Reuters: U.S.: Family protests suspension of child over toy gun talk

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Family protests suspension of child over toy gun talk Jan 21st 2013, 20:10 By Dave Warner PHILADELPHIA | Mon Jan 21, 2013 2:46pm EST PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The family of a Pennsylvania kindergartner suspended from school for talking about a toy gun is protesting her punishment and wants her record cleared, an attorney for the family said on Monday. The unidentified 5-year-old child from Mount Carmel in eastern Pennsylvania was suspended after she talked on January 10 about a Hello Kitty Bubble Gun while waiting for a bus after school, said attorney Robin Ficker. According to the attorney, the little girl said to a friend: "I'm going to shoot you and I will shoot myself, and we'll all play together." Her comments were overheard by an adult who reported them to the school, he said. But the toy shoots only soap bubbles, and the girl did not even have one, he said. "She had no gun," he said. "She talked about the Hello Kitty Bubble Gun, just talked about it. They searched her back pack, they searched her coat, they searched her, she had no gun." The family wants school authorities to clear her record, issue an apology and admit they made a mistake, he said. Ficker said he has a meeting scheduled with a school district lawyer on January 30, but district solicitor Edward Greco said on Monday he had no such meeting scheduled. Greco declined to comment on the case. However, in a statement issued to local media, the school district said it was continuing to investigate the case and said some information given to media may not be consistent with the facts. It did not elaborate. Ficker said the child's mother wants to transfer her out of the school but the new school will not accept her because her record includes the allegation of making terroristic threats. (Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Richard Chang) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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