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Mass School suspends 2 students for posing in a home photo with airsoft guns

OutHouse

OutHouse

Lifer
crazy. so they put "Homecoming 2014" in the caption of the picture and may bet expelled.

guns2.jpg


http://kdvr.com/2014/10/29/two-students-suspended-after-posting-controversial-facebook-photo/

MIDDLEBOROUGH, Mass. — Two high school students say they are facing expulsion for having toy guns — guns they never brought to school.

They look like real weapons, but they are airsoft guns that shoot plastic pellets.

Last week, Tito Velez, 15, and his girlfriend Jamie Pereira posted for their homecoming picture last week holding the guns and posting it to Facebook. And it got them suspended from school.

“This isn’t dangerous. You can’t kill someone with it,” Velez said. “We didn’t shoot anyone, we were pointing them at the floor. Everything was on safe, no batteries, they never left house. Never, we never took them to school. That’d be stupid.”

“I understand, but I think they took this way too far,” Pereira said. “Suspending us for 10 days and possible expulsion is way too much.”

But the teenagers put a caption on the photo relating it to homecoming at Bristol Plymouth Vo-Tech, tying the airsoft guns to a school function.

“These students know what is … provocative,” Superintendent Richard Gross said. “And to tie that to one of our school events kind of puts it over the top which brings us into it.”
 
They posted a picture with what looks to be real firearms with a caption that suggests a school shooting. Oh, the outrage they got disciplined!

If someone tweets "Gun + homecoming = fun!" should they not be suspended as well? I mean, they didn't hurt anybody, yet.
 
That doesn't surprise me at all. Can you imagine the outrage if one of these kids had done something and it came to light the school new about the picture ahead of time?

I still find it odd that we hold schools to a much higher level of accountability over the actions of children than the child's own parents
 
I guess I'm old fashioned, but I think a good talking to and maybe detention would have sufficed. Suspending them and putting a black mark on their permanent record is a bit much. They look like a couple of trailer trash kids to me. Not psychos.

Americans are really paranoid about these school shootings. They're still very rare. Probably happen because nobody did try talking to the kids in the first place.
 
While I think the punishment is excessive, they did post a picture of themselves holding toy guns that look like real firearms and captioned it about the school homecoming; they had to expect some form of punishment. 15-year-olds are generally stupid, but they're smart enough to know that something that even jokingly hints at a school shooting is going to be treated very seriously.
 
It's the kind of thing that happens when liberal politically correct stupidity runs rampant.

This is not P&N. Please keep that kind of remark over there.
admin allisolm
 
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Yea the school could not let it alone as they would be blamed if something happened. At the same time I don't think they should be suspended unless there was something else to it.

Best thing is to report it to the authorities and let them decide if there is any risk or laws broken that affect school. If not then drop it.
 
They should get hammered over this. They did it to provoke a response. They trolled their school with a homecoming massacre threat. I say fuck 'em.
 
02ranger said:
I think the most surprising thing about this is that these two are old enough to be in high school!
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Why? I graduated at 15 from HS.
Start early and advance a grade.

But the teenagers put a caption on the photo relating it to homecoming at Bristol Plymouth Vo-Tech, tying the airsoft guns to a school function.
Click to expand...

1) The airsoft guns do not have a colored tip; from the photo, are they real or not?
2) Tying the weapon picture to a school function was not smart. Asking for attention as related to school related shootings :thumbsdown:

Suspension becomes a judgement call by the authorities.
Ignore it without verification is not the proper thing to do.
follow up with the kids is called for.

However, the article does not really follow up from the school POV; just the students'.
 
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I was outraged when I read the headline but...

No orange tips on those guns + questionable caption
 
Young people need a course in the dangers of social media. They need to know that putting stupid sh*t online can follow you for the remainder of your life.
 
mmntech said:
I guess I'm old fashioned, but I think a good talking to and maybe detention would have sufficed. Suspending them and putting a black mark on their permanent record is a bit much. They look like a couple of trailer trash kids to me. Not psychos.

Americans are really paranoid about these school shootings. They're still very rare. Probably happen because nobody did try talking to the kids in the first place.
Click to expand...

Their permanent record? I hate to break it to you, but after you graduate high school, nobody gives a fuck what stupid shit you were suspended for, unless it involved the police. Them being suspended for doing something stupid just lets the school know the next time they do something stupid, it wasn't the first time.
 
Punishment is excessive, but I can understand why the school reacted to this. If my kid went to that school and I saw that picture on FB prior to/during the dance, I'd be slightly concerned at the very least.
 
A weekend cleaning up at the city morgue. The next weekend they spend at a hospital witnessing doctors giving the I'm sorry for your loss talk to next of kin.
Teach them their joke wasn't funny.

No suspension. Keep them in school.
 
cabri said:
Why? I graduated at 15 from HS.
Start early and advance a grade.
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The majority of people don't graduate HS that early though, and I wasn't commenting on their actual ages. I was saying they look much younger than HS age to me. That's all I meant.
 
I certainly don't agree with the recent zero tolerance school policies on guns, pictures of guns, things shaped vaguely like guns, overheard talk of guns, random thoughts about guns, etc.

BUT...

By now people should know how schools react to such things. Don't poke the bear.
 
School has no business suspending them, mush less expelling them. Nothing they did falls within what should be the school's direct jurisdiction.

That being said, given the caption the school would have been appropriately responding if they had notified law enforcement to investigate.
 
sactoking said:
School has no business suspending them, mush less expelling them. Nothing they did falls within what should be the school's direct jurisdiction.

That being said, given the caption the school would have been appropriately responding if they had notified law enforcement to investigate.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:
 
sactoking said:
School has no business suspending them, mush less expelling them. Nothing they did falls within what should be the school's direct jurisdiction.

That being said, given the caption the school would have been appropriately responding if they had notified law enforcement to investigate.
Click to expand...

What? What would law enforcement do exactly? Was a crime committed? Nope? Case closed; let school shootings proceed. There is a problem with people who are inclined to do that sort of thing (mentally unstable children) and law enforcement is powerless until they actually commit a crime.

And, how is a thinly veiled threat (even if it was meant to be a joke) not in the jurisdiction of the school? If I posted a picture of me with what looks like an firearm with the caption "Democratic National Convention 2016!", should they be allowed to ban me from said gathering?
 
smackababy said:
They posted a picture with what looks to be real firearms with a caption that suggests a school shooting. Oh, the outrage they got disciplined!

If someone tweets "Gun + homecoming = fun!" should they not be suspended as well? I mean, they didn't hurt anybody, yet.
Click to expand...

What was the caption and where does it say that?
 
02ranger said:
The majority of people don't graduate HS that early though, and I wasn't commenting on their actual ages. I was saying they look much younger than HS age to me. That's all I meant.
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Agree on the graduation; however, one can be in HS (9th grade) easily at 15 if starting school normally at 6yr of age.

These two look young (and stupid).
Middleborough is about an hour south of Boston, was outside of suburbia (back in the 80s)
 
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