Cross-Posted from The Proverbial Tundra
Cherry Creek Schools District officials in Colorado are slapping each other's backs after trying to ruin the life of a female student, Marie Morrow.
Morrow is serving a 10-day suspension. Students had reported seeing "guns" in her Dodge Durango in the Aurora school's parking lot.
State law mandates expulsion for any student found with a weapon, or a "facsimile" of a weapon on school grounds.
Notice how "guns" was put in scare-quotes? That's because what she was suspended for was not a weapon, but a wood and duct-tape replica that Morrow used for training purposes in the Douglas County Young Marines, an ROTC-type group. This young woman's goal was to join the Merchant Marines and she
...has already secured the necessary recommendation from a member of Congress to attend the Merchant Marine Academy...
Here is a picture of the dangerous weapon she was suspended/expelled over:
If not for a bunch of overzealous asshole administrators, this whole incident could have been over and done with before it ever reached a punishment phase. No one in their right mind would believe that this is a "weapon."
Aurora Police officer, and Cherokee Trail High School School Resource officer, Quint Cox testified, "right away I could tell they were ROTC rifles."
What's next, are all marching band color guards going to have to give up their "rifles" that they twirl for fear of getting expelled? What is our society coming to? Thankfully someone (unfortunately a Republican) is taking a stand and attempting to change the law so this can't happen again:
Sen. Kevin Lundberg (R-Berthoud) plans to introduce legislation to change state law to provide an exception for facsimile weapons being used by military-sponsored youth groups.
"There should be exemptions to this hard-and-fast rule so this type of thing doesn't happen again," Lundberg said in a written statement. "I am outraged that a student faces expulsion for participating in a drill team."
Kudos to Ms. Morrow for keeping her composure during this fucked up situation and not losing her desire to work to change the world.
(She) has been told an expulsion would not derail her eventual acceptance to the Academy.
"As long as I can get my diploma, I guess everything else will work itself out," said Morrow on Friday, explaining she's trying to focus on her planned career of service. "It's not going to be the end of the world."