According to Fox News.com, a 6-year-old boy was suspended from his Maryland elementary
school for making a gun gesture with his finger, pointing it at a classmate and
saying "pow."
The Washington Post reports the first grader's parents are fighting to
remove the disciplinary action, which the school said was due to the child
making a "threat" to shoot another student in December, from the
child's record.
The school says the child pointed his finger at a female student in his
class as if it were a gun and said "pow." The school says the child
had been warned before about similar behavior, but chose to do it anyway.
"We always make sure there is clear conversation with the student and
parents about any behaviors that have to change and what the consequences are
if that behavior doesn't change," Montgomery schools spokesman Dana Tofig told
The Washington Post, saying that the suspension was not a knee-jerk reaction to
a single incident.
The child was suspended for one day on December 21. His family's attorney
Wednesday filed an appeal, asking that the incident be expunged from the
child's record and arguing the boy never had the intention of shooting anyone.
"He's skinny and meek," attorney Robin Ficker said of the boy. "In
his words, he was playing."
