Kid Almost Suspended for Bringing Tiny Toy Gun to School

by Brett Singer (Subscribe to Brett Singer's posts)
Feb 5th 2010 9:00AM

Filed under: In The News, Weird But True

Patrick Timoney, 9, holds the small plastic gun that almost got the fourth grader suspended. Credit: Nicholas Fevelo, New York Daily News

School safety is important, but some are saying an elementary school principal overreacted when she saw one of her students playing with a tiny toy gun in the cafeteria.

Mom Laura Timoney went ballistic when she received a call from her son's school. Staten Island fourth-grader Patrick Timoney was in tears, the mad mama told the New York Daily News, because he was being threatened with a suspension by P.S. 52 principal Evelyn Matroianni.

His crime? Possession of a 2-inch toy gun, which Patrick had placed in the hand of a Lego police officer during a lunchtime toy break.

Patrick's father, a retired police officer who shares his little boy's name, tells the Daily News that he has "no problem with the rules" but doesn't see why the tiny gun caused such a big problem.

In this video report from the newspaper, Patrick and his family describe the incident.

"The toy gun is not the issue," Laura Timoney tells the Daily News. "A lack of common sense is the issue." Timoney adds that she wants an apology and might sue the school.

New York City Department of Education spokesperson Margie Feinberg tells the Staten Island Advance that "Toy guns are not allowed in schools," and that NYC schools have a no-tolerance policy in place for fake firearms. Even little ones.

After a meeting was held between parents and school officials, it was decided that Patrick would not be suspended over the wee weapon.

When it comes to punishments, size really does matter.

Related: Trouble in Toyland

ReaderComments (Page 2 of 5)

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2-05-2010 @ 8:02PM

Lotte said...

This is also the reason that the US is sooooooooo low on the list when it comes to grades! You have to have teachers who KNOW how to THINK and who actually KNOW how to TEACH!!! This is not a new problem (I'm nearly 60 and remember an algebra teacher who ended up with fewer than ten students at the end of the year-most had dropped HIS class and moved to another because he was so poor that NO ONE got above a C...everyone in the class was chosen because of their class standing and GPA!!! Yet this moron couldn't teach the smartest kids in the class! We all aced the class with the "real" teacher). While not a new problem, it's definitely worse these days. Maybe if the teacher's union didn't have the power it did to force us to KEEP the idiots with nothing between their ears except a vaccuum, things would improve...ahhh, we can dream.

2-05-2010 @ 2:45PM

Dawn said...

I feel that the toy should of been taken away and a letter sent home to the parent or a phone call made and explain the policy. If it should happen more than once then a supension is in order. Doesn't matter what size it is.

2-05-2010 @ 2:50PM

BILL!! WHATS THIS WORLD COMING TOO. ARE THEY GOING TO START ARRESTING PEOPLE FOR IMAGINING THAT THEY HAVE A REAL GUN. NO said...

DUH!! WHATS THIS WORLD COMING TOO.. WHAT A MORON BUNCH OF VILLAGEIDIOTS THATS RUNNING OUR SCHOOLS THESES DAYS

2-05-2010 @ 3:31PM

mark young said...

It seems we have lost the rights we once had. You have the right to comply. There is no collective wisdom in a school board that is nothing but a group of individual idiots.

2-05-2010 @ 2:55PM

Lita said...

Of course this child should have been suspended, if not expelled. This has the potential to be a lethal weapon. After all, if I were to take it and shove it down the principal's throat.... (end of sarcasm) How can we raise intelligent children when those in charge of their education seem to be lacking in common sense? If anyone should be made to leave this school and not return, it is the moron who made this big todo over nothing.

2-05-2010 @ 4:53PM

Nancy said...

It's sad that we're living in a time where there's no middle ground. These zero-tolerance rules have been taken to such an extreme that a kid whose mom packs a butter knife in their lunchbox is suspended (or threatened with suspension). This is one of those situations where a polite call home from the office telling parents, "We know it's silly, but we can't even allow 2-inch guns at the school" would have been appropriate. I do understand that the 2-inch gun can't be allowed because then one has to ask, "Where do we draw the line?" Is a 3-inch gun okay? How about a 4-inch gun? So it makes sense to just say "No gun toys." But like I said, this was an honest mistake and should have been treated as such.

2-05-2010 @ 3:04PM

Genmagr said...

Just think he might have put a tiny hole in his pants pocket from a gun that DON'T GOT A BARREL.You school idiots need to look for big kids and older kids with weapons .This is a waste of every single AMERICANS money.School officials use your BRAINS you went to school also I hope. Just a bunch of high paid Morons .

MTM said...

Another reason we need people in our schools with a clue.

2-05-2010 @ 3:16PM

Tim said...

Here is where America is wrong. There shouldn't be any toy guns period! This is where parents need to get off their butt and educate their kids. Guns are not mean't to be a toy, but Amercia continues to sell toy guns, and parents not educating their kids, their kids confuse real guns & toy guns. Therefore causing kids to shoot other kids, it isn't the weapon that is at fault, nor the fault of the person that sold the adult the weapon. Its the adults fault not educating their kids. Guns don't need to be in a case, locked up or any of that stuff, cause if you are using a gun for home protecting a burglar isn't going to wait until you open the case, take the lock off, find the ammo, load the gun so you can protect yourself. The burglar is going to do what burglars do. Oh and I believe teachers should be allowed to carry concealed with the proper training.

