4-year-old brings an empty bullet shell to preschool. You won’t believe the overreaction

4-year-old brings an empty bullet shell to preschool. You won’t believe the overreaction March 24, 2017

A preschool in Troy, Illinois completely overreacted when one of its students, a 4-year-old boy, brought an empty (and very tiny) .22 shell casing with him to school. Not only was he suspended for seven days, child protective services was called on the parents.

The teacher described the brass shell as a “shotgun bullet” to the mother, Kristy Jackson. That really concerned her until she saw what it actually was. Jackson said they would never allow their son, Hunter, to bring something like that to school, and said he must’ve picked it up from the ground after practicing on targets with his granddad, who is a police officer.

The mom wrote on Facebook:

I never thought this could happen to us. You see stuff on the news like this, but….

Today, I picked up my happy little 4 yr old from preschool, at A Place to Grow, in Troy. My arrival was met with a stone faced teacher, who told me that Hunter brought a “shotgun bullet” to school.vI was horrified. My kid? Who just spent the weekend learning gun safety?

Well….when I was escorted to the office for a sit down. I was handed a tiny .22 empty brass casing. Not a “shotgun bullet”. He found it on the ground, expelled from a 22 Rifle over the weekend, while Hunter was target practicing with his Police Officer Grandpa. He was so excited, and snuck it to school to show his friends. We had no idea about it.

Jackson said she felt the harsh judgment from the faculty the minute she showed up:

I was handed a piece of paper. No words, just eyebrows raised in disgust at my son, explaining that his behavior warranted a 7 school day suspension. Which I still was expected to pay tuition for, of course. And a threat that if his enthusiasm for guns continued, he’d be permanently expelled.

Yes, Hunter is a boy. His name is “Hunter.” His family are gun enthusiasts and practice gun safety. So, of course he’s going to pretend to shoot guns. All little boys grab their toys, or anything they can get their hands on, and turns them into pretend weapons. That’s called normal and it should be allowed. But not at A Place to Grow.

The school president, Sarah Jarman, sent out a letter to parents about the “incident:”

As a provider of early childhood education, we are charged with introducing a curriculum that is appropriate for every child in a classroom. The introduction of firearms safety into the classroom is not included in our curriculum. We view and understand that it is a very personal decision that each parent has the right to make.

The Jacksons feel that a teachable moment was missed because of the school’s overreaction:

See, here’s the thing. This was a teaching moment. He never hurt anyone, or threatened anyone. This could literally happen to ANY CHILD who happened to find one on the ground and thought it was cool. He does not have access to ANY weapon in our home. This could have been handled by explaining appropriate behavior at school.

He’s 4. This doesn’t hurt him, or teach him, or help him. Just his parents, who do not condone bringing these kinds of things to school. Ever. Had we known, we of course would have stopped it. But every time he or another child mentions a gun (like every boy I grew up with did) they punish him.

H/T Reason


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