May 29, 2008

Souvenir rifle shell gets 4th-grader suspended

Winchendon family shocked

By Gail Stanton CORRESPONDENT

WINCHENDON- Ten-year-old Bradley Geslak was suspended from school this week for bringing a Memorial Day souvenir to school.

The Toy Town Elementary School fourth-grader had received two empty rifle shell casings from blanks used during the town celebration held at the GAR Park Monday morning.

He brought one of the casings with him to school the next day. "He was just playing with it at lunch," explained Crystal Geslak, Bradley's mother. "He wasn't showing it to anyone; he had it in his hand and was playing with it."

Bradley said a teacher saw him with it and told him to hand it over.

"The teacher told me to give it to her and I did," he said.

After the piece of brass was confiscated, Ms. Geslak was called at work and told to come and pick up her son; he was being suspended for the next five days.

Her son was in tears when she got there.

"I was totally shocked. I couldn't believe this was happening," she said.

"Ordinarily, I try to think ahead about things, but to me, this was something good, not bad. It was just an empty shell, not even from a real bullet. A sharpened pencil would be more dangerous than this piece of metal."

Her son had been given the two blank shells by a uniformed veteran who participated in the ceremony Monday. Bradley gave one to his grandfather and kept the other souvenir for himself.

Having received the souvenir from an adult, he never considered it wrong for him to have it, his mother said.

"He was so proud to have been given them. His dad's a veteran, his uncle's a veteran, both his grandfathers are veterans. Memorial Day is a big thing to us. It's a very important holiday and we have a big celebration every year," Ms. Geslak said.

She is now concerned about the impact that having the shell taken away will have on her son and his feelings about the holiday in the future.

According to the family, a school official said on Tuesday that the shell would not be returned to them. The family said they were also told that the next step might involve assigning a probation officer to Bradley.

They also said they don't know the whole story yet.

"When I went to pick him up, I was told that the teacher hadn't finished writing up her report on what took place and that I would get that later," Ms. Geslak said. "I would have thought that when deciding to suspend my son that they would have had a complete report ready for me."

School officials refused to comment on the incident yesterday, citing privacy regulations.

"I cannot give any comment on school suspensions," Principal Deborah Peterson said. "I cannot confirm or deny a suspension took place, and I cannot speak about anything involving a minor. It's all confidential, just like at a doctor's office."

Attempts to reach Superintendent Brooke Clenchy and School Committee Chairman Michael Niles for comment were unsuccessful.

"I am worried about what having a weapon-related suspension on his school record will mean to his future," his mother said.

"He's like any other 10-year-old kid. Sometimes he can have a bad attitude," she said. "We dealt with that once earlier this year and I don't want them to now think he is a bad kid or label him as one.

"If he had been suspended for having a bad attitude, I could have understood it. I would have supported them in that. But not for this. He didn't even know he did anything wrong," she said.

Ms. Geslak will have plenty of time to think about that in the coming days, because the suspension also means that she has had to give up hours at work to be with her son.

All I can say is, seriously?

I thought people had to have an education or otherwise prove that they have enough intelligence to teach in a public school. I read this thinking the child brought live ammunition to school, not a casing. I suppose a kid could choke on it if he swallowed it, but I'm at a loss to see how it is otherwise dangerous.

It was a casing from a blank, not even a real bullet.

rn79870 wrote:I thought people had to have an education or otherwise prove that they have enough intelligence to teach in a public school. I read this thinking the child brought live ammunition to school, not a casing. I suppose a kid could choke on it if he swallowed it, but I'm at a loss to see how it is otherwise dangerous.

Having watched a lot of people in College lately the only people I see becoming teachers are 1 of 2 types.

1. Graduated with a degree in X. They have no idea what to do with degree X, they only got that degree because they liked doing that. They panic, realizing they got a 4 year degree for nothing, and spend 2 more years to go to school to teach X, as that is their quickest way to make use of their degree.

2. People that have been in school or so long, doing everything, that they get a General Education degree so they can stay in school, as that is all they know.

I went to a party, met a seemingly nice girl who was a Middle School teacher. For the rest of the night she was blowing coke and hanging off all the guys like a prostitute. Makes me want to home school my kids.

*After talking to the wife I remembered this was on a Wednesday, a school night.
Modified by OriginalWheelman at 2:35 PM 5/30/2008

If I have kids I see me spending more time in the principals office than when I was a kid.

I remember when they wanted to put me on ritalin. They told my mom

"he doesn't pay attention to the teacher"

She does glared at them and said

"become interesting"

If I have kids I will put them in Japanese public school mainly for the social interaction and the basics. Dad will be homeschooling American history and auto shop

audtatious wrote:It was a casing from a blank, not even a real bullet.

How many non gun users can identify the difference at distance?

Who cares?

ZT and PC are simply going to get worse to the point that people will use more private schools (if they can afford it) or homeschool (except in Cali where they are outlawing it).

Stand in line and take your number to be conditioned.

line up good citizen

audtatious wrote:Who cares?

If your son/daughter was at school and a teacher saw a live round and assumed it was a casing and it wasn't you'd care. My point is that not being able to tell the difference it is better to overreact than under. I agree with the procedure taken but the suspension should have been lifted upon finding it was just a casing.

themadscientist wrote:line up good citizen

red X marks the spot

themadscientist wrote:line up good citizen

The future is broken links and failure?!?!?!? Spare me the horror.

redtop91 wrote:
If your son/daughter was at school and a teacher saw a live round and assumed it was a casing and it wasn't you'd care. My point is that not being able to tell the difference it is better to overreact than under. I agree with the procedure taken but the suspension should have been lifted upon finding it was just a casing.

