Conscientious 7-year-old turns in toy gun to teachers, is suspended (VIDEO)

When New Kensington first grader Darin Simak discovered that a toy gun – orange-tipped and innocuous – had been mistakenly left in his backpack, Simak could have concealed the mock weapon and returned home.

Aware of Martin Elementary School’s strict policy against toy weapons, however, Simak decided to comply with the rules. The honest first grader turned the toy into his teacher and explained the situation. “I’m not sp’osed to have this,” he said.

Simak’s teacher rewarded him for his honesty by sending him to the office, where he was suspended.

“What kind of message are we sending to our kids?” asked Simak’s mother, Jennifer Mathabel. “To tell the truth, yet you get in trouble for it and you get punished for it.”

That is exactly the message that Martin administrators were sending to Simak. The AP reports that the student faced the possibility of a one-year expulsion.

After facing media scrutiny, Marin relented and allowed Simak to return for the last day of school.

Martin’s Elementary’s absurd treatment of Simak is part of an ongoing national pattern. Last year, a 6-year-old South Carolina girl was permanently expelled for possessing a plastic toy gun. The South Carolina school district informed the girl that she would be “subject to the criminal charge of trespassing” if she ever returned to the school.

Read more at TLR: Florida Bill: No More Punishing Kids for Playing With Imaginary Guns | The Libertarian Republic


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