewhere.
MOVE!
Who would want to live in Broward County anyways? It's the one that gave us the dimpled chads, pregnant chads, and hanging chads fiasco.
Brain dead; absolutely brain dead. Zero tolerance = zero brains.
I took my 7 year old son to an air show to see "The Blue Angels". As kids are want to do he begged an air show video tape for a souvenier. He wore that tape out watching it. But in the box with the tape was a B-2 Stealth Bomber lapel pin. One day he wore it to school and was sent to the principal's office because his teacher thought it looked like a gun. I had to take time off from work to go to the office to explain to the principal that it was in fact an airplane, that she and her staff were idiots, and to retrieve my son's beloved pin. You don't have to make this stuff up. And as the song says "There aint no fixing stupid!"
I guarantee my son's opinion of authority figures was re-moulded by that fiasco. So. all things considered, early contact with the effects of "cranio-rectal inversion syndrome" can be good for the child if trusted adults are careful to re-assure them that the child is not the one at fault.
My little 7 year old is now 19 and in the Navy ROTC with Marine Corps option at his college. I would be willing to bet you that that pin is somewhere in his dorm room. Hopefully he's not wearing it to class. ;-)
DDS -- NRA Life Member
Hi .I'm shocked by this story,have put a link to your story on my humble blog.
KIDS WILL BE KIDS!
Homeschooling and moving are options - but when do we stop avoiding the real problem?
The real problem is the proliferation of those who would be our Masters are never held accountable for their arrogance. Homeschooling is under attack by the Collectivists. Most school boards - even in Helena Montana of all places, are under the control of these brain-damaged Liberals.
We have been patient and tolerant for too long. Liberalism is a cancer that must be excised from the republic if we are to ever have a shot at Liberty as intended by the Founders and Framers.
Liberals operate from a place of moral righteousness - they will not yield by reason. They will never be persuaded intellectually that they are wrong. They genuinely believe that their impositions upon your Liberty are justified for the Collective good, and you will obey.
Two options face Americans: Yield your Liberty to these people, or do not.
Good article, David.
Sam
III
Kerodin.com
"Liberals operate from a place of moral righteousness"
Except for that whole genocide against our children thing. You know, they call the murders abortion.
"Methinks that school board would have had a collective stroke."
One can only hope :-)
Just when you think you've heard it all. These educated liberal idiots need to be run out of town after the tar and feathers are applied. Why do people keep electing and re-electing these fools? They do the same with Congress. I too would be homeschooling. It would also include 2 hours a week on the firing range. And another 2 hours a week on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I would have a good laugh if it wasn't so sad.
Parents, take note. The minute you enroll your children into a government operated school they become possessions of the state. They will not be taught how to think they will be taught what to think. Their individuality will be taken from them and they will be taught to always be a team player, that athletics is more important than the 3 R‘s, and that they should never question those in authority. They will be programmed, not educated.
[W3]
"School board officials said the rules are quite clear and that the toy gun constituted a weapon."
And why not? Daily they pursue a career in which a toy diploma constitutes a mandatory qualification for employment.
I think you have it all wrong. He is WHITE. That's the reason these monkeys are doin' it to him. This type of
business has been going on for years now. Betcha the teacher that "apprehended" him was a minority; black or brown. Think I'm a racist? You are too if you think we're all equal in this country....
molon labe
7 of 9 school board members who determined this are white, Lefty.
"7 of 9 school board members who determined this are white, Lefty."
Yes, spineless liberal whites. Self-haters, race suckers.
Would I be considered intolerant if I wanted these liberal fascists string up by their nuts (or next convenient appendage)?
I think we're missing the point. If school officials are correct in saying that "any weapon" is cause for expelling someone, then we need to work with them. Since those same officials regulary and routinely use weapons ( knives, forks, staplers, heavy blunt objects, etc, etc ) then we need to insist that they, too, be expelled. And since they are adults who presumably know better and thus have no excuse, their removal should be made permanent.
"7 of 9 school board members who determined this are white"
That aside , 9 out of 9 board members that ALLOWED this to happen are still elected to office, and subject to removal by the use of a vote, and personally I think they are all unanimously idiots . Remember to vote when you can, thats how you get rid of idiots like that.
I am glad my 7 year old goes to a rural public school. They still have "Christmas" Pageants and "Christmas" break just like we did as a kid. They also give out toy guns from their box of toys and on the last day of school last year the students and teachers had a squirt gun fight. I'll see if the local school board can mention Broward County schools in their opening prayer next board meeting.
The "Zero-Tolerance" was instituted to keep the ratio of 'minority' to white offenses at an acceptable level. Nothing else. It gives them an excuse "Well, it says so in our policy statement so we have to do what it says." Otherwise the decision becomes subjective and that might/will skew the results toward more minorities being expelled.
That is why HOME SCHOOLING is growing by leaps and bounds!
An example, make the kid an example - after all everyone knows that it is better to BURN, STAB, or beat someone to death then simply shoot them...
We need to educated our children that self defense is not wrong, and that toys are TOYS -
David again thank you and wow!
(shared and apologies - school has been taking far too much time as of late.)
FreeRangeKids.com is a blog discussing this story.
Unschooling.com is a good site for parents to check out if they can't imagine homeschooling their kids.
Wimp.com/selfteaching is an amazing video that demonstrates how much children can learn on their own.
I love the news report - "the toy gun was capable of firing projectiles so it is in fact a weapon" Yeah! So is my drinking straw they give out in the cafeteria!
Time for some guerrilla activism. Someone plant a toy gun in the principle's car, then call the cops. Someone plant a toy gun in the cars of various teachers, then call the cops. Keep going through every school official until either they change their minds or run out of officials.
encourage ALL students to take a toy gun to school and then have ALL students suspended indefinitely. Then what would the gov school guards do all day.
Here's your sign, Broward County.
Proof positive that the Department of Education needs to be disbanded.
Expelling a 7 year old boy for firearm possession for accidentally bringing a plastic toy gun to school is akin to expelling a 7 year old girl for possession of pornography for accidentally bring a naked barbie in her book bag.
Have the people who run all our government services completely lost their collective minds?
I say put the boy back in school and vote out ALL the school board members.
When we were kids we would make spit wad shooters from pens.
I guess now we would be arrested.
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