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Kid Almost Suspended for Bringing Tiny Toy Gun to School
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 5 of 5)
2-05-2010 @ 7:38PM
snake said...wtf the princapal should be fired and shot stupid bitch!!!!!
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2-05-2010 @ 7:44PM
pughugss said...How can you allow your children to attend a school led by someone with absolutely no common sense? Your child spends a large portion of their day under this person's supervision. If she can't see that this is just a 2" piece of plastic molded into a gun shape and not a working weapon with moving parts and a hollow barrel, how in the world can she educate and provide adequate security for your child?
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2-05-2010 @ 7:44PM
S.Pelosi said...This is no joke I know a man who was shot dead with one of these guns.
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2-05-2010 @ 7:48PM
andy said...if it was a matter of "common sense" the boy wouldn't have brought the toy to school in the first place, but we all know that kids a dumb, and principles and lowly bureaucrats are worried about their jobs and covering their asses. it's a whole new world out there, today you have to becareful when you breath.
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2-06-2010 @ 7:05PM
VictorPaul said...The kid is not dumb!, Hes a kid, and probably didn't think it was a big deal (and shouldn't) cause it was a tiny plastic gun.But the point is, all the principal had to do is tell him in an educated & polite manner, not to bring it to school again. But no, she had to make the kid cry, she had to scare the kid.
2-06-2010 @ 10:10AM
Barney Frank said...This child should be serving jail time!!
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2-05-2010 @ 8:11PM
CPU64 said...I'm noticing that as the years go by, teachers and principals are becoming less intelligent and acting more like drones. Incapable of any practical reasoning or common sense.
When I was in 4th grade, I told my teacher I knew how to make little toy tanks in which I loaded the barrel with 4 or 5 match heads and it would fire a little paper ball. She was impressed and asked me to bring it to class and show the rest of the kids.
Now kids in schools are getting in trouble for using hand sanitizer, wearing a t-shirt that mentions Jesus, or something as dumb as this toy gun situation.
Public schools... Just another disaster run by the government...
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2-05-2010 @ 8:16PM
Patrick Gardner said...first last month it was a second grader took a swiss army knife to school because it was his favorite spoon to eat with and they threaten to expel him now this . come on teachers your over reacting if this little kids caused posed a threat i could understand it but this is ridicules. teachers get a grip
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2-05-2010 @ 8:43PM
Bluesman said...As an individual who grew up in a rural enviroment and walked to school *carrying a rifle* , like many other kids in the area I find this rather egregious , we simply dropped them at the principals office and picked them up after school. And prior to anyone jumping down my throat , you'd best consider the environment , to be without said rifle in that area of the far north might well have made you bear bait or had you stomped by a moose during the fall rutting season or spring calving season.
And speaking as an ex school teacher who left the "industry" over the ridiculous rules on curriculum and the power given to adminstrative staff , the majority of whom were/are substandard instructors , I must agree with those who have stated that todays socalled 'educational system' is more about the indoctrination of young minds into a specific way of thought than it is about *real* education and teaching the given student to think for themselves in a rational and logical manner.
And folks wonder why the "dumbing down of America" is a syndrome that really exists , they wonder why " Johnny can't read".
I say to you , look to incidents such as this for the answers to these questions.
Bluesman
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2-06-2010 @ 7:04PM
VictorPaul said...What we should do is find the address to the school and send as many toy 2" guns as we can to the principal
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2-07-2010 @ 2:55PM
cat food said...thats violent for a child that adge but supspending is a little extreme
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2-08-2010 @ 2:47PM
Rod said...Children shouldn't have to obey asinine "rules" made by out of control idiotic "adults" who wouldn't know common sense if if bit them in the ass!!!
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