A 4th grader was suspended for not answering a question on a test.
Unbelievable. The behavior by this principal is inexcusable. Bullying and intimidation should be discouraged by the schools, not practiced by the principals.
As the father of a 1st and 3rd grader, this whole story is absolutely infuriating. We can go on and on about the dangers of Standardized Testing, but to start blaming the kids, and punishing them like this? Unacceptable. If someone did this to one my kids, I would make absolutely certain that she spent a lifetime trying to live it down. And I’m MARRIED to a teacher, and YES I understand the pressure that is heaped upon teachers and schools. That doesn’t give people the right to pass on this ridiculous amount of pressure to a 4th grader.
Tony Caselli 
The principal should be canned. Thats crap. The tests aren’t even averaged, which shows that she doesn’t know her job. Besides, if they are averaged, who cares? With the way the ‘zero tolerence’ rules are now, if he had written something negative, he probably would have gotten suspended for it anyways.
Dom
I agree. I just recently watched my son get yelled at for something he thought he was doing right, and in fact it was something he thought he was being “extra helpful” about, and he got snapped at, without being given a chance to explain, and it just crushed him. This principal did the same thing – looked at her side of it, didn’t take into account the thoughts, feelings or motivations of this young person, and treated him like he was a juvenile delinquent. Ridiculously poor choices by adults who should know better.