SMALL TOY, BIG DEAL

Judgment Failed In Suspension Over Toy Gun

Guns and drugs in schools are serious matters. Strict rules against
them and grave punishment for those who bring them to schools are an
absolute must in protecting a vulnerable student body.

But that doesn't mean common sense should take a vacation. Last week,
we saw yet another example of school officials overreacting to a minor
offense and opening themselves to public ridicule.

A third-grader at Sun Valley Elementary in Birmingham was suspended
Monday for bringing a G.I. Joe toy handgun to school - a one-inch
piece of plastic that's an accessory to an action figure. One inch.

School officials said 9-year-old Austin Crittenden pointed the tiny
toy at two girls and said "bang." Surely, no one would even attempt to
argue that such a plastic replica could be mistaken for a real gun. Or
that it's threatening.

Yet Austin was suspended for possessing a firearm replica, a violation
of the student code of conduct, and ordered to stay home until a
disciplinary hearing the next Monday.

On Thursday, however, school officials changed their minds and allowed
Austin back in class. They also said the incident would be wiped from
the child's disciplinary record.

It's good that school officials reversed course with Austin. The
punishment - suspension and a disciplinary hearing - clearly didn't
fit the crime.

Yet it's disappointing that Superintendent Wayman Shiver Jr. termed
Sun Valley Principal Teresa Ragland's handling of the incident as
appropriate. The principal followed the code of conduct, Shiver said.

Rules, however, should allow for good judgment. Judging that a
9-year-old with a plastic, one-inch replica handgun is threatening is
not good judgment. (The "gun" had to be taped to a piece of paper to
keep track of it.) Neither is blindly following rules that are
inappropriate.

Suspending the child for even one day was ridiculous.

What would have been wrong with simply taking the toy from Austin and
sending a note home to his guardian?

Even if the good intent is to avert violence and drug use, schools
lose credibility with the public when they take no-tolerance rules to
absurd lengths. In Austin's case, the length of the toy should have
told school officials they were going too far.