Appeals court upholds suspension for boy over violent drawing

Acknowledging school violence nationwide, a federal appeals court in New York has upheld the suspension of a 10-year-old boy for a crayon drawing that expressed a desire to blow up his school and its teachers.

The decision Thursday by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan was not unanimous in rejecting the First Amendment claims of his parents.

One member of the three-judge panel said the drawing by the fifth grader at a Montgomery, N.Y., elementary school was a crude joke that failed.

The ruling upheld a decision by a lower court judge.
The boy was identified only as B.C. He was suspended for six days after he showed his drawing to other classmates. They laughed, but one of them complained to the teacher.