New Haven Independent

“You Learn A Lesson From This?”

by Melissa Bailey | June 2, 2009 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (23)

After a 9-year-old fired an air gun at another student on a school bus Tuesday, his mom and uncle rushed to Celentano School for a stern talk.

“You can’t bring nothing to school but your books. You understand?” said the boy’s uncle (at left in photo).

The boy, who’s in the third grade, sat wide-eyed, without saying a word, in the passenger seat of a Jeep Cherokee in the driveway of the Celentano School Tuesday morning.

The student was caught bringing an airsoft gun onto the school bus on the way to the Celentano School , according to schools spokeswoman Michelle Wade. The gun is plastic and fires plastic pellets. At about 7:30 a.m., the boy took out the gun from his backpack and fired a pellet at the back of another 9-year-old’s head, said Wade.

The boy, who’s in the fourth grade, found the plastic pellet in his hair and threw it out the window. The shot left a welt on the back of his head. The shot was so quiet that the bus driver didn’t notice what happened. When the boy got off the school bus, he reported the incident to school officials, Wade said.

The injured student was taken away in an ambulance shortly before 10 a.m.

“He’s going to be fine,” said Officer Gerry Busillo, who stood outside the school. “It was a minor incident.”

Wade said the boy was taken to the hospital only as a precaution, because his father couldn’t pick him up at the school. The boy’s father later met him at the hospital, she said.

The young alleged triggerman was sent home for the day.

He sat quietly in the Jeep as his mom, pictured at the top of the story in a nurse’s attire, stood over him with her hand on her hip. His uncle, a construction worker, stood at the door’s opening. He had been standing on a roof on a construction site when he got the call from his sister. Both left work to rush to the school to give him a talking-to.

“You learn a lesson from this? You see what this could cause?” asked the uncle.

“You come to school to learn.”

His mom asked him where he got the gun. She said while the weapon was not very dangerous, “it’s the principle” of bringing a gun to school.

“A gun is a gun,” she said. “It’s a danger.”

“You could scare a lot of people,” chimed in the uncle in stern, bass tones.

The uncle, who declined to be identified, went back to work. The boy’s mom took him home.

Wade said the boy was able to sneak the gun onto the bus because it fit easily into his backpack.

“Our practice is not to look inside every kid’s backpack,” she said.

She said the boy would be disciplined “appropriately.” (School officials don’t disclose specifics of student disciplinary actions.) The school principal planned to send a letter home Tuesday afternoon telling parents what happened.

“We are taking it seriously and investigating,” said Nicol Jones, a spokeswoman for the First Student bus company.

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Comments

Posted by: Bill_Heinrichs | June 2, 2009 12:37 PM

Why do they still make toy guns?

Posted by: anon | June 2, 2009 12:43 PM

"His mom said while the weapon was not very dangerous, "it's the principle" of bringing a gun to school."

Is that supposed to be a joke? Is this mom out of her mind? What about that welt? These types of guns can be extremely dangerous, for a variety of reasons.

Posted by: Mister Jones | June 2, 2009 12:58 PM

A fourth-grader should not have unsupervised access to an airsoft gun. They are definitely not toys. The plastic bb's they fire can put an eye out. Many are realistic looking replicas that can result in tragic consequences in a police confrontation.

Posted by: lance | June 2, 2009 1:07 PM

the kids father was 'tied up' I presume
?

God bless the uncle for showing up.

Posted by: robn | June 2, 2009 1:11 PM

These guns won't break skin but they will destroy an eye.

Oh and by the way...gee thanks mom...a toy weapon. What is this anyway; the 1950's?

Posted by: citizen | June 2, 2009 1:26 PM

Mother by your kids books that will work/

Posted by: ChuckP | June 2, 2009 1:27 PM

The kid is 9 years old, it was more than likely a lapse in judgment. Nothing more. Don't bash the Mom who was probably scrambling to get her kid on the bus, as we all do. So the kid has a toy gun? So do countless other kids as did many of the readers of this blog when we were kids. I trust that the overwhelming majority of us are not likely to use a real gun in an inappropriate manner.

