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First Grader Suspended For Hand Gesture


The parents of a Maryland first grader are outraged after he was suspended for a day after he pretended to make a gun with his finger.

The school six-year-old Rodney Lynch attends said there were three separate incidents back on a December day that led to the suspension.

A letter sent home with him says the parents were warned by phone that another incident would lead to suspension. Rodney's parents and others say it was harmless playing.

"They're saying he threatened a student. Threatened to shoot a student. He was playing," says Rodney's father, Rodnye Lynch Sr.

"It's on his permanent record, that he threatened to shoot a student. Five years from now someone's going to look that and think, 'he's a bad kid.' he's been branded," says the family's attorney, Robin Ficker.

The Lynch family said the situation could have been handled a number of ways; none of which had to involve suspending a 45 pound, 4' 1" first grader.