Boy, 10, banned for bikini pic
A HAPPY snap of a bikini-clad woman taken on a family day out has landed a Grade 4 Cairns schoolboy a seven-day suspension from class.
The 10-year-old boy's father, who asked not to be named fearing reprisal for his children, yesterday told The Weekend Post he was ropeable about the way Bentley Park College had disciplined his son, saying pictures in store catalogues were more risque.
"I remember the picture being taken and there was nothing rude about it," the father said.
"It was taken from a moving car."
The dad said he had to visit the school before the principal admitted that no teachers had seen the picture and it could not be found on the boy's laptop computer.
His son had shown the picture to his classmates, he said.
"Because they (five kids) said it was rude, (the teachers) believed them even though they hadn't seen it," he said. "They have punished him for a crime when they haven't even seen the evidence.
"I am all for punishing him if he's done something wrong or taken something rude to school, but this was taken on a family day out," the dad said.
The boy's parents were told about the suspension in a phone call from the school.
The photograph was taken from the window of a rental car, during a family trip to the northern beaches to celebrate the parents' wedding anniversary.
The photo showed the back of a woman who was wearing a Brazilian-style swimming costume.
Opposition education spokesman John-Paul Langbroek called on the Government to investