Public School Clamps Down on Ten-Year Old for Pizza “Gun”
By David J. Theroux • Wednesday December 28, 2011 7:13 PM PDT • 23 Comments
In the escalating P.C. wars waged by the secular theocracy‘s Nanny State, an elementary public school this fall ordered a ten-year-old boy to spend the rest of the semester eating lunch alone at the school’s “silence table,” with a dire warning of suspension if he dared to threaten others again. We certainly need to protect the innocent lives of children, but what serious offense could have prompted this zero-tolerance measure to protect the public safety from terrorism? Might it be the danger of brandishing a slice of pizza that “looks” like a gun? Oh No! As WorldNetDaily reports:
In the past, a gunmaker’s name on a pen and a drawing of a space weapon have been enough to bring down school officials’ wrath on students; now it’s a piece of pizza.
At an elementary school in Smyrna, Tenn., student Nicholas Taylor, 10, has been ordered to spend lunches for the rest of the semester at the lunchroom’s “silent table” because he allegedly picked up a piece of pizza and waved it around like a gun.
According to a WKRN television report, school officials say Taylor “threatened” other students “with a piece of pizza with bites out of it so it looked like a gun.”
The station said his mother, LeAnn Taylor, described the punishment as “absolutely ridiculous” and said her son never said anything derogatory or anything about shooting.
“The kid across the table from him said it looked like a gun so he picked it up and started shooting it in the air,” she said, according the television report.
A school official, James Evans, said the punishment actually is because “some students reported he was making some threatening hand gestures, that he was shooting at other kids at the table, and they reported it to a teacher.”
. . . .
“In addition to the stigma of silent lunch, Nicholas was required to meet with the school resource officer to learn about gun safety. I submit that the school should have further required that the child … meet with the dietitian to discuss pizza safety.”
The controversy developed, according to the WKRN report, a few days ago at David Youree Elementary School in Smyrna, a part of the Rutherford County School District.
Evans wrote, “I realize some might say we are going overboard but the principal is just trying to use an abundance of caution and send the message that we don’t play about guns and it’s not something we joke around about.”
Taylor told the station the school made it clear if her son eats his pizza into the shape of a gun again and there is another incident, he would be suspended.
For 2012, one can only dread what evil might result from 10-year-old terrorists who then might resort to a game of “Cowboys and Indians” or “Cops and Robbers”! How can they ever be stopped?
HT: Gary Theroux
Tags: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Criminal Justice, Culture, Education, Fascism, Food, Gun Control, Liberalism, Liberty, Media, Morality, Nanny State, Personal Liberty, Power, Video, Weapons 
Oooh ... ya got me ... right in the pepperoni.
I wonder what will be banned next. Bananas? Half-eaten grapes? And you know blowing bubbles in your milk can be dangerous — just not one hundreth as dangerous as secular theocrats filling kids’ heads with garbage.
Mark Charger | Dec 28, 2011 | Reply
Meanwhile the continuing violence,killing and destruction worldwide are barely mentioned in the national press.
richard | Dec 29, 2011 | Reply
A piece of pizza in the shape of a gun?????? No offense to the majority of Tennesseans, but do you know how STUPID this makes you look in Smyrna? This must be corrected and ALL concerned need to be FIRED for lack of maturity.
Joy Turner | Dec 29, 2011 | Reply
Sorry I’m just not finished yet.....God help our children in the hands of nitwits! I’m just outraged over this.
Joy Turner | Dec 29, 2011 | Reply
This is the most stupid thing I every heard of!!! What they are really doing is making a criminal out of an innocent child. The reverse of that they are meaning to. What is this country coming to? Scarey! How stupid can our leaders get? I wonder.
wanda | Dec 29, 2011 | Reply
Real guns and pretend horse play is completely different and should be treated as such. Threats and aggression should be punished harshly.
frazier | Dec 29, 2011 | Reply
If the kid would have eaten the pizza into the shape of a hammer and sickle the school district would have probably contacted one of the Ivy League schools and had a scholarship set up for him. McCarthy was right. The commies have taken over.
