Listen. It’s okay to have your Nerf Guns, your first person shooter video games, and maybe your second amendment – but by God, if you even so much as engage in pencil gymnastics suggesting anything more than mere stimulation out of boredom, you’re probably insane or a terrorist.
The location is Glen Meadow Middle school in Vernon Township, New Jersey. The culprit is seventh grader Ethan Chaplin, whose crime was twirling a pencil in math class. The punishment? Media outlets report conflicts of whether or not Ethan was suspended, but he was definitely psychologically evaluated.
According to News 12 New Jersey, Ethan was twirling a pencil with a pen cap on top when all of a sudden another student yelled, “He’s making gun motions! Send him to juvie!” Ethan, who said that the student had been bullying him earlier that day, was just trying to get him in trouble, and that the interpretation of his pencil twirling was all blown out of context.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRjD7cv_fPk
Ethan said administrators ignored his side of the story when he mentioned the bullying. Instead, the 13-year-old had a little visit to the principal’s office, where, according to News 12, “he was suspended, pending the outcome of a psychological evaluation.”
“I was shocked because I’m like, how am I not going to come back to school? I didn’t even do anything.” said Ethan.
Ethan’s father, Michael Chaplin agreed, stating: “I’m livid. I’m absolutely livid. I think it’s gross misconduct at its finest. They took something so minimal and took it so far over the edge.”
Charles Maranzano, the Vernon Schools Superintendent, sides with the principal and said she was just doing her job. School policy as well as the law requires that administration investigate any situation where a student feels uncomfortable or threatened by another student.
“We never know what’s percolating in the mind of children, okay. And when they demonstrate behaviors that raise red flags, we must do our duty.” Maranzano said.
Ethan underwent a five-hour physical and psychological evaluation which came back clean.
Chaplin told Infowars that his son had to endure a five-hour long physical and psychological evaluation:
“The child was stripped, had to give blood samples (which caused him to pass out) and urine samples for of all things drug testing. Then four hours later a social worker spoke to him for five minutes and cleared him. Then an actual doctor came in and said the state was 100 per cent incorrect in their procedure and this would not get him back in school.”
On Monday, Ethan returned to school after missing two days – most likely due to media pressure exposing the sheer intelligence of an academic intuition’s methodology of proper pencil twirling punishments. WPIX 11 reported that the Vernon Township School District leadership stated Ethan Chaplin was never taken out of school.
“I don’t think any district in New Jersey or America would ever suspend a student for twirling a pencil. That’s ludicrous.” said Maranzano.
Images via YouTube