Second grader suspended from school after drawing disturbing picture

October 22, 2007

Kyle McDevitt, a seven-year-old, second grade boy at Dennis Township Primary School in New Jersey, was suspended for one day after drawing an image of one stick figure person shooting another.

The drawing depicted two stick figures, one labeled as 'me' by McDevitt and the other was labeled with the name of another student, with McDevitt smiling while shooting the other student. While on a school bus, the child gave the drawing to another student who took it home and showed it to his parents. The parents then filed a complaint with the school's district.

According to the boy's mother, Shirley McDevitt, the gun was a squirt gun filled with water. She also said that the boys are friends with each other. She has asked school officials to "expunge" her son's permanent school record of the incident.

"When a child draws at that age, they're not drawing with thought," stated McDevitt.

She also stated that officials for the school district said that the boy was suspended because of the schools policy on "zero-tolerance" for guns.

Other sketches are reported to have been drawn such as a skateboarder, a cyclops and a ghost.