The Arlington Heights mother of a Windsor Elementary School 3rd grader is upset by what she sees as an overreaction by administrators there.
Her 8-year-old son had been called down to Principal Emily Myers’ office this week after his teacher caught him playing with a roughly 1-inch plastic toy gun.
The mother said the trinket was bought for a quarter at a neighborhood grocery.
The youngster was not suspended for what officials are calling a breach of the Arlington Heights Elementary School District 25 rule which prohibits look-alike weapons. But his mother said the incident is symbolic of a zero-tolerance policy run amok.
“He was told he could have been suspended for a week,” the mother said. “It would have been so much easier if they had just put the toy inside an envelope and sent it home with a note telling me to please not allow this to come to school. That should have been the end of it.”
Instead, the boy was asked to go to the principal’s office, where Myers searched the boy’s backpack for the toy. Also, the boy’s teacher sent a letter home to the mother to explain the situation.
On Thursday, Myers said she stood by her decision to take the matter seriously, pointing to the recent rash of shootings and violent threats breaking out on school campus’s nationwide.
“I don’t care what size it is, it won’t be tolerated in this school,” said Myers. “If we make any mistakes in judgment, I feel, let’s make it on the safe side.”
District 25 Supt. Dorothy Weber supported Myers’ reaction to the toy gun, saying, “We’re trying to remind and educate parents that times are different.”