This is something that is between the boy, the other child, and their respective families. Leave them alone.

Posted by: jt | June 2, 2009 1:46 PM

and you wonder why we have all this violence in our communities - you actually bought him a toy gun in the first place??? why not buy him toys drugs too?? I hope the school strongly disciplines him - someone has to step in and teach him right from wrong.

Posted by: Alphonse Credenza | June 2, 2009 2:19 PM

"The young alleged triggerman was sent home for the day."

...where he watched CSI, cagefighting and played Grand Theft Auto on his XBox. And he didn't even get a beating. All told, he had an exciting day!

Alleged, my a--.

Posted by: citizen | June 2, 2009 2:41 PM

Well Alphonse you do not need to get carried away with those comments and beating a child will get you no where these kids have a hard time as it is I said to buy the child books and games. Yes some of us and yes alleged is the word until the truth come out.

Posted by: 2nd Amendment | June 2, 2009 2:59 PM

We reserve the right to arm bears.

Posted by: robn | June 2, 2009 3:31 PM

seriously though CHUCKP,

Whether or not previous generations played with toy guns doesn't matter. Giving a child a toy emulation of a weapon teaches them that war and violence are a good thing. This is especially bad in an urban are plagued by gun violence. If somebody wants to teach a young child how to hunt responsibly, that fine, but a firearm isn't a toy.

Posted by: Been Called Worse | June 2, 2009 7:22 PM

Gee, I'm not sure I can summon any self richeous outrage on this one folks.

I grew up watching Tom and Jerry (not sure I can think of a more violent children's cartoon), had tons of toy guns gtowing up (they were, in fact, at a point, fair game in both private and nhps schools). But they did not shoot anything, as that was Dangerous and Forbidden in my parents house, and was made to be Understood by us children.

Must have been a slow news day today.

Posted by: DAFeder | June 2, 2009 8:42 PM

2nd Amendment: "A well regulated militia" of bears would kick ass. Try bringing _that_ onto a school bus!

David

Posted by: Alphonse Credenza | June 3, 2009 12:33 PM

"beating a child will get you no where"

I disagree. There are children (as there are adults) who do not understand explanation or nonphysical punishment. For them, force -- within reason -- is essential.

Posted by: Ali | June 3, 2009 1:03 PM

First issue - the mom and uncle showed up and acted appropriately. For once someone took responsibility and didn't blame anyone else. The kid did something dumb, luckily no one was seriously injured. Should a nine year old have an airsoft gun? Probably not unless he realizes the danger/responsibility first.

To those of you who are against toy guns, let me say before I was a parent, I never imagined letting my child have any such thing. I certainly understand and respect the idealism of a world without weapons, toy or otherwise.

As a parent of two young boys though, I see that even without actual plastic/toy weapons, weapon play comes up time and time again. Guess what, you can make a gun out of a stick, out of a straw and yes, you can bite your sandwich into a gun shape. Light sabers and swords can be made out of paper towel tubes etc etc. My kids aren't subjected to violence through media, so how did this happen? They sure didn't learn it from me. So yes, my kids have acquired a few weapons, including one or two *guns*. It's taken a lot of getting used to for me as well as establishing limits and rules. My cousins had a cap gun that we played with as kids (I did not have weapons at home) and I still haven't killed anyone.

In the end, toy guns don't make people violent and toys shouldn't be teaching anyone anything, parents should.

Posted by: citizen | June 3, 2009 1:26 PM

YES ALPHONSE BEATINGS WILL GET YOU NO WHERE

Posted by: LastStraw | June 4, 2009 10:04 AM

Wow. For once I think I might actually agree with Alphonse. (Ouch.) He's not saying "gratuitous beatings", he did use the term "within reason".
Over the past couple of generations, we have seen society's acceptance of physical punishment dwindle, and at the same time youth crime and disrespect towards elders has increased. Just sayin'

Posted by: Celentano Mom | June 4, 2009 10:50 AM

As a parent of a third grader in this school, I have to say that there are a lot of things I see & do not agree with.

