The nadir of Zero Tolerance, or HOME SCHOOL NOW!

[Manedwolf]

Oh. My. God.

Halloween drawing scares teacher, gets student in hot water
By Jenel Few
Created 2008-10-30 23:30
Fifth-grader Jordan Hood thought the bloody vampire he drew in art class was scary, but he had no idea it would elicit a horrifying response from one of his teachers.

Tuesday morning, Jordan was assigned to draw a scary Halloween mask in art class.

By the end of the day, Jordan was being told he could not return to Pooler Elementary School until he passed a psychological evaluation.

"We live in an age where there is some hypersensitivity," Bucky Burnsed, Savannah-Chatham school system spokesman, said Thursday. "But the child is back in school where he belongs."

During art class Tuesday, Jordan drew a scarred vampire with bloodshot eyes and with blood dripping from its nose, mouth and down its cheeks. Art teacher Lloyd Harold helped the boy shade the sketched eyes to give the drawing an even creepier look.

"The assignment was to draw a scary mask or picture - basically a Halloween activity," Harold said.

As a final gory touch, Jordan used a red marker to write "I Kill For Blood" under his drawing.

The picture was not destined for the cover of Fangoria magazine, but it fulfilled the requirement for fifth-grade Halloween art.

However, when Jordan's homeroom teacher, Melissa Pevey, saw the drawing, she found it disturbing. Pevey was concerned enough to contact assistant principal Valerie Johnson and Campus Police.

But it wasn't blood and gore that bothered Pevey. She believed the blood looked a lot like gang-related teardrop tattoos, and she thought the words "I Kill For Blood" could be tied to an infamous Los Angeles street gang known as The Bloods.

Jordan's mother, LaKisha Hood, was shocked to find that her son's art lesson had evolved into a gang investigation.

"They told me the droplets could actually be a gang symbol for the number of people he killed," she said.

Burnsed said the district has asked teachers to be wary of anything that might be harmful to students. He also said the district has provided gang-identification training.

He did not know whether classroom teachers were trained in gang symbolism.

"The teacher was concerned and referred it to the Campus Police," Burnsed said. "(Campus Police Capt. Joan) Sasser wasn't sure that it meant anything."

So they resolved the issue by requiring Jordan to undergo psychological testing with Gateway Mental Health.

Jordan's family didn't want him to miss school, so he went in for testing first thing Wednesday morning - getting him back to school in time for the fall dance that afternoon.

Although he only lost about two hours of instruction, his mother fears the incident also might cost him a bit of innocence and trust.

"He didn't know anything about gang symbols until the teacher accused him," she said. "We moved to Pooler thinking he'd be in a more diverse school with better opportunities.

"And so far, it hasn't been a pleasant experience."

http://savannahnow.com/node/605769

[Regolith]

I think it's the teacher that needed to see a psychologist.   

[MicroBalrog]

Tuesday morning, Jordan was assigned to draw a scary Halloween mask in art class.

Seems to me he did what he was told to do.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

what kinda elementary school has a campus police?

[crawdaddyjim]

All gov't run schools in Florida have a "school resource" officer. This is a sworn position and the officer has arrest powers as well as a duty weapon. The teacher is a liberal passivist nattering hen. The kid did a pretty good job if you ask me.

Jim

[Perd Hapley]

Should have captioned it, "I'm a gay vampire who kills for blood." 

[Standing Wolf]

So they resolved the issue by requiring Jordan to undergo psychological testing with Gateway Mental Health.

That so-called "psychological testing" exercise will follow him in government data bases for life.

[roo_ster]

what kinda elementary school has a campus police?

The kind that will not see my child as a student enter its doors.

[Firethorn]

That so-called "psychological testing" exercise will follow him in government data bases for life.

The only 'positive' about this database thing is that the database will end up polluted beyond usefulness and more or less ignored.

[Manedwolf]

Well, you've also now got a kid who:

1) has good reason to distrust authority
2) will be afraid to do what he's told to do for fear of punishment
3) will likely no longer be creative and will just color within the lines

Ever see the childhood drawings of Tim Burton? If it was a kid now drawing what he drew, the kid would be taken out and jacked up on Ritalin and all sorts of antipsychotic drugs, put in a special class and be a good little beige zombie.

[HankB]

Perhaps a lawsuit against the art teacher would be an appropriate response . . . after all,

Art teacher Lloyd Harold helped the boy shade the sketched eyes to give the drawing an even creepier look.

So the drawing was instigated by a member of the faculty, who aided in its creation.

Someone needs to administer a severe pummeling to these idiots. 

[Regolith]

Perhaps a lawsuit against the art teacher would be an appropriate response . . . after all,

So the drawing was instigated by a member of the faculty, who aided in its creation.

Someone needs to administer a severe pummeling to these idiots. 

No, the art teacher didn't do anything wrong.  It was the paranoid homeroom teacher who flipped out.

[Hawkmoon]

Seems to me he did what he was told to do.

Isn't it astonishing how often doing what you're told to do ends up being the wrong thing to do.

Of course, NOT doing what you're told to do is also the wrong thing to do.

Welcome to Catch-22

[Grylady]

    Hmm. Thank you NEA. Courtetsy of Ayers and his like.  Administration after administration vows to dissolve the Dept. of Education and return it's job to localities; why's it still exist?
   And they want to outlaw Home Schooling?

[Perd Hapley]

And they want to outlaw Home Schooling?

Yeah, don't they know all the home-school parents are nutty fundies, who would make their kids draw happy angels and such?   

[HankB]

No, the art teacher didn't do anything wrong.  It was the paranoid homeroom teacher who flipped out.

I agree the art teacher didn't do anything wrong as far as creation of the drawing was concerned - but neither did the kid for drawing the picture.

My problem is the follow-up: Did the ART TEACHER come forward and tell the homeroom teacher that HE had not only instigated the drawing, but had AIDED IN ITS CREATION?

If the art teacher didn't - vigorously - come forward to defend the kid, he IS culpable.

And ought to be sued . . . delinquency of a minor, damaging to a minor's reputation, emotional distress, etc.

Plus, a bad blot on the school's reputaton, which would reflect poorly on the principal.

[Big Hairy Bee]

The classroom teacher overreacted for sure, but it is the administration that made the call.  A psych eval?  That why I teach in a charter school, no BS where I work.

[El Tejon]

Should have captioned it, "I'm a gay vampire who kills for blood." 

"I'm a gay socialist vampire who is voting for Obama and who kills for blood."

Then he would have been skipped to the 12th grade.

[MicroBalrog]

"I'm a gay socialist vampire who is voting for Obama and who kills for blood."

So basically the whole plot of the Lestat series, summarized?

[RoadKingLarry]

"I'm a gay socialist vampire who is voting for Obama and who kills conservative racists for blood."

Fixed it for ya.

That would have gotten him appointed to Obama's cabinet.

[Jim147]

I was talking to a family member who works at an elementary school in Leawood, KS. A rich suburb of Kansas City.

The class assignment was to draw Thanksgiving pictures.
One boy had to redraw his because he drew the pilgrims with muskets.
That just wasn't allowed. No guns in school has a far wider meaning than I thought.

So now the schools can rewrite history without guns and teach creationism as opposed to science.

I can still remember way back in elementary the principal bringing in his shotguns and rifles to teach a little gun safety.
That couldn't even be thought of today.

Oh what I have it.
Treat guns like sex and drugs. If they don't exist in school the kids will never come in contact with them.