So we're now a society that puts 10 year old kids in jail for bringing things that even LOOK threatening to school. That's just peachy.

Hal, I hope you don't work for ACPS. Our chi!dren have a right to be safe. This student needs to take responsibility for his actions. He's old enough to know better.

"The safety of our students is always our first concern." The administrative actions here call that statement into question and raises a number of questions which must be addressed by the school board. This incident reportedly occurred Monday afternoon with school officials being notified immediately after the incident. Why was there a lapse between school officials being notified Monday afternoon and police intervention Tuesday morning? Was there not a safety concern Monday afternoon and evening that this student could pose a danger to others or themselves with this reported weapon? Was there not a safety concern about the student riding the bus to school Tuesday morning? Was there not a concern that this student may pose a threat to others upon entering the school building? Why were police officers not sent to the student's house when school officials notified them of the reported threat? Were the police made aware of this event only after the student had been allowed to enter the school Tuesday morning? After being made aware of the threat on Monday was the superintendent in contact with all parties involved to ensure the safety and well being of all students? This apparent administrative fumbling of a response after the events in Connecticut and recent events in Alabama is truly astounding.

I think a lot depends on the "fake" gun.

Are we talking about a bright orange nerf-dart shooting toy or are we talking about a realistic looking airsoft/bb gun that actually has the ability to harm?

My comments are predicated completely on it being a non-functional in any way item, not a weapon. The fact is, if it's not a weapon, it's not an actual safety threat. Are we so paranoid now that we send a TEN YEAR OLD BOY to jail for bringing a toy, albeit a banned one, to school? Call his parents, suspend him for a week, fine. But JAIL? Really?

I am all for taking responsibility for your actions and yes, he is old enough to have know better but why is there no mention of his parents? The administrators have the foresight to contact the police but not the child's parents? They take him into custody and intake but again no mention of the parents? I feel a lawsuit coming on school and police...

A lawsuit for what? Enforcing existing policy?

Drew, the details of the ACPS press release and the timeline of events are the basis for the questions and should give citizens pause about how our city's school officials handle reported threats to student safety. Investigating a potential weapons threat "immediately" means that police are not made aware of the situation until the next day? "Immediately" to a rational person would mean that the information was passed on to the police as soon as it was reported to school officials and the police were allowed to properly investigate the allegations. After the events of the past two months ACPS has deemed that they need to be the middle man when a threat is made before going to the police? That is troubling. What do the parents of the threatened student(s) say? Is their version of events the same as what has been put out by ACPS? What do building staff say? Were the police at the school as reported or did they arrive later in the morning? Even though this thing turned out to be a toy the response to the incident and the version of events should be examined.

If the child were criminally charged under Virginia Code § 18.2-282, this will not last long in court. That law provides that it is illegal to brandish a "firearm, air or gas operated weapon or object similar in appearance." It is obviously meant for criminal using a real weapon and then claiming it was unloaded. TO remove any doubt, it then says "the word "firearm" means any weapon that will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel single or multiple projectiles by the action of an explosion of a combustible material." Clearly, the law applies to unloaded REAL weapons, not a child's toy.

One really hopes there is alot more to this story cause it sure looks like foolishness. If that is the law they used (and it looks like it was), a lot of people are going to be greatly embarrassed.

As the parent of a child who attends MacArthur E.S., let me just say that it's about time ACPS actually held a student accountable for his/her actions. I can only assume the reason for the swift and serious action this time is because the parents of those involved rightfully bypassed MacArthur officials (namely the principal) and went directly to the ACPS Central Office or police Dept. School administrators at MacArthur are incompetent and don't even adhere to ACPS' code of conduct or policies regarding disciplinary action for students who have committed serious offenses such as making threats, assaults, aggression, etc. Often times the school doesn't document the incident and witholds notifying the parents - even of those whose children were directly involved. School officials say they don't need to inform us because they are "handling it appropriately within the school." The reality is that school administrators are more worried about protecting their personal reputations, putting on a good show, and keeping up the school's "elite" status within the City, than helping at-risk children who desperately need intervention. It's shameful, and yet, no one - not the school board, the SEAC committee, the VA Dept. Of Education, Dr. Sherman or the PTA has done anything to fix the problem. Shame on MacArthur administrators, and shame on ACPS Central Office - especially Dr. Sherman - for letting down our kids.

