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8 year old ordered to undergo psych. evaluation for drawing

by Susan Marie Kovalinsky | December 15, 2009 at 04:18 pm

604 views | 22 Recommendations | 8 comments

*Update: See School denying allegations that child was suspended for drawing which is in conflict with this original Associated Press story

Quote

Johnson said he assured his son that he didn't do anything wrong, but he said his boy was traumatized by the incident and demanding an apology from school officials. Johnson said he's also looking to have his son transferred to another school. "You can't walk back in an establishment that didn't have confidence in you ... and continue to do business with them," he said. "He's been excluded from all the other kids, man."

Associated Press

A Massachusetts 8-year-old was sent home from school and ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation. The reason? The class was told to draw something which reminded them of Christmas, and the boy drew Christ on the cross.

I side with the boy's father on this one: When I was around that age, I was transfixed by my Italian grandfather's crucifix, which had the body of Christ on the cross, and was very large, and hung from a chain. I used to draw it as well. Good thing schools were more reasonable in those days. This story seems creepy to me, and it is not the boy who seems odd; it is the school officials.

Chester Johnson said his son made the drawing on Dec. 2 after his second-grade teacher asked children to sketch something that reminded them of the holiday. The assignment came just days after the family had visited the holiday lights display at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Attleboro, where Johnson said his son seemed taken with the religious statues he saw there.
"When he seen the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross, that's what he drew," Johnson said. "He liked that. That drew his eye."

Johnson, who works at the school as a janitor on a per diem basis, said administrators were concerned the boy drew Xs for Jesus' eyes, and particularly worried when his son said he'd drawn himself on the cross after officials pressed him about who he'd drawn.

Johnson said his son might have been worried about getting in trouble if he said he drew Jesus. "If he said it was him, it was more like a cartoon," Johnson said.

Superintendent Julie Hackett said she could not discuss an individual student and did not address the drawing specifically or the teacher's reaction to it, but did say the school has safety protocols in place that were followed.

Hackett did not return multiple calls from The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Johnson said his son gets specialized reading and speech instruction. He showed a reporter an evaluation that said the boy was not a threat to himself or others. The boy has been back in school since Dec. 7.

Johnson said he assured his son that he didn't do anything wrong, but he said his boy was traumatized by the incident and demanding an apology from school officials. Johnson said he's also looking to have his son transferred to another school.

"You can't walk back in an establishment that didn't have confidence in you ... and continue to do business with them," he said. "He's been excluded from all the other kids, man."

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Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 16:24 on December 15th, 2009

This is absolutely nuts. Psychological evaluation?

Chris Rickman (not verified)

at 16:36 on December 15th, 2009

It is a shame that shameless school officials are persecuting this child. Demanding psychologic evaluation for your religion or beliefs or artwork is demeaning and the school officials should be fired for persecution! If the teacher was offended he/she should have just let it go. Who is the ADULT? Do the same protocols pertain to drawing of Budda, or Mohammad, or Zororoaster? Kind of doubt it....

Susan Marie Kovalinsky

at 16:44 on December 15th, 2009

Yes, I really think this child has received a shock. Poor thing.....

JGMitchell

at 17:06 on December 15th, 2009

Psychological evaluation? Why? For religious people, Jesus is what Christmas is about, not Santa and turkey. Even though Jesus on the cross seems more like an Easter picture to me, this child should not be persecuted for his religious beliefs, even though religion has no place in the public school system (but how could an eight-year-old know that?)

Susan Marie Kovalinsky

at 17:12 on December 15th, 2009

Yes, sometimes a child ought to just be left to his privacy.....Seems invasive. At his age, he may not even know why he chose to draw it, and he doesn't need a bunch of adults picking his brain......

Hugh Askew

at 17:31 on December 15th, 2009

Idiotically funny, is that had he drawn it sitting in a bowl of urine, he may have been praised for it!

Nice PC nazi work by the school. The kid is obviously a threat to mankind.

snuffysmith

at 21:44 on December 15th, 2009

Well Roy, if you agree with the father that the boy changed his story to being him on the cross instead of Jesus, then perhaps a psychiatric evaluation for depression and possible suicidal tendencies might be in order. Its interesting to note that the father also produced an earlier report indicating the child wasn't a threat to himself or others. So there does seem to be some concern about the boy's frame of mind. If this event had happened without these other factors, I would agree that the school's actions were intrusive and over the top. What we aren't told is whether the school knew of the existence of the prior psychological report that the father mentioned.