Yes, the mother & uncle *actually* showed up - - but did they take ultimate responsibility? Did they explain in detail to this boy the seriousness of his actions & what the consequences could have been? My guess, probably not.

I also have a boy - - I understand that they can be ruthless at times yet still am a "stern parent." Honestly, if it were my child, before even heading home, I would have gone to the police station to physically show him where people who don't think or who like to bend the rules end up. I am quite the stickler about making sure my son grows up LEARNING lessons -- and we check his book bag every morning before heading to school. Kids are going to be kids, they're going to try to pull the blanket over your head with any situation - - but it's our job as parents to call them on it!

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction - - THIS is what today's kids need to be taught. But how will they learn when most of them are just a product of a downward-spiraling pattern?

Sending the boy home for 1 (ONE) day does not constitute any repercussions from the school at all! Where they got that brilliant idea, I have no clue! Do they figure that because it's the end of the school year, that it's not that serious? Common' people!

Settling for mediocrity is the same as accepting failure.

Posted by: A concerned friend | June 4, 2009 11:57 AM

My friend has a son in this school and I am appalled at the response from the school. Sending kids home for doing something wrong has been and always will be a horrible idea. It gives the kids the impression that if they do something bad, they get the day off. I am sure this is not the message we want to send to our kids.
Parents are equally, if not solely, responsible for their kids actions. Who are they going to learn from if their parents do not step up to the job? It is not the schools responsibility to teach our kids everything; there are still a lot of issues that parents need to teach that school should not feel responsible to do. I would like to know what happened to the good old days of parents monitoring their children. Better yet, what happened to the good old days of parents being accountable for their children's actions? For far too long we have allowed such behavior to go by without addressing it. Parents need to take control of their kids and if you can't, then perhaps you should think about birth control. Being a parent is your responsibility, not the schools and certainly not the community's. You chose to have the child... then raise them properly teaching them right from wrong.
Lastly, why is a nine year old in possession of an air gun to begin with? Parents, please, take control of your children. Take responsibility of what has and could potentially happen. Communicate and teach your children instead of just sitting back and doing nothing. If need be, take the child across your knee and spank some sense into them. Good discipline with a wooden spoon has proven to work time and time again.

Posted by: Ali | June 4, 2009 3:13 PM

Celentano mom-

Good for you for being an active, involved and caring parent. I don't understand your comment, though:

The article mentions the brief conversation that they had out in front of the school. And for all we know, the quoted portions could have been just that - portions of a longer conversation that none of us read about. Let's not assume that they didn't have a discussion or take "appropriate" action. I don't get the impression that they were taking this lightly.

As far as sending the boy home for the day, I agree that it really doesn't seem to send the right message.

Posted by: Celentano Mom | June 4, 2009 8:30 PM

Thank you, Ali - - it's a demanding job that should require a license by some. :-)

My statement came from what the "uncle" had to say: "You could scare a lot of people," chimed in the uncle in stern, bass tones."

This, in my humble opinion, goes far beyond just 'scaring people.'

Posted by: Edward_H | June 6, 2009 1:42 PM

ROBN

Giving a child a toy emulation of a weapon teaches them that war and violence are a good thing.

War and violence are neither "good" nor "bad" they are simply means to acheiving desired ends. I wonder what the American South would look like today if the North sat back wringing their hands about how evil war is. Even Obama knows war can have positive impact on humanity.

Obama says D-Day saved world from evil

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_france_dday

Perhaps people should stop teaching kids to box, wrestle and practice karate as these are all means of teaching "violence"?

“You Learn A Lesson From This?”

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