In an incident that has sparked controversy, a first-grade student at Bagley Elementary School in Jefferson County, Alabama, was suspended for pretending his fingers were a gun during a game of cops and robbers, according to multiple reports.
The six-year-old boy's father, Jarrod Belcher, revealed that his son was suspended for using his "index fingers as a gun" while engaging in a playful game with a fellow student. Belcher was contacted by school administrators who instructed him to remove his son from the school premises due to the alleged infraction.
In an interview with WBRC, Belcher recounted his conversation with the school administration. "I asked her, I said, 'Well did he threaten anyone?' 'No.' 'Was there violence?' 'No.' 'Was there any indication of a current or future threat?' 'No.' 'I said, 'Well this kind of seems benign to me, it sounds like two students playing,' and she said it was but in this climate, this day and age, we have to take all incidents very seriously."
The school administration claimed that the boy had committed a "3.22 Threat" violation, as defined in the Student and Parent Handbook for Bagley Elementary. This violation pertains to making a threat or intimidation of another student. Fox News reported, "Potential violations include 'A threat to do serious bodily harm or violence to another student by word or act, cyberbullying, or intimidation that may induce fear into another.'"
The handbook further elaborates on examples of such violations, including "a threat to kill, maim, or inflict serious harm; a threat to inflict harm involving the use of any weapon, explosive, firearm, knife, prohibited object, or other object which may be perceived by the individual being threatened as capable of inflicting bodily harm."
Reports also indicate that the other boy involved in the cops and robbers game was likewise suspended.
Belcher later received communication from the school administrators stating that his son's violation had been downgraded to a class II infraction. However, he expressed concern that such an infraction would remain on his son's record.
Belcher suggested a more appropriate response from the school, stating, "What they should have done was pulled him to the side and said, 'Hey, this is not appropriate at school,' and that should have solved it, or they could have called me, and I would have handled it. What I would like is for this incident to be removed from his record, he doesnt deserve to be branded as potentially violent, because he was playing cops and robbers."
Belcher's attorney, M. Reed Martz, sent a letter to the Jefferson County school system demanding the removal of any record of the infraction or disciplinary action from the boy's record. Martz wrote, "In other words, the school charged a six-year-old boy with an infraction equivalent to a felony crime."
Martz also pointed out the irony that "[i]ntentionally hitting, pushing, kicking, or otherwise being physically aggressive with another student" is only a Class II Infraction, implying that the boy would have faced a lesser penalty had he physically assaulted the other student.
Initially, the school administration allegedly stated that the boy would be barred from attending school until a hearing on the incident was conducted. Although the boy has since been allowed to return to school, Martz stated that it was "too little, too late."
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