11 Year Old Child Arrested And Charged For Stick Figure Drawing

[Papist]

[font="arial, verdana, sans-serif"][size="4"][color="#595959"][size="4"][font="Tahoma"][size="2"]The teacher ratted him out. So the drawing was justified. Really, are we not just a weeeee bit sensitive. Seriously, arrested. What's the charge, interfering with staff and students at an educational facility. The therapist is correct.[/size][/font]

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Edited April 13, 2011 by Papist

[MithLuin]

Yeah, it sounds like the teacher saw the picture, perceived it as a threat, and marched the kid down to the office. He was then....sent back to her class. So, she must've taken it to the next level and reported it to the police, since her administration wasn't doing anything about it.

There are teachers who have been shot by their students. The fact that the boy is 11 does not mean he can't be dangerous. Kindergartners have brought guns to school (though not usually with malicious intent).

I'm a teacher in the inner city. I teach kids who have a lot of crazy stuff going on in their lives. I could understand a teacher taking a threat seriously, and being scared about the outcome. My administration is very supportive, so I would simply tell my boss what was going on and why I was concerned, and the student would likely be suspended until the therapist could sort out whether or not it were a credible threat. That seems a more reasonable solution that still takes precautions and minimizes risk to other students.

To say that 'drawing during class' is part of his therapy is one thing - that's fine. To suggest that it's okay for him to draw a picture of him shooting his teacher....is another thing. His therapist apparently has to give a bit more guidance about *what* to draw. If the caption were, "Is class over yetttt????" nothing would have happened, most likely.

I don't have any problem with the police talking to the student, though arresting and booking him does seem an overreaction. If the kid's name were Klebold or Harris...people might not mind him being arrested so much. But the reason it got kicked up to the police in the first place is because someone at the school felt it wasn't being handled or dealt with appropriately.