“Severn School officials say they have removed a student from the school after he posted a picture of himself holding a gun, along with a threatening caption, on social media,” capitalgazette.com reports. What did the fox – I mean caption say? “In a letter to parents on Tuesday, Headmaster Doug Lagarde said the student posted the picture on Instagram over the weekend with a caption that read: ‘I could actually kill someone with this gun.'” Unfortunately, the unnamed student forgot to add the Nixonian caveat “but that would be wrong.” “Lagarde said the posting is ‘not appropriate’ and violates Severn’s rules and expectations.” And so . . .
The student, who was not identified, was removed from Severn’s Teel campus in Severna Park on Monday after school officials learned of the photo, Lagarde said. County police were notified . . .
County police spokesman Justin Mulcahy on Thursday said the incident was investigated and it was determined that there was no criminal intent involved, and “no indication that the juvenile was a harm to himself or others.”
No harm, no foul? Not in Severn, Maryland, a private institution of higher learning in the same school district that famously expelled a student for chewing a pop tart into the shape of a gun. And expelled another student for forgetting to remove an unloaded shotgun from his car after a hunting trip. In this case . . .
The student will not be returning to the school, the headmaster said.
“The safety and well-being of our students is and will always be my highest priority,” Lagarde said.
I don’t think that means what Lagarde thinks it means. Or wants other people to think it means.
The thought police strike again.
If it happens off school property, why the hell does the school think it has jurisdiction?
Besides, does expelling someone stop them from bringing a gun and shooting up the place?
Methinks they might not give a damn….
He’s either unclear on the concept of expulsion vs. revenge shooting OR he’s covering the school’s butt legally. Stupid move either way.
To me, it sounds more like he’s leaving the school’s nose open, legally, for violating the student’s civil rights.
@ chip
The article said it was a private school. They are allowed to set crazy rules like this. There is probably some code of conduct that was signed that they referenced when they expelled the kid.
The State owns your children, haven’t you realized that yet? You just pay for their food and living arrangements until they are properly indoctrinated and able to live on the dole as proper D voting citizens. Move along, sir.
I actually had a CA police officer tell me that the state of CA owns me until eighteen when I was pulled over underage and refused a search. I thought it wouldn’t amuse him to point out that I was a fereingn citizen at the time and just made him call my parents.
In the state of Maryland anything that happens within any 24 hour period in which a student also sets foot on school property is potentially the school administrators’ business. It’s the law. I’m so glad I got out of Maryland.
Thats literally 24 hours a day 7 days a week while school is in lol
Ahh, the socialist state of Maryland. At least they had the common sense NOT to elect Brown this month.
NO reason to do ANYTHING to this youngster. Unfortunately, the the lacking in common sense air of government education, the effort to justify stupidity such as this under the guise of the safety and well-being of the students being the highest priority leads to ruining a childs life. But what do we care, at least the state is secure.
If the po po come to the conclusion there was no intent, than on what legal basis can they expel?
Oh wait,,,,,,Maryland????
Nevermind. Maybe, perhaps, the new Gov. can inject some common sense and/or brains into these “brilliant” school admins. But not likely.
On the basis of The Children.
Just not ‘this’ child. Seriously! Screw that kid and his education along with his social network of friends and teachers. Screw his belief in a rational society of laws and discourse. I’m not much for conspiracy theories but if school is supposed to prepare kids for the real world what kind of world do these admins think they are preparing them for?
The beatings should continue until morale in the school administrator’s office improves.
And then the student was photographed holding a Common Core textbook, with the caption stating “I could actually kill someone’s brains with this book.”
He could have been holding a checkers board with the caption “I could kill a couple hours with this” and the odds of being disciplined are still not in his favor.
Well, here’s hoping his parents retain a ruthless lawyer. This is absolutely ridiculous.
+1
Sometimes litigation is the best weapon available.
When the payout comes the student can afford to go to Sidwell Friends School.
Which is in D.C., no less…….going from bad to worse IMHO.
+1 Ralph. BTW my 40 year old son just posted on Facebook that he “loves Maryland”. Military vet, works for DOD speaks Arabic and won’t have a gun to protect my grandkids. “It’s nice and cops are next door”. And he still plays freaking paintball…
Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.
— Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
well, if he’s a vet he could get a gun to protect your grandkids more easily than most Marylanders.
I think that, with this story, every single town I’ve ever lived in has been mentioned on TTAG.
It could be a declaration of the capability of the weapon and neither intent nor desire og the speaker.
It could be a statement that Shannon might say to illustrate the deadly nature of guns.
Feinstein and Watts are always going around saying the assault weapons they and their bodyguards hold would kill people if given the chance. They even get paid to say it! There’s his problem, he didn’t put a little Gunsense© caption on the bottom.
In other news, the full cast of the schools production of “Annie get your gun” has also been expelled, for obvious reasons.
