Zero tolerance...

Okay, I don't know how to "ease" into this subject, so I'm just gonna jump right in. I received a call from my daughter's principal today. At first I was scared Kaitlyn had gotten herself into trouble again for being her normal talkative self. Well, turns out it was worse than that... Kaitlyn and some others had overheard a classmate threaten to bring a gun to a birthday party. The child also threatened to shoot three of their classmates. THESE ARE 5TH GRADE CHILDREN! That means they are 11 years old at most!

The principal wanted to assure me there was nothing to worry about as the child's parents had been informed and they assured the principal the child has no access to weapons of any kind, and she wanted to let me know that they were taking this very seriously. The school has a zero tolerance policy and suspensions are going to be involved, among other things.... but I don't think that is a solution. Sure this girl will probably never say something to that effect again, but will it stop the cause? The principal said the girl's feelings were hurt by some of the kids in the class... so it leads me to believe this is about bullying.

The main reason the principal called me was to give me a heads up about the situation and to make sure that Kaitlyn wasn't scared. Being this all just happened today, it's still under investigation, and being Kaitlyn was only a witness, I may never know the full story, but I really think something has to be done about the bullying. The school also has a zero tolerance policy on bullying too, but that doesn't stop it from happening. Kaitlyn herself was bullied pretty bad last year. She too got herself into trouble for something she said trying to "deal" with the situation.

I am sick over this. One, that kids (especially kids so young) have to deal with either part of this, the bullying, or the threat of guns and shootings. Second, because this kind of thing is every parents worst fear nowadays when we send our kids to school.... I don't know what the school can do, maybe some kind of assembly where speakers are cops, or a speaker who has lost someone due to bullying.... all I know is this situation isn't going to go away. It just seems to get worse the older kids get. I don't know what I can do to help, but I am certainly open to suggestions....

There is so much more I have to say about this, but I have to get to bed as Kaitlyn has clinic tomorrow! She also has to see the new GI, so it's a full day of appointments, but if you have some suggestions on how you would handle this, please let me know. I will be back tomorrow with an update.