Bill Smokes | Dec 29, 2011 | Reply
Can these idiots, do nothing, can’t get a real job, school principals get any more worthless?
Instead of teaching kids anything of value, they teach them to be subservient, little, mindless skulls full of mush, weenie, little sissies.
They might as well have their testicles removed. This is just another example of why parents need to need to take charge of their school boards and fire these candy asses so called leaders of our school system.
Bob La Blah | Dec 29, 2011 | Reply
We home-school and make “weapons” out of food all the time, and we LIKE IT. Lol. Schools fret over this, yet the children can’t read...perhaps they need to refocus?
Cathy | Dec 29, 2011 | Reply
This demonstrates again very clearly that just because one has a college education does not mean one has wisdom.
Steve | Dec 29, 2011 | Reply
Go to Walmart, Target, or any other store. Take a look at the toys they sell there. Horrible monsters with evil weapons to play kill with and these idiots are worried about a pizza. TV programs with blood and guts. Movies where arms and legs are chopped off. A kid waves a pizza and boom, he’s banned. Stupid!
Rosa | Dec 29, 2011 | Reply
And the schools are wondering why people are losing faith in them and turning to homeschooling!
annette prelle | Dec 29, 2011 | Reply
You have provided a very emotional response to this situation.
Would you care to try again for a more rational, less emotion-laden write up?
This is the Independent Institute, after all; a rational and unbiased forum for intellectual discourse on important issues.
Ken | Dec 29, 2011 | Reply
If you were outraged by priests molesting their acolytes, . . . why are you just as outraged by socialist teachers teaching their namby, pamdy, let’s teach our boys to be pansies. Get real, rent “The Scent of A Woman” video.
Mike Reseigh | Dec 29, 2011 | Reply
And yet the countless children who bring real threats into schools (fists, threats, objects, etc) are allowed back in day after day and accommodated due to their rights under the Constitution. Perverse does not seem to cover it in this case. And yes, schools are filled with mindless robotic personnel trained on liability issues more than education, unfortunately the times have changed. One final comment, perhaps we should ask ourselves why children today find it acceptable to “play” with food at the table anyway? When I went to school, we were expected to display table manners at all times and would not have dreamed of taking such liberties with our food; but then again, that was at a time when utensils were considered essential tableware. Now we can’t have knives in the cafeteria so children are reduced to eating like animals, with their hands and the trend has been a sorry end result I am afraid. We get exactly what we expect, nothing more.
pickypk | Dec 29, 2011 | Reply
Will the punishment fix the “problem”? The zero tolerance policy is a solution looking for a problem. If anything, it taught the young man that power corrupts and absolute power shuts down any creativity. Let’s give the school district the same punishment and see if they don’t become violent. If you’d like to see a successful zero tolerance policy, look at prohibition. Oh wait. Stop the insanity. You may want to spread a non violent message, but by doling out this kind of punishment, you are promoting it. You are, in fact, bullying this child. This is how children become bullies. Pull your children out of school folks. This much power is not healthy.
Martin Burke | Dec 29, 2011 | Reply
Tennessee is now a laughing stock.
Kevin | Dec 29, 2011 | Reply
Ken, I would suggest that this issue deserves all the ridicule that we can muster.
David Theroux | Dec 29, 2011 | Reply
This Principal needs to be pizza whipped!
A better approach would be to have a course in the handling and care of guns.
Don | Dec 29, 2011 | Reply
We will not have to be worried with children playing “Cops and Robbers” since they will be playing “Cops and Good Guys”.
Bruce | Dec 30, 2011 | Reply
It’s easy to place all of the blame on the schools, but honestly our whole society overreacts and opens law suits over ridiculous situations, What we truly need are smaller schools where situations such as these can be discussed and handled wisely rather than out of fear of losing control of the masses.
Tammy | Dec 30, 2011 | Reply
I know what you’re thinking. “Did he get six pepperonis or only five?” Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a school cafeteria, the most powerful pizza in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?
spaceninja | Dec 31, 2011 | Reply
OMG the best post! If you do Clint’s voice in your head it’s perfect...
Swede | Jan 9, 2012 | Reply