What live round? I would have no issue with the teacher taking a look at it and taking it away if it was a live round (and calling the parents). Seeing it was a spent shell casing and suspending the kid for 5 days is absolute bullsh1t. Lucky for the kid it was not a live round (or even a dud) because he would be in Leavenworth right now.

You skipped this part:

redtop91 wrote:My point is that not being able to tell the difference it is better to overreact than under.

We can speculate all day on how obvious the difference is between a live and spent round is or whether or not they should have been able to tell the difference but it is clear from the reaction it got that the teacher couldn't tell.

Then that teacher should no longer be teaching if you cannot distinquish the difference between a spent shell (hollow and with no "projectile") and a live round. It's obvious the teacher at least knew what a bullet looks like or he/she would have not known what a shell casing even looks like.

Maybe they did a good thing afterall as little Johnny may have thrown it at somebody

Speculations. It doesn't matter whether or not the teach knew or should have know. Not knowing, the reaction was appropriate. Once they found it was spent then the whole situation should have flopped but I don't see any issue with the procedure up until the suspension if no one knew it was spent. Prior to Columbine (or that other shooting where a little kid shot another) I'd see how this was an overreaction but again, the procedure was executed how it should have been. The casing should now be returned and the suspension lifted though.

i could see the concern if it was a live round, but if i was a teacher i think i would have just told the student to put in his backpack and leave the casing at home.

6/1 1/2-another

Do like they did when I was in school. Take it and return it after school or have the parents come in to claim it. Of course that won't happen anymore because the point is that anything to do with a gun is shameful. Miracle that CPS has not been called in to investigate child abuse.

I also don't buy that the teacher did not know it was a spent casing. In todays society how stupid is that? You can argue it all you want but stupid is stupid.

LOL. It is stupid but I wouldn't put it beyond someone. After 9/11 people got paranoid over every little thing and overreact. An obnoxious, loud guy was almost arrested for being pissed over delays last time I flew. A "stupid" reaction but post 9/11 unfortunately a necessary one. Same situation here.

Edit: My post count is absolutely absurd. And I'm on the top 10 posters list? Back to lurking.

Yes, you are a post whore extraordinaire.

9/11, Columbine, VT, etc should not be an excuse to throw out common sense practices.

I have not changed my behavior based on terrorism. Must be the presence of a spine and a set of nuts. Maybe Americans cowering in their closets should see if Amazon has such items on sale this week.

Every time you accept a new level of stupidity and buy into popular paranoia that is when the terrorists win.

Well pack it up then. They won.

No, cuz I'll still live my life the same way. If some dip**** thinks pulling a boxcutter on me is going to scare me he is going to discover in short order just how far I can shove it up his ***. I know I am not alone. It just seems all Americans are meek because those that fit the profile whine so damned loud while the rest of us go on with our lives.

I can't help but think any number of things may set off the suspicion alarm in a teacher today. I have no problem with them investigating and removing that object from a child.

The problem I have is a 5 day suspension for possession of an innocuous object. An object that requires a stretch of the imagination for it to be dangerous. If the kid had a starter pistol, I'd understand, but not an expended round.

I not real sure, but I think I remember some kid bringing 50 calibre casings to school for a show and tell once when i was younger. I don't remember the teacher freaking out.

The funny thing is, here at one of the local public schools, a kid brought in a vintage WWI rifle to show and tell. He had it ok'd with the principal and had to show that it was made to be non-functional.

Heck, inner city school kids are probably packing an arsenal. Difference is they don't show and nobody tells.

Slipstream wrote:The funny thing is, here at one of the local public schools, a kid brought in a vintage WWI rifle to show and tell. He had it ok'd with the principal and had to show that it was made to be non-functional.

4th grade, history class. My best friend brought in real Civil War stuff that someone in his family had used. No harm done.

"OMG a gun! Quick fear it!"

themadscientist wrote:No, cuz I'll still live my life the same way. If some dip**** thinks pulling a boxcutter on me is going to scare me he is going to discover in short order just how far I can shove it up his ***. I know I am not alone. It just seems all Americans are meek because those that fit the profile whine so damned loud while the rest of us go on with our lives.

That's what separates you as a serviceman from most citizens though man. The masses are guided and controlled by fear. That's why the world is the way it is today.

My my my how times have changed. I seem to remember sitting in High School German class with a one Repoman reading Soldier of Fortune and Guns And Ammo magazines. We also carried knives to school with no issues as well. I distinctly remember Frau Street asking me to put away one of my magazines and I did so. Her husband (an Army Chaplin) was murdered while working in his yard by a man who mugged him. I respected my teacher; put the magazine away and there was no issue.

I was listening to Cam and Company on Sirius one night and they were talking about a group of kids that were suspended for looking at a Guns and Ammo magazine and reciting the specification of a Barrett Rifle. I would be pissed had I been the parent (and will probably be when my daughter grows up) of a child that gets suspended for something as asinine as that. From Cam reading the news article what the child said could in no way be construed as a threat.

On the converse, my wife's school doesnt get kids bringing in empty cartridges, they bring in loaded handguns. Their policy is real simple, they call the police and the police handles it..