2-05-2010 @ 3:36PM

james said...

I think that since the toy gun is not proper in school that the plastic fork, spoons and knife that are in the lunch rooms should be outlawed - oh and also umbrella, the baseball bats that the children could hurt each other with. And I forgot the pencils and paper - you know paper cuts can be very hurtful.

The principal should get a grip and understand the difference between a toy and something that could hurt someone - Maybe he needs to go back to school and get some education

2-05-2010 @ 3:58PM

David Hutchison said...

Give me a break, when I was a kid we had TV westerns that offered real "RED RIDER" cap guns. we weren't running around shooting up the schools. This problem didn't start till lazy Azz parents quit raising there kids. Now your not allowed to raise your kids for all the stipid rules. The best thing that can happen is to get the Unions out of educations and teach your kids right from wrong.

2-05-2010 @ 4:40PM

GOLFER98 said...

THE LAST THING THAT I WOULD WANT IS TO HAVE THESE IDOT TEACHES ARMED. HOW DID WE ALL GROWUP PLAYING COWBOYS AND INDIANS. GUNS ARE NOT THE PROBLEM WITH PROPER UPBRINGING. THE PROBLEM IS ALL OF THE PROTECTED LITTLE BRATS THAT HAVE NEVER BEEN EXPOSED AND TOUGHT THE PROPER RESPECT FOR GUNS. LEGAL GUNS SAVE LIVES AND PROTECT.

2-05-2010 @ 3:22PM

gridman2007 said...

I think it is a shame that anyone is allowed to teach that is that clueless. The guns are not the problem, if we take every one that is produced and melt them down do you think it will stop murder and violence? So when I stab you with a screwdriver or hit you with a club or machette it's not going to be as violent as a gun. Get Real and think with your brain like an adult should. The problem is with family life, no one has to be responsable for THEIR own action anymore and it's illegal to correct a child. So lets just go out and kill people and take citizens rights away for their OWN protection. How stupid is that idealogy? This country deserves what it gets.

Randy said...

What does B+ Barry think about this? After all, the Radical Leftist Democrats determine what is, and what is not politically correct. Because of Rahm Emanuel, "f*****g retard" is now OK to use in all situations.

Deb said...

I agree with all the comments about it being stupid to suspend him and all, the gun itself could'nt hurt anyone but I can also see with the way todays society is anything that resembles a gun at school is a NoNo .Teacher freak at the sight of them because of all the harm that is done with the real ones and in kids hands too.

2-05-2010 @ 4:16PM

snzuluz said...

the principal should be sent back to school so he can tell the difference between something that is harmful and not. Also he should outlaw paper and pencils - paper cut do hurt- the forks, knife, and spoons in the lunch room, the baseball bats that the kids play with during PE..

ontgtmktg said...

This is what happens when school administration resides under the heels of taxpaying parents. After all, what will Madame Principal say to little Robbie's parents when Robbie's realistic-looking toy gun gets confiscated but little Patrick's Lego gun doesn't? I miss the days when teachers and school administrators strictly,and firmly set common-sense rules for the classroom and school, and when parents supported them.

The problem isn't schools that unwittingly allow students to carry guns in school. The problem is parents and a lax gun-licensing system that make those guns available to them.

2-05-2010 @ 4:02PM

J.Strasser said...

Ontgtmktg, there is nothing wrong with the ownership of firearms. I personally own guns, and am an avid hunter and outdoorsman. I allow my two sons to use them as well and I hope that when they are older, they will to continue to do so. This is a right guaranteed in the 2nd amendment of our bill of rights. The case is not over stupidity or the licensing system, it actually resides in people like you who want to completely ban the ownership of firearms from the general public. That there, simply put, is retarded. People need to become acquainted with how to correctly utilize and care for weapons. Only in this way would young children be safe. I do accept that there are certain cases where people can misuse our right, but that doesn't give a reason to ban the system entirely.

2-05-2010 @ 4:39PM

baddoggy said...

ontgtmktg,
Should there be a two week waiting period and a background check on the purchase of all lego weapons?
THIS PRINCIPAL IS BANE!

2-05-2010 @ 3:41PM

24-4-5 said...

What I would like to see happen when such incompetent people can't differentiate between common logic and stupidity of the 'rules' is this. The next time a kid gets in trouble for bringing in such an obvious 'non-weapon' and is either punished or threated with punishment, the parents should immediately contact a lawyer and a police official to be with them when they get to the school. The parents should demand that every teacher remove all items from their pockets and purses. If any one of them are carrying a pocket knife, finger nail file, pepper spray or even a set of keys, etc.; then, as the parent I would demand that they be arrested on the spot for bringing harmful weapons to the school. The lawyer would be there to take notes for a future law suit. If we Americans are going to accept a zero tolerance rule within our schools and our children get in trouble for completely obvious, non-threating toys, then the adults working in the school should be subjected to those same rules but with adult, jail time, consequences.

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