Had the meeting & it went well. Apparently we were lucky to get the meeting today because it will be late next week before everyone can meet again & Havoc would have missed 7 days of school, putting him over the 10 he is allowed to miss & still pass 1st grade.
The school system has a zero tolerance policy but they also have a sense of perspective.
Havoc very honestly admitted the toy was his & was in his backpack & that he hadn’t brought it to school intentionally, it had just been left in there from the weekend.
This apparently made all the difference.
The whole situation was gone over in the meeting, everyone agreed with the series of events as related. They explained to Havoc why toy guns are not allowed in school, his perception being that it’s just against the rule, with no understanding of why. I think mostly they were concerned that a rumor would go around that some kid had a gun on the bus and parents would be calling them up freaking about it (Naturally enough. I certain would had I heard that).
Havoc was allowed back to school right after the meeting, so he had a half day suspension. He’s has to meet with the guidance councilor to go over again the reasons why he shouldn’t bring toy guns, knives, swords etc to school.
Even lightsabers. This is not the Jedi academy.
I think I managed an air of suitable seriousness and gravity the whole time. Very hard for me because there is nothing like needing to be grave & serious to make me bust out in giggles. Nervous giggles. The bane of my existence. I’ve laughed during funerals. I can’t help it. It’s embarrassing. But my mind copes with stress by finding something funny & it’s very very good at finding funny things.
I was deeply concerned someone would mention Havoc’s ‘permanent record’ because for long & involved reasons I find those two of the funniest words in the English language and I know I would not have been able to stop myself giggling.
And you can’t explain believably that you are taking this seriously while you are giggling.
Plus I didn’t want Havoc to get the wrong impression. This was my first encounter with a disciplinary committee and I want it to be the last.
Havoc seems suitably impressed with the seriousness of the situation & I’ll be going all TSA on him in the mornings before he leaves the house. Hopefully it’s over, done with and we can all look back on it as a strange aberration in our lives that makes an interesting story some day.
I’m just waiting to see if the rumor of a gun on the bus gets started.
