Two-inch LEGO Police gun gets 4th-grader in trouble

[luckyme]

Patrick Timoney, a 9-year-old student, was in the school cafeteria Tuesday playing with LEGOs when he was taken to the principal's office and threatened with suspension. One of his toys was a LEGO policeman that holds a 2-inch plastic gun.


http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/352347...people/from/ET

[Ducky]

I hate people without brains.

[APA]

Legos huh....good thing they weren't Duplo blocks, or they may have just shot him on site.

[Pudge]

Again, another fine example of the pussification of America.

[Five-0]

I swear they must give a "Are you stupid enough test?" to work in a public school.

[covman454]

God, how times have changed. Granted I grew up in the sticks, but a lot of us hunted both before and after school. We kept the guns in our cars in the school parking lot back then so we didn't have to waste the time to run home after school. Most of us carried some sort of knife, not as a weapon but as a tool if needed.

We had a 1st grade HOME SCHOOLED kid suspended from the Des Moines school district yesterday for bringing a shotgun shell to a class which was being held in the basement of a church.

WTF!!!!?????

Zero tolerance gone astray...

Covman

[Buttercup]

That makes no sense at all.

[lewisipso]

You would still hear me screaming at the dumbass that approved that.

[Jenna]

[WyomingSunrise]

Zero telerance = Zero reasonability. What happened to thinking and reason?

[bayern]

We had a 1st grade HOME SCHOOLED kid suspended from the Des Moines school district yesterday for bringing a shotgun shell to a class which was being held in the basement of a church.

WTF!!!!?????

Zero tolerance gone astray...

Covman

Bit confused. He is home schooled, meaning he goes to school in his house (probable he kitchen). He brings a prohibited item to a room in church for a class and the School District suspends him. From where??? The Church, his kitchen??? What he cant go to churchor his kitchen?

[2 Blue 4 U]

I hate people without brains.

Especially when they are in charge of running a school.

School principal Evelyn Mastroianni apologizes to Patrick Timoney's mom for tiny toy gun bust

School principal Evelyn Mastroianni apologizes to Patrick Timoney's mom for tiny toy gun
bust

BY Matthew Lysiak and Larry Mcshane
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Friday, February 5th 2010, 4:00 AM

Apologies came too late for the still-angry mother of a Staten Island fourth-grade student who was yanked from lunch for bringing a tiny toy gun to school.

"The principal called me and said, 'I'm sorry, I never meant for it to go this far,'" said Laura Timoney, who also received a call from the superintendent.

"She sounded upset," said Timoney, unmoved by the call from Public School 52 Principal Evelyn Mastroianni. "I think she is sorry that this is happening. I wish she was sorry for Patrick."

The apologies came after the widespread attention accompanying Tuesday's near-suspension of
Timoney's 9-year-old son, Patrick.

The fourth-grader and a classmate were playing with their Lego figures and miniature toy guns in the school cafeteria Tuesday.

Then Patrick was taken to the principal's office and told to fill out paperwork admitting an "A-4
infraction."

"She told me to write that I had a gun," Patrick said. "She said, 'A gun is a gun.'"

Only his gun was a teeny-tiny plastic machine gun, about as deadly as a crayon.

"The principal made an error in judgment by overreacting when the toy was found,"
acknowledged Education Department spokesman Matthew Mittenthal.

While Mittenthal said the principal apologized to Patrick, the Timoneys insisted that never happened.

"The principal hasn't spoken to me at all," the boy said.

Mastroianni remained silent on the issue, with a school security officer chasing off a Daily News
reporter.



Laura Timoney fumes after son Patrick, 9, is busted for bringing 2-inch-long toy gun to PS 52

Read more: Laura Timoney fumes after son Patrick, 9, is busted for bringing 2-inch-long toy gun to PS 52

Laura Timoney fumes after son Patrick, 9, is busted for bringing 2-inch-long toy gun to PS 52

An irate Staten Island mom blasted a grade school principal Wednesday for treating her son like a pint-sized Plaxico Burress after he brought a 2-inch-long toy gun to school.

"This principal is a bully and a coward, and needs to be held accountable," said Laura Timoney, 44, after her teary fourth-grader was nearly suspended for playing with the tiny toy at lunch.

"The school should be embarrassed. This is a common-sense issue."

Patrick Timoney, 9, was terrified when he was yanked into the principal's office to discuss the teeny-weeny plastic "weapon."

"The gun was so little," the boy said. "I don't understand why the principal got so upset. I was a little nervous. They made me sign a statement."

Patrick and a friend were playing with Lego figures in the school cafeteria on Tuesday when he pulled out the faux machine gun and stuck it in the hands of his plastic police officer.

Boom! Trouble ensued, with Patrick's mom getting a phone call from Public School 52 Principal Evelyn Mastroianni saying her son had somehow gone from straight A's to the NRA.

"I was in disbelief," the still-fuming mother said. "Why didn't anyone step up with an ounce of common sense and put an end to the harassment of my child?"

Timoney said her boy loved the toy figure because her husband is a retired police officer.

The elder Patrick Timoney, a former 72nd Precinct cop, couldn't believe his son was nearly busted over something so obviously inauthentic.

"It's a 2-inch gun," he said. "She went overboard. She should have said, 'Put the toys away,' and that would have been the end of it."

After a meeting between the principal and the parents, the boy was spared any disciplinary action. City school officials said Patrick agreed to leave the "gun" at home.

"I'm never bringing a toy to school again," said Patrick, whose favorite subject is math.

Laura Timoney remained upset. Her son, a typically eager student, asked to stay home yesterday because he thought the principal was mad at him.

The mother said she expects an apology and may sue.

"The toy gun is not the issue," she said. "A lack of common sense is the issue."

Several parents at the school felt the principal overreacted, including Kim O'Rieley - whose son was playing with Patrick in the cafeteria.

Her boy's Lego man was toting a tiny ax, which the principal deemed less threatening.

"It's ridiculous," said O'Rieley, 36. "He felt so bad for his friend. They're taking things way too far ... No one is saying guns are okay.

"Come on, it's a Lego."

[MacLean]

Anyone that made my son sign a statement under duress better be prepared to deal with the outcome in court.

[covman454]

Bit confused. He is home schooled, meaning he goes to school in his house (probable he kitchen). He brings a prohibited item to a room in church for a class and the School District suspends him. From where??? The Church, his kitchen??? What he cant go to churchor his kitchen?

I don't know for sure all of the details of home schooling, but it was explained to me the school district still has some involvement with the kids' education. Even though the child might never set foot in the physical school, the parents (educators) are supervised by a home school coordinator who is employed by the district. Most of the time this type of arrangement allows the kids to participate in school activities.

I don't see how you would suspend a home schooled student either, but that school district is a bit screwed up.

Covman