MERRY CHRISTMAS (HOLIDAY GREETINGS): NOW GET OUT.

A Massachusetts 2nd grader was sent home from school and required to undergo a psychological evaluation after drawing a stick-figure picture of Jesus Christ on the cross on December 2^nd. The boy had assigned to draw something that reminded him of Christmas.

Maxham Elementary School decided the 8-year old had created a “violent drawing.” A spokesman for the school linked its action to “safety protocols.”

The image in question depicted a crucified Jesus with Xs covering his eyes to signify that he had died on the cross. The boy wrote his name above the cross. Admittedly the child confused the Christmas with an Easter symbol. The student drew the picture shortly after taking a family trip to see the Christmas display at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette, a Christian retreat site in Attleboro, Mass.

The child is a special need student and was made to leave school with the recommendation that a psychiatrist do an evaluation. In fact the school forbade the boy’s return without the psychiatrist OK.

The father was flabbergasted when he learned his son had to undergo an evaluation.

The child gets specialized reading and speech instruction at school, has never shown any tendency toward violence; has never been suspended.  

The 8-year old went for the psychological evaluation at his parents expense the next day and was cleared to return to school the following Monday after the psychological evaluation found nothing to indicate that he posed a threat to himself or others. 

The boy, however, was traumatized by the incident, which made going back to school very difficult, the father said. School administrators have approved the fathers request to have the boy transferred to another elementary school in the district. 

This is not the first time that a Taunton student has been sent home over a drawing. In June 2008, a fifth-grade student was suspended after creating a stick figure drawing that appeared to depict him shooting his teacher and a classmate. 

That teacher contacted the police to filecharges in the 2008 incident — they did not chosing commone sense.