Parents Blast District Policy That Required School to Call Police About Kindergartner With Down Syndrome The parents of a Pennsylvania student with Down syndrome are demanding answers from their school district after police were called because their kindergartener got frustrated in class and made what turned out to be an innocuous threat to a teacher. According to a statement written by Maggie Gaines, on Nov. 19, 2019, Gaines’ 6-year-old daughter Margot, who has Down syndrome, became upset when asked by her Valley Forge Elementary School teacher to transition to an activity Margot didn’t want to do. At one point as Margot tried to protest the change, Margot pointed her finger at the teacher and said, ... Continue reading... https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/p...t-kindergartner-with-down-syndrome/ar-BBZLv3A
A 6-year-old with Down syndrome pointed a finger gun at her teacher. The school called the cops, her mom says. Police in the affluent Philadelphia suburb of Tredyffrin, Pa., received a call in November about Margot Gaines, a kindergartner at Valley Forge Elementary School. The reason? The 6-year-old, who has Down syndrome, had pointed her finger like a gun and told a teacher, “I shoot you.” The reaction highlighted how well-intentioned policies meant to stop the next school shooter have gone too far, Margot’s mother, Maggie Gaines, told officials at a school board meeting last month. The school’s principal quickly determined that the 6-year-old didn’t mean any harm, Gaines said. But under district protocol, the incident still had to be ... Continue reading... https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/02/11/finger-gun-down-syndrome/
A Pennsylvania school called police after a 6-year-old girl with Down Syndrome pointed her finger like a gun, her mother says A 6-year-old with Down Syndrome pointed her fingers like a gun at her teacher, prompting officials to call the police, her mother said. Maggie Gaines said in a statement to the school board that the call was unnecessary, as her daughter clearly did not understand the gesture and was not a threat. The school district said in a statement it had agreed to review its policy requiring school officials to call police in such situations. A Pennsylvania family is pleading with their school board to reconsider its policy on "threat assessments" for students, after their 6-year-old daughter with Down Syndrome was reported to police for pointing her finger like a gun. Margot Gaines, a kindergartener at the Valley Forge Elementary School in Tredyffrin, Pennsylvania, made the gesture in November and told her teacher, "I shoot you," according to her mother, Maggie. Maggie said her daughter made the comment when her teacher asked her to do something she didn't want to do, but had no idea what the words or the gesture meant. "I imagine the ... Continue reading... https://www.insider.com/pennsylvania-school-district-6-year-old-down-syndrome-police-2020-2
School calls police after a kindergartner with Down syndrome pointed a finger gun at her teacher A Pennsylvania elementary school called the police after a kindergartner with Down syndrome made a finger gun at her teacher. Officials concluded there wasn’t a threat, but the girl’s mother said they went too far. Maggie Gaines called on the Tredyffrin-Easttown School District to update its threat assessment policy after her 6-year-old daughter Margot was questioned by administrators for making a gun gesture at her elementary school teacher and pretended to shoot her. Gaines said it was a harmless expression of anger. But Margot’s school in southeast Pennsylvania determined her actions appeared threatening, so they conducted a threat assessment. Administrators ... Continue reading... https://fox8.com/news/school-calls-...syndrome-pointed-a-finger-gun-at-her-teacher/
Mother says police called for 6-year-old with Down syndrome pointing finger gun at teacher A mom is calling for policy change after a school called police on her daughter with Down syndrome. FOX 29's Alex George has the story. Continue reading... https://www.fox29.com/video/654196
Pa. girl, 6, with Down syndrome makes finger gun at teacher, leading school to call police A 6-year-old student with Down syndrome made a finger gun and pointed it at her teacher, leading the school to call police and creating what the mother of the girl now calls an “insane” situation. The incident at Tredyffrin-Easttown School District occurred in November, according to pennlive.com, but is just now gaining national attention. It was in November that young Margot Gaines pointed her finger at her teacher and said, “I shoot you," the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. That was enough to trigger a threat assessment under the school district’s policy, so school officials were required to call police, according to ... Continue reading... https://www.cleveland.com/nation/20...at-teacher-leading-school-to-call-police.html
