Illinois serves as home for a lot of people who don't understand guns. They fear that which they don't understand. Some folks not only fear guns, but hate them and those who have them.
Such is the case at A Place 2 Grow in Troy, Illinois near Collinsville.
A Place 2 Grow suspended a 4-year-old for bringing in a spent .22 shell casing, and then notified the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. The young boy named Hunter Jackson had picked up the shell casing while out with his police officer grandfather learning about gun safety a couple of days before. The shiny case proved a neat reminder of some great times for the boy, so he picked it up so he could show his friends. That's where A Place 2 Grow managed to rain on Hunter's parade.
His mom posted this on Facebook and from there, it's gone viral.
I never thought this could happen to us. You see stuff on the news like this, but….Today, I picked up my happy little 4 yr old from preschool, at A Place to Grow, in Troy. My arrival was met with a stone faced teacher, who told me that Hunter brought a "shotgun bullet" to school.
😨 I was horrified. My kid? Who just spent the weekend learning gun safety?
Well….when I was escorted to the office for a sit down. I was handed a tiny .22 empty brass casing. Not a "shotgun bullet". He found it on the ground, expelled from a 22 Rifle over the weekend, while Hunter was target practicing with his Police Officer Grandpa. He was so excited, and snuck it to school to show his friends. We had no idea about it.
I was handed a piece of paper. No words, just eyebrows raised in disgust at my son, explaining that his behavior warranted a 7 school day suspension. Which I still was expected to pay tuition for, of course. And a threat that if his enthusiasm for guns continued, he'd be permanently expelled.
See, here's the thing. This was a teaching moment. He never hurt anyone, or threatened anyone. This could literally happen to ANY CHILD who happened to find one on the ground and thought it was cool. He does not have access to ANY weapon in our home. This could have been handled by explaining appropriate behavior at school.
He's 4. This doesn't hurt him, or teach him, or help him. Just his parents, who do not condone bringing these kinds of things to school. Ever. Had we known, we of course would have stopped it. But every time he or another child mentions a gun (like every boy I grew up with did) they punish him.
Let's take a look at "A Place 2 Grow". The first thing I noticed was the "texting" shorthand in the name – which should scare the hell out of any parent considering the place for a daycare for their kid(s). Nothing like fostering non-standard use of the English language right out of the gate.
The head honcho there is Sarah Jarmin, who according to her LinkedIn profile is in her first year of a 4-year college program for a Bachelor in Education.
Her experience in education? Just what she gleaned from working for eleven years at AG Edwards and as a first year college dropout studying pre-vet studies twenty years ago.
Her touted skills?
She's clearly lacking in leadership, training, public relations and community outreach. In fact, if she was training people in all of the above, her handling of this incident with a 4-year-old sure looks a lot like a great way NOT to handle things. Maybe she can employ some event planning with her small business entrepreneurship to fundraise herself to make up for the money lost from adults who don't want to take their children to a daycare run by inept children.
Her husband apparently serves as "Vice-President" of the place. He reportedly has never been to college at all. But he knows how to dial DCFS. Good to know.
If you would like to leave a review of this facility, you can do so here:
Weapons grade stupid sums it up!
I know how working parents can struggle to find care for their children … but folks in the area are now on notice: in my opinion, leaving your kids there amounts to (psychological) child abuse!
You are clearly missing the fact that the boy behavior led to this. Why cannot anyone read all the facts. Mom is just looking for sympathy.
The boy's behavior? He took a memento, an innocuous piece of brass, to school to share a fond memory with his friends.
The problematic behavior came from the "teacher" when she overreacted out of fear and ignorance. Nice example to set.
Parents who want their children to have good problem solving and social skills modeled at preschool would do well to avoid this place like the plague.
Strangely, several of his past teachers have contacted us disputing what the owner has said. They have all said he is a very sweet little boy that likes to play and use his imagination, but no "behavioral issues" whatsoever. I'm sure that the owner would never make up a story as an attempt at damage control. We definitely aren't looking for sympathy, or any personal gain at all, but at some point someone needs to stand up to people like this.
The Dad.
Thank you for being level headed about this. People are so quick to judge. My hope is all will be resolved amicably for both parties. God bless.
When I was a small lad around 5 or so back in the early '60s my Grand dad showed me his Savage model 1899 22HP rifle that he kept in an upstairs closet….I remember that moment to this very day as that was was the first time I had my hands on a 'real' gun…I still cherish that moment as I am the proud owner of that family heirloom….and by the way I never attended any stinking pre school run by lib"tards" who would attempt to destroy a precious moment shared with my grandfather……I guess times were a lot different back then when boys grew up to be men and not a bunch of 'mambie pambies' like we have now.
And she paid a tuition for that place. Sounds like she was defrauded since they took her money while refusing to care for the boy for a week. Lawsuit time?
I hate to call a pre-school day care "education", but they're acting like a government school. Probably makes them feel like they're in the big time education business.
Oh my god, a spent .22 shotgun bullet! One step down from a nuclear warhead!
