This thread has gotten a lot more action that I actually anticipated it would. Anyway, this is how I interpret the article, in my opinion, rightly or wrongly:
Boys suspended for playing with toy guns at home
QMI Agency
Sep 24, 2013 , Last Updated: 1:31 PM ET
Two Grade 7 boys in Virginia Beach, Va., have been suspended from school and face expulsion after a neighbour complained about them playing with toy guns in one of their yards.
Their yards meaning one of the two boys, not one of the neighbours yards.
Khalid Caraballo and his friend Aiden were playing with airsoft "zombie hunter" guns in Khalid's yard,
(This is what made me draw the conclusion the the phrase in the first paragraph of the article 'one of their yards' referred to one of the boy's yards.)
Now this is the first thing that jumped out at me as ridiculous.
when a neighbour called 911, local station
WAVY-TV reports. The toy guns shoot rubber pellets.
The unnamed neighbour told WAVY she knew the guns were fake.
"This is not a real one, but it makes people uncomfortable. I know that it makes me (uncomfortable), as a mom, to see a boy pointing a gun," she said.
The boy's are in Khalid's yard (as established in the above paragraphs), the neighbour knows the guns are fake but calls 911 anyway
because it makes her uncomfortable to see a boy playing with a toy gun. 911 is for emergencies, big piece of stupidity there, in my opinion.
The boys are suspended from school for "possession, handling and use of a firearm" and may be expelled the remainder of the year.
Larkspur Middle School principal Matthew Delaney said an investigation found the "children were firing pellet guns at each other, and at people near the bus stop."
Khalid's home is 70 yards from the bus stop.
That I interpret as they're in Khalid's yard but, apparently, firing at people at the bus stop. It doesn't say whether it's a school bus stop or a transit bus stop. If it's a transit bus stop, the school as I understand it has absolutely no say on the conduct of it's students when they are off school grounds. If it's a school bus stop, my first thought would be they would be banned from the bus, not expelled from school. But I won't quibble on that point, the way it's written it makes it seem as if the school investigated and came to a conclusion, which again off school property presumably at a time when the school bears to responsibility or liability for the conduct of it's students.
What really jumped out at me about that in all honesty was a few years back our local college kids had one hell of a block party, burning police cars,etc. It made international news. College couldn't do anything discipline wise because it was off school grounds. So it strike me as weird. Could be the difference between adult and minors but, school grounds are school grounds no?
"My son is my private property. He does not become the school's property until he goes to the bus stop, gets on the bus, and goes to school," said Khalid's mother, Solangel Caraballo.
This I sincerely hope is a language issue, because damn, human chattel makes a big comeback.8O
Based on how I interpret the events, where things took place, I think the school may be over reaching. I definitely think the neighbour is out to lunch...the neighbour never cited anything about firing at people at the bus stop, only that seeing a boy with a toy gun made her uncomfortable. And
admitting to being aware they were fake and
still tying up emergency services, she needs to give her head a shake.
Having said all that, if they were firing even a rubber pellet gun at someone not engaged in play with them, they need to have their ears boxed.