Outrage Of The Week

Outrage Of The Week

This week's outrage comes to us from Winchendon, Massachusetts where, in yet another case of "zero-tolerance" enforcement defying common sense, fourth-grader Bradley Geslak was suspended from Toy Town Elementary School for bringing a Memorial Day souvenir to school.

According to a May 29, Telegram.com article, a uniformed veteran gave the 10-year-old two empty rifle shell casings from blanks used during the town's Memorial Day celebration Monday morning. Bradley gave one of the empty casings to his grandfather and kept the other as a souvenir. The trouble began when he took his souvenir 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."

A teacher saw him with the harmless piece of brass and confiscated it. Ms. Geslak was then called at work and told to come and pick up her son, who had been suspended for five days!

Ms. Geslak arrived at the school to find her son in tears. "I was totally shocked. I couldn't believe this was happening," she said. "It was just an empty shell, not even from a real bullet. A sharpened pencil would be more dangerous than this piece of metal."

"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.

Ms. Geslak, who will be forced to miss work in order to stay home with her son, says she is worried about what having a "weapon-related suspension" on his school record will mean to his future.

To add insult to injury, the family says a school official told them that the shell would not be returned, and that the next step might involve assigning a probation officer to Bradley! Yes, you read that right, a probation officer.

A young boy punished over a harmless souvenir. By any standard, that's outrageous.

If you'd like to express your concern over this incident, please visit http://www.winchendon.mec.edu/. To leave a voice message for Brooke Clenchy, Superintendent of Schools, please call 978-297-0031.

Comments: 15

Juan J Martinez May 31, 2008, 4:07pm EDT

and the idiotcy keeps growing.

strongthrufight E. May 31, 2008, 4:13pm EDT

I love home school...What a bunch of bull..

Dorine H. May 31, 2008, 4:36pm EDT

The sheer stupidity idiocy here outrage me, I think that moron of a hyper-sensitive teacher ought to be fired and all Bradley's punishments be publicly revoked.

I am thoroughly disgusted.

Anna P. May 31, 2008, 4:45pm EDT

That is outrageous! I mean it wasn't even a weapon.

Amy H. May 31, 2008, 6:02pm EDT

Thank you for submitting your content to:
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Jennifer N. May 31, 2008, 8:10pm EDT

That's sad. Poor kid won't even get it back either? That's just wrong.

LaRue B. May 31, 2008, 8:28pm EDT

That is simply ridiculous. I guess the teacher wanted the souvenir pretty bad.

Adele G. May 31, 2008, 9:03pm EDT

It's getting more and more outrageous every day. These people should be fired.

Aunt Boni H. May 31, 2008, 11:45pm EDT

Are the history books in this school void of photographs of what war does?
Are veterans of our wars ever invited to the school to share their personal wartime experiences?
Would a dead soldiers helmet be a more appropriate souvenir?
I'm guessing that the receipt of this shell casing included a story to go along with it. This young man probably learned much from the tale and gave some deep thought to the horrors of war events by handling this item and contemplating the damage that it might have caused.

Our children are being treated like criminals before they do anything wrong. I'm calling the number you've provided, Don. And I'll voice my protest to the treatment of this young man.

Aunt Boni H. Jun 1, 2008, 12:55pm EDT

Good Morning, Don. As I further considered the outrage of what has happened to this young boy (and his parents), I took specific note of your icon's memo: "If you do nothing, you are nothing." I have foregone telephoning Brooke Clenchy and by locating the contact e-mail address for this Superintendent, I have submitted an e-mail message directly to his/her office. I am sharing it with you here:

Superintendent Clenchy,

I was made aware of the circumstances surrounding this young student's temporary dismissal from Toy Town Elementary School.

The actions taken against Bradley for having possession of a harmless "souvenir" given to him at your community's Memorial Day celebration are unacceptable.

Memorial Day, the 4th of July, and Veteran's Day events represent the achievements of our great nation and are a pause to remember and show our respect to those that have fallen for our freedoms. We can only hope that these "celebrations" and the traditions reenacted during those events will assist in teaching our young generations the facts of how those freedoms were attained.

Fondling a broken, battered piece of military brass ~ that was fired from a non-functioning "weapon" ~ perhaps gave Bradley a sense of retrospect and better understanding of how damaging war and price that has been paid by our forefathers are.

It is my sincere hope that now; with knowledge of all facts, those who sit in "judgment" of the incident will dismiss the "charges" against Bradley and clear any memorandum from his school records.

(signed)

I hope other will join me in protesting this occurance. Thank you for bring the issue to our attention; and for your encouragement to speak out.

Sandy (back in Ohio...blah!) Jun 1, 2008, 1:56pm EDT

I hope like hell that family has contacted a lawyer and is fighting this stupid mess. It was a shell casing not a bullet. And than not return it. That is stealing....They have to return it to the parents.

R o b i n ♥ Jun 1, 2008, 2:47pm EDT

It's typical of the heights of lunacy in America today - I'm not in the least bit surprised by this and if the parents have any balls they won't send their child back into this obviously inadequate situation...