Remember the kindergartner up in Michigan who was suspended after he made his hand into the shape of a gun and playfully pointed it at another pupil?
Well, it may not be much comfort to that student or others caught up in silly school policies, but it appears that U.S. schools are not alone in imposing sometimes ridiculous rules.
In Melksham, England, teachers at an elementary school knowingly left a 5-year-old boy stranded in the tree he had climbed during recess. They and the other children went back inside after the break.
But they weren’t trying to be neglectful. Like other British schools, the elementary school in question has a policy forbidding staff to help a child get back down once he climbs a tree, the school told the Daily Mail newspaper in London. Rather, staff members are “to observe the situation from a distance so the child does not get distracted and fall.”
As a result, the boy was left in the tree 45 minutes — much of that time with apparently no one else around — until a passerby spotted him, became concerned and helped him get down.
She got no thanks for her effort, though. School officials reported her to police for “trespassing,” and she got a visit the next day from the authorities. The school also chastised her for behaving “in a verbally aggressive manner” toward the staff when she returned the rescued child to the school.
They say no good deed goes unpunished. Apparently, sometimes, “they” are right.