St. John the Apostle Catholic School in Virginia Beach suspended a 11-year-old 6th grader
who reported that a classmate had brought a bullet to school — but not quickly enough
waiting two hours for the opportunity to make the report anonymously,
they said, was unacceptable and warranted punishment
the boy who reported that his classmate had brought a bullet to school was given the
same punishment — a 1-1/2 day suspension — as the boy who brought the contraband.
To punish the boy who alerted school officials to a possible danger is by itself indefensible,
but to give the other boy the same punishment renders their actions equivalent
it sends students the message that they’d be “better off not saying anything,”
he wanted to make the report about the bullet quietly, “because one of the things
he didn’t want was to be bullied and didn’t want to be labeled a ‘snitch,’”
but because he and the other kid disappeared from their classroom at the same time
and they served their suspensions simultaneously, his peers quickly figured it out
we don’t want them to be made out as villains if they
try to keep their school safe but don’t do it quickly enough
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-...ded-rcna171518