I would ask if the inmates are running the asylum, but that's not fair to the kids. Hope this place discovers the joys of bankruptcy before long. Actions have consequences. Let them reap those just desserts.
You can't fix stupid.
You can sure as hell not patronize them though.
Everyone is SO QUICK to pounce on the prey. Do you know this boy? Do you know his parents? Do you know the family that runs the daycare? Has Hunter spent time in the classroom with YOUR children?? Has he told YOUR child that he was going to shoot her with "A REAL GUN"? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say no, You have NO IDEA about any of this true story. You just see a "souvenir" and assume the worst. Despicable!. All of you have no idea what you're talking about. Unless you go to the school and know the situation and the history he has and the amount of times his mother has been talked to about his behavior at 2 different schools (to my personal knowledge) than think about how ridiculous it is to trash someone without hearing their side. And you want people to have an "open mind" about your views when you have a complete closed mind to getting all the facts? Laughable.
Suck it, troll. I don't care if this kid was hell on wheels! If he's a problem child, kick him out … but here's what we all heard:
1. Kid brought a .22 shell casing to this fine establishment of SJW infestation and indoctrination.
2. Said shell casing was used as an excuse (at least partially) to suspend him for a week.
I've checked online for other sources, and this is not in dispute. The owners/officials even responded saying the kids was previously warned about his "pretend gun-play." He's FOUR. He's a BOY. Young boys can turn chicken nuggets or barbie dolls into guns. Clearly this place has a hard-on against guns. If he was a bad kid – that's fine. But to use this gun (shell casing) issue at all in the discipline process betrays the kind of establishment this is.
And who said anything about and "open mind"? We support Truth, the second amendment, and sanity – and we hate commies in all their forms. People can stand with truth and reason, or stand with lies. You've obviously made your choice, so you're either completely clueless, evil, or both.
Keep laughing.
We. Don't. Care.
Your above post makes zero sense. Troll??? You agree the child had behavioral problems but still feel the shell casing is the focus… pull yer head out of your ass and use your brain before typing.
Inlivingcolor: I agreed to no such thing – he may or may not have behavior problems. None of us know. It's irrelvant. Since reading comprehension isn't your strong suit, I'll type slower and spell it out:
– this is a pro-gun web site, focusing on second amendment issues and highlighting anti-gun bigotry when it's to be found
– a 22LR shell casing was cited as a reason in his suspension, and "pretend gun" issues were quoted by officials from the daycare in more than one online article
– citing "pretend guns" and an empty shell casing in his suspension is anti-gun bigotry, hence it was featured on this site
Troll? Yes – showing up on a pro-gun site to badmouth (or condescendingly "pray for") us poor rednecks who don't like anti-gun bigotry or tyrrany … sure fits the bill to me. If that doesn't make sense, try reading again slower for the salient issues here: it's not the kids behavior, it's antigunners making an issue out of an empty shell casing.
(BTW: hitting a live 22LR round with a hammer makes a boom and a little shrapnel, but it's small fire-cracker type issue. Surely, with your wonderful brain out of "yer ass" you didn't think it was any sort of ballistics issue, sans chamber & barrel?)
Justice4all? That like A Place 2 Learn?
Reads like it is the owner of this joint, doesn't it?
Next thing you know he will tell us about all the guns he owns!
LOL! So you opened a daycare, and then realized that small children are difficualt to control… so now you're compelled to punish the kids to vent your own frustration.
The fact that a tiny piece of empty brass was involved is the weakest attempt at an excuse I've ever heard of.
Try Harder.
And Hugo, you're right…you can't fix stupid.
now everyone jump on me for defending the mean monster…all of you. Thank God you're not a juror. So closed minded. I'll say a prayer for all of you that you get good sense and judgement.
You know what? On second thought, you could have a point.
That piece of 22LR brass might actually BE a shotgun bullet. I'm just thankful no one was injured or killed. Just think what could have happened!
Get real for just a moment. If the young boy is a handful in class, he certainly isn't out of the norm. My wife is a kindergarten teacher and I'm well familiar with how some parents will never accept that their child is anything but an angel. But a competent teacher doesn't react out of fear borne of ignorance and prejudice.
You know the mom is the only one that said "shotgun bullet" did you read the letter she posted? It did not say "shot gun bullet". The story revolves further than a shell casing it seem he had ignored behavior issues.
What if he would have pick up a live round, took it outside and beat it with a rock or something else hard?
@LivingColor that is a wild, irrelivant Red Herring.
What if a meteor had hit him? We don't know, nor do we care, because that's not what happened here.
What he brought to school was a piece of brass in the shape of a tiny top-hat. That fact that it USED to contain a bullet is irrelivant. It did not contain a bullet, nor did it contain any potential energy that could case harm.
Parenting partner? I sure as hell wouldn't take my child to a place run by ignorance. Mrs Jackson please take Hunter to a competent day care facility before its too late.
Ok. Am I getting this right? The daycare js now attacking a 4 year old's character?
Are they insane?
Why because a parent is speaking out?
Bigots gonna bigot.
Any updates?