I'd like to know why this kid's parents think sending their kid to school with a gun, fake or otherwise, is okay. Yes, I'm assuming the parents are attentive enough to know, and we're all assuming this kid has parents.

I respectfully ask that everyone try to dial-down their ire. This reminds me of the discussions that occurred back in the Fall when a student brought an air-soft gun to school at Mt. Vernon.

Children make bad choices. They also find creative ways to take toys to school despite a parent's best attempts at oversight. If the school and police had not acted, parents would be furious. Asking our school system to protect our kids and then call them out for over-reacting puts the administrators and police in an untenable position.

How about if we allow the school, the police and the child's family to deal with this as they deem appropriate?

A school bus is school property. The parents here should have a reasonable expectation that when their child reports a gun on the school bus and they report this to the schools that there is an immediate response and communication. The school system has the ability to contact the bus directly to have the bus driver check and notify police if needed. This reported incident was left to take on a life of its own between the time it was reported and when the police were involved. That is the fault of school administrators.

Did a poster named "1smartcookie" with two posts to her name call someone else a troll?

Ha! Thanks for the laugh!

About the kid- we need more information about the "gun" to make any judgements

What McBrinn said...Oh and I back ALL of Hals comments on this thread as well.

A little common sense goes a long way. I'm also amused by references to "he should have known better" as I scroll through the comments. Many adults have lost the ability to disagree without being contentious and petty. It's no wonder that many of our children don't have basic coping skills when this is the adult behavior being modeled.

I think a lot of people here are forgetting what it's like to be 10.

A ten year old. Arrested. For a toy. These people are out if their minds. This is child abuse and can't imagine why anyone would send their children to these nut houses unless they had no other option. Tar. Feathers.

I don't think arresting a ten year old is ever going to be the right answer. On the other hand, if we are talking about a replica gun (like one of these, here http://replicaweaponry.com/blanfirgunre1.html), it's not exactly fair reporting to call it a toy gun.

It's not a replica. It's a toy. I has an ORANGE tip which is the federal guideline for TOY guns so that cops don't mow down 6 year olds playing cops and robbers. It's been the law for some time and I'm really very shocked that so many adults didn't know that bright orange plastic toy weaponry aren't actual weapons.

There is so much wrong with this situation.

"The Alexandria Police Department charged a 10-year-old city resident with brandishing a weapon..."

Uh, this was not a weapon. It was a toy. A weapon is "a tool, device, equipment or instrument used in order to inflict damage or harm to enemies or other living beings, structures, or systems." This plastic toy gun is no more a weapon than our daughter's wooden "knife" that came with her set of wooden vegetables from "Melissa and Doug."

"The safety of our students is always our first concern,"...

The safety of your students was never in question unless this kid was attempting to use his plastic toy gun to hit other children. The pens and pencils he was probably carrying are a greater threat to the safety of your children.

Don't you think a better response to this would be to tell the kid to keep it in his locker for the day and never bring it to school again? Arresting a 10-yr old, putting him in a detention facility and then suspending him for bringing a toy to school. What is our community coming to??

Like I said earlier, we need to know more about the "gun." It's pretty pointless arguing that the school and police overreacted until we know whether the "gun" had the capability to harm.

When I was growing up, BB guns and cherry bombs were considered toys. Things have changed.

Drew can we get concrete confirmation on what the kid actually brought on the bus? I don't want someone else's interpretation as to what a "toy" is. I want to know what the item actually was.

As was illustrated in the previous discussion Kim references, some people consider airsofts to be toys despite the fact that they fire projectiles capable of severe injury.

Linda, the Post (which is almost always wrong) says "The gun had an orange tip, police said, which is an indicator that a gun is a replica." Meaning a toy. The reporter has no idea that "replica" is a term of art and that "replica" guns as in your link even exist. The reporter means "not-real" not "replica" but leave it to the Post to get it wrong either on purpose or not. It was a toy--toys have orange tips, not "replicas".

