Deaf 3-Year-Old Asked to Change the Way He...

It is understandable that amid the recent gun/weapon violence schools want to take precautions, but is it getting out of hand? A school in Grand Island, Nebraska, is asking a deaf 3-year-old to make a change to the signing of his name. The reason for their request? The school says that the gesture the little boy uses makes his hands resemble weapons. Yes, you read that correctly.

To sign his name, Hunter Spanjer crosses his index finger over his middle finger and wags his hands back and forth. According to the boy's father, this is the "registered sign" for Hunter under Signing Exact English, a sign language system. Is this change something the child's school should even be entitled to suggest?

Administrators of the school are asking Hunter to spell his name out letter-by-letter rather than using the full sign for his name. The school has a policy forbidding children to bring any "instrument" to school that may resemble a weapon. Can a little boy's hands fall into that category? It doesn't seem plausible.

Jack Sheard, a spokesman for the school, calls the request a "misunderstanding," stating that is doesn't have anything to do with weapons or guns, but with the fact that the signing of Hunter's name was "not an appropriate thing to do in school." He also said, "We want to do what is best for every student in our district, and we care more about that than everything else. We are working with the parents to find the best solution we can." The best solution is probably to leave the 3-year-old be before the school draws more negative attention than it already has.