The thought police strike again. When will they realize they don’t have jurisdiction over something that happens OFF school property?
A good ol’ lawsuit for violation of the kids rights and the ability to attend school should set them straight.
This is a private school not public.
This says a lot about the quality of the people running the school. Happy little fascists, all, I’m sure they all sat around congratulating themselves on the essential rightness of their decision. With people like this running our schools we’re surely doomed.
I went to schools where the principals, coaches, and most of the teachers hunted, fished, and thought learning about gun safety was a good thing for elementary grade kids to learn about in class.
Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.
— C.S. Lewis
“Sir, I need to check inside your ***hole.”
“‘The safety and well-being of our students is and will always be my highest priority,’ Lagarde said.”
I keep seeing this, especially when a school makes the news for whatever reason. “Safety is the highest priority,” or some similarly mealy-mouthed garbage.
Since it’s a school, shouldn’t education be the highest priority?
As a priority, education is just behind salaries, pensions, seniority, summer vacation, power and control, indoctrination, egotism . . . man, there’s a long list.
“The
safetyProgressive Statist agenda andwell-beingindoctrination of our students is and will always be my highest priority,” Lagarde said.Thought police.
‘No-Thought Police’
FIFY
“The $afety and well-being of our $tudent$ i$ and will alway$ be my highe$t priority,” Lagarde said.
safety of their student loans…
This sounds like protected 1st Amendment conduct to me. No reasonable person could construe what the student did as a threat. That said, this young man needs to lawyer up, and sue them to high heaven!
This is a private school and thus has the pervue to set rules and expectations for students in and out of school (even if these rules are idiotic). Not a public school…
Apparently spears are A-Okay!
http://www.severnschool.com/podium/default.aspx?t=151037
(Upper right)
Or maybe that’s a musket with bayonet. You’ll put yer eye out kid.
Oh. And an archery team.
Seriously, when is this crap gonna end?!
Haha Maryland….
Regardless of the nativity and bad taste of his actions, I’m a little confused how the school has jurisdiction over Instagram. Are they watching what he is selling on eBay and what he is buying on Amazon? Unless he posted this picture all over campus i don’t understand how he could be reprimanded for it.
Wait. Did I read that right? “Not be returning to the school”? They disappeared this kid for a picture? Honestly, the kid will be better off and hopefully will find a healthier environment else where.
They’ll probably Photoshop him out of any school pictures.
Private schools can do what ever they want, they are private. Only public schools need to provide due process
I suppose that would depend on the contract signed between the school and the parents, wouldn’t it?
Unless it’s spelled out in the contract, the school can’t do it.
I have to call you on the headline. This place may be down the block from the public school that suspended a little kid for biting a pastry, but it’s a private college and its rules are between it and its paying students. Just like Bob Jones and its ban on interracial dating. There is no relationship at all between this incident and the pastry “gun”, other than the general stupidity involved in each.
…the general stupidity involved in each.
Uh-huh. Figured it out.
If his friends want to show support, they should post their own pictures with the same caption, but hold:
a baseball bat
a kitchen knife
a pipe wrench
a screwdriver
a cast-iron frying pan
a gold club
a nail gun
etc.
Except they haven’t gotten to the “courage to lead” portion of the curriculum yet, in fact I think that may have been canceled. Budget restraints don’t c’ha know.
Just for the record, the fox made a quiet *yelp* and then never said anything again. Ever.
If anyone doesn’t think to himself, “I could kill someone with this gun,” when handling a firearm, he has no business handling that firearm in the first place. (See Firearm Handling Rule #3.)
Also: how does the school have jurisdiction to discipline the student for something done outside of school hours, off school property, and in no way involving the school?
And this is legal how?
How does what a kid does on their private facebook account impact their schooling?
My parents applied to this school for me when I was transitioning from home school in 8th grade to public/private high school about 10 years ago. My impression was that it was filled with pretentious brats, and their disdain for my very non-Annapolitan demeanor was not hidden at all. Even one of my old soccer teammates basically pretended not to know me. This doesn’t surprise me in the least, I say the school did that kid a favor.
America is falling apart at the seams. We have incidents of this nature, schools with failing curriculum. Students falling sooo far behind the rest of the world, education set up only for the richest, all the while poor students are background noise at this point.
Ultimately money talks. We have college students who are unable to get decent jobs related to their respective fields of study. Regardless whether its a public school or a private school, their “jurisdiction” should not go any further than their front doors.
its pathetic
Severn School is in Severna Park, it is not in the town of Severn. Very different communities.
There is a policy at Severn School governing students’ behavior on social media and this student did violate that policy.
The school is private, not public. They have the freedom to have rules that they enforce, unlike public schools which are completely handicapped by excessive government interference.
Don’t say stupid things until you have the facts. The kids at Severn are a good bunch of kids, not snobs or spoiled brats.