It seems that simply meeting the police would have been enough trauma for the kid. I'm pretty sure he learned his lesson from that alone. Going any further than that seems almost abusive. If it was a real gun, of course that would be different. There was a time when a stern talking to from the principal would have sufficed.

From the Alexandria Times: Police department spokesman Jody Donaldson described the replica weapon as a silver handgun with a black handle and orange tip.

“The gun did not actually shoot or propel anything,” Donaldson said.

Orange tip, didn't shot even nerf darts. Toy.

One more point about the "orange tip" issue. Here's one image of such a "toy:"

http://www.airsplat.com/Items/AR-CYMA-P815A.htm

Feel free to Google other images of airsofts if you like, but I think it's foolish to assume that everyone would automatically know that the link I posted is for a "fake" gun. I know my mother wouldn't have a clue about it's authenticity. I know at least my two closest coworkers would'nt either as I just showed them the image and asked whether it was real or fake.

Next, Google "airsoft injury". You'll conclude that these aren't harmless toys. I want to know whether he was in fact carrying one and perhaps that's why the cops were involved.

Because your coworkers don't know what guns look like but the police do, a 10 year old with a toy that shoots nothing with an orange tip should be arrested? Yeah, OK.

Whoa there folks. If these comments demonstrate anything, it is that we just don't have enough information at this point to be judging the student, parents, school admin or APD. Yes, the nature of the toy gun is important, but more important is the manner in which it was "shown" or "brandished" to the other students. Yes, the actions of the school admin and PD are important, but more important is the well-being of ALL the children involved, including the charged student. Anyone charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty and I would hope that this community could firmly adhere to this principle, if not all the time, then at least when a 10-year old child is involved. Assuming that the child was not acting in a threatening manner, I for one am concerned about the emotional trauma inflicted upon the child who (presumably not in the presence of his parents) was booked and held by the APD.

Don't be a fool Haunches. There are countless examples where the police have shot and killed people holding fake guns. The point is that orange tip or not, authenticity is difficult to ascertain.

ACPS did what current state law FORCES ACPS to do. Even the pettiest of offenses, involving a toy weapon, must be reported to local police, and local police must conduct at least a nominal arrest (even when the juvenile is instantly released to parents). A current pair of House Bills (HB 1864 and 1866) seeks to amend some of this. But for now, a local school has literally zero discretion. Thank legislators from the western 2/3 of the state's geography (and 1/4 of the state's population).

I happen to know a little about this case and as far as people arguing on here about the gun being a "toy" the boy allegedly had the gun tucked into his pants with only the handle end of the gun showing, not the tip or other end at all. This is a scary situation and one better handled on the safe side, especially when parents and school officials do not know if the gun is real or not. The orange tip part is irrelevant since that part wasn't even shown on the bus. The part actually shown looks like a real gun.

Careful with the personal attacks Danny. It's against the TOS and just might get you banned. Your post has been flagged. You've been warned.

Another reason my kids will never go through ACPS. The zero tolerance policy is assinine. Good of Supt. Sherman to worry about the safety of our students (when it was never compromised) while the rest of the ACPS crumbles down around him.

CMurphy, The policy isn't ACPS's, or Sherman's. It's a result of state law and state-imposed policies. If you don't like it (and there might be a lot not to like about it), call your state legislators. Bear in mind that the original implementation of absolute-zero-tolerance was nearly universally supported because no one thought through the potential unintended consequences. And consider also the fact that the "buzz" around the school community is very different from the "innocent child orange plastic obvious toy" theory, as has been reported by someone closer to the facts. Before blaming Sherman, or ACPS, or otherwise griping, it might be helpful to consider both the facts and the applicable law.

