Saturday, May 3, 2008

9-Year-Old Danielle Christenson Suspended for Rocks



Sparkly rock lover 9-year-old Danielle Christenson breaks rocks apart with a hammer to see what they look like inside.

She was suspended from Rossman Elementary School in Hartford when she wanted to share her discoveries with her friends.

School officials called police when they learned that Danielle brought a hammer, a screwdriver, and rocks to school in her backpack. They suspended Danielle for THREE days for her offense.

Danielle's mom Christina thinks the school overreacted.

I think they went way overboard.

Christina is disturbed that the school principal didn't judge an innocent mistake on a case by case basis.


Principal Pam Pyzyk says she did evaluate Danielle's specific case with a threat assessment team.

Pyzyk says, "It's sad to say but there have been things that have occurred in schools. And you have to take every threat and every situation very seriously."

"What if the situation arose where someone brought something and some other child came across it. There's just all kinds of opportunities for serious situations to develop."

I think it's extreme for the school's threat assessment team to consider the tools to be worthy of a three-day suspension. Calling police over the matter is ridiculous.

What did Pyzyk think the police were going to do? The police should have issued her a citation for dragging them to the school on an utterly needless call.




Yes, Danielle had rocks in her backpack.


Yes, members of the Rossman Elementary threat assessment team have rocks in their heads.

The police?

Unreal.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is SO absurd! Three days of suspension for ROCKS?! Maybe our children should stop bringing pencils and pens to school so they can't stab eachother. What is this world coming to?!

Mary said...

I wonder if school staff members sweep the playground daily to make sure there are no rocks on the school's grounds.

I can't believe the police were called in this case.

Very poor judgment.

Anonymous said...

Fox News did a real good job of making Danielle Christenson and her family look like sweet innocent victims of supposed "harsh" school policy. However, people should be aware that the school may not have been so harsh considering the Christenson family is well known in this community as a family with a known past of violence and mental illness. I should know I have met every member of that messed up family, and that woman is sick in the head, I kid you not. Obviously she was out for revenge....who calls the news instead of taking the issue up with the school board or the superintendent?
Do a background search of Christina Christenson and you will find charges she is a convicted felon, divorced twice, sued pick n save, and convicted of DWI and 4 charges of disorderly conduct. Hardly the innocent lady we all think she is. Check for yourself:
http://wcca.wicourts.gov/index.xsl
her bday is 09-03-1970

Clearly the school was acting on more information than fox news makes it out to be. Ohh wait, that was something they mentioned in the article. Don't be so quick to judge a girl with rocks and a hammer and her family, as sweet and innocent.

Anonymous said...

....knowing that mother was involved....the school probably called the police to deal with her rath, not because of the child.

Mary said...

It's absolutely ridiculous for the school to have called police.

Danielle shouldn't suffer because of her mother's history.

Are you suggesting that Danielle is the victim of discrimination by the school?

That's not cool.