FULTON COUNTY, Ga. (MyFOX ATLANTA) - A Fulton County mother was outraged Wednesday that her autistic son was suspended and charged with a felony over a picture he drew. The 14 year old is a student at Ridgeview Charter School in Atlanta.

Shane Finn's mother said he was in a special needs class when he drew a picture of two stick figures, and one had a gun.

The eighth grade boy's picture depicted a stick figure with a gun that was labeled "me." The figure was shooting another figure that had his teacher's name above it.

The picture led to Finn being suspended, and he is now facing criminal charges.

"They've pressed felony charges for terroristic threats," said the teen's mother, Karen Finn. "It's that sweeping zero tolerance and I think it's ridiculous."

Finn said her son drew the picture on the page of a school assignment where his teacher would easily see it. Finn says her son doesn't really understand why he's in trouble. Finn said her son is autistic and has the mental capacity of a third grader.

"It really breaks my heart because he's a really nice kid and this is obviously from his disability. He really doesn't have a good way of expressing anger, frustration," Finn said.

Finn said she wasn't proud of the picture her son drew, but she said the punishment was much too severe.

"I think there needs to be some sort of common sense used with the school system. That a 14-year-old autistic boy who does not understand what he's done or what he's drawn, has an IQ of 75 should not be charged with a felony. It's outrageous," Finn said.

School authorities could not say much about the student because of privacy laws, but they did confirm that Shane will face a tribunal and is being charged with making terroristic threats.

http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news/14-...ged-051210

Liberal Yankees have moved South. Sadly.

Since my wife is a teacher, I tread lightly when discussing student threats.

Already this year her school had to send a kid to special services after he repeatedly threatened to kill....... well, just about everyone in the school including my wife, the para, all the kids (especially the girls) the reading literacy teacher, the principle and most strangely, the local school district DARE officer.

To make matters worse, his mother is a police officer so the kid had some exposure to weapons. To make matters worse than worse, it took 3 months to move this kid from mainstream to special services.

Zero tolerance or not, there are very real concerns in schools about violence towards teachers. School districts should err (initially) on the side of caution, as they (on first look) have done in this case. I advocate for swift action, with remediation by an independent third party who looks at all the facts with a non-judgemental eye to the situation and the long term repercussions.

BTW, his mental capability should hold little sway. The mentally challanged commit dangerous crimes all the time.

This is yet another case, it seems on the surface, of total over-reaction by a school/district. As a former teacher in a school environment where gangs were prevalent, I have seen and heard a lot of threats. You don't just blow them off. But ........ every time I see some story about a kindergartner suspended for bringing a knife to school (plastic - for lunch) and the babble about zero tolerance policies, it drives me nuts.

Zero tolerance policies are for pu$$ies in administration who refuse to use their brain and use some common sense. I've seen my share of absolutely worthless administrators (who also started out as terrible teachers). There is a difference between a special needs 14 year old with an IQ of 75 and and street hardened gang banger. To get charged with making terroristic threats because you drew a picture on an assignment is pretty crazy. Perhaps cooler heads should have/could have prevailed and some intervention done on the part of the school. Maybe the district takes that decision out of the hands of the school personnel. Hard to know.

In my experience, special needs kids sometimes do bizarre things as part of their condition. I also have to wonder about his spED teacher.

But, of course, we don't really know all the details of this story.

They'll lock him up for 30 days, and then the feds will keep him there for life.

http://ncaabbs.com/showthread.php?tid=435433

If you guys recall, I posted here that last October a principal had my ADHD w/ring of fire kid, who was now diagnosed with mood disorder (anxiety and depression) arrested and sent to a county psych ward for evaluation after he said he was going to murder the other kids THE NEXT for laughing at him.

We file numerous complaints with various agencies and she's in deep ****.