I am glad to see so much concern. Now, let's get back to the 10 year old. The article did not say the toy guy was in the child's pants. The article does not say that any of the other students were afraid the toy was not a toy. Does anyone remember the 1st grader that got kicked out because he pointed his finger at someone like a gun? Now, maybe that should have been counted as a weapon, oh, it was counted as a weapon. What is this world coming to? Children will be children. Cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, this is what most of us grew up with, its to bad that in recent years there have been so many crazies out there that everyone is becoming so paranoid. Give the child a lecture, give him a warning. All kids try to take their possessions to school, show and tell, if their friends can not come to their homes to see their "toys" they try to take them to school to show them off. Let's just do lock down, and have the metal detectors also detect plastics. Let's make the school day about the safety of "toys." Forget reading, writing, and arithmetic. Let the kids get back to what's important, give them a good education, all aspects of education. This 10 year old made a bad choice, give him consequences not juvenile detention. Now he will be made for the rest of his life and come back to get everyone. We can't stop it all.

Thank goodness common sense is alive and well in the person of Hal Mangold. He has saved me the effort of expressing exactly the same thing.

The central focus of this discussion and reporting should be the response by school administration following a report that a gun was shown by one student to other students on an ACPS school bus. Many things about this lack of appropriate response should have the public questioning ACPS' ability to handle potentially dangerous situations. It is troubling that 15 hours elapsed before: 1) contact was made with the student 2) law enforcement responded 3) the gun was determined to be a toy 4) concerned parents were notified. The facts remain that a student who was reportedly carrying a gun was allowed to continue to ride the school bus, was not spoken to by any school or law enforcement officials before Tuesday morning, and was allowed to return to school property while still in the possession of the described gun. All of this before it had been verified that the gun was indeed a toy. The facts show that, despite statements in the press release issued by the superintendent, ACPS did not respond immediately. Had the response been truly immediate then contact would have been made with the student before they exited the bus or soon thereafter. That sort of actual immediate response could have eased many fears (both those of parents and students) and may have resulted in a consequence which did not involve law enforcement taking this child into custody at the school. If a call from a parent reporting a gun doesn't invoke immediate and appropriate response, what will in ACPS?

Why does it say my comments are "pending approval?"

Drew, it is my understanding that a meeting was held yesterday for parents of riders of the school bus. Even with local interest and national coverage the superintendent did not attend that meeting. Will you look into this to confirm and determine what was more important than directly addressing the questions and concerns of parents?

So depressing that this is how we choose to solve a problem with our students. This kid may need real help, who knows, and locking him up at age 10 is soooo not the answer. I agree with the earlier poster, it's almost child abuse. And you have to wonder if there is disparity in the way in which he was treated depending on his socio-economic background. No one who thinks this treatment is absurd is arguing that we shouldn't take it seriously when a kid does something that might (emphasis on might) be a warning sign. And I think it is safe to say that by the time the authorities had to think out their response no one was in any way in danger. So why the need to parade him to jail? Terrible.

"We know the student well, we know the family well." Those were the exact words of the superintendent this evening when referring to the student who was arrested. This statement before the board goes directly against the statement given to the public by ACPS. When explaining why the school district did not make contact with the student after the report of a gun on a school bus the ACPS spokeswoman stated that the "contact information (the family) provided to the district was erroneous." So which is it? Does ACPS "know the family well" or does ACPS have no way of contacting the family? Again, the descrepancies here and the way this was handled between the time the incident was brought to the attention of school officials and the time the police arrested this child on school grounds deserve to be thoroughly examined by local press, citizens, and the school board. The superintendent and others should be ashamed and rightfully challenged as to why they allowed the events in this case to unfold in a way which led to this child's arrest.

...or, rather than being some deeply disturbed child in need of deep analysis and therapy, the kid just could be a 10-year-old who did something stupid.

Just a thought.

Kids do a lot of stupid things, and they like taking their stuff to school to show off, or maybe it was for show and tell. It was a toy, the kid does not have to have mental or social problems to just be a kid doing what kids do!

Drew, the part of this story about the police meeting with school officials at the school before the arrival of the student is inaccurate. The police did not arrive until over an hour after the start of school. Please look into why ACPS has been providing the public with inaccurate information regarding this incident.

Several comments have been deleted for violating our terms of use. I am suspending comments on this story. Email me at drewh@patch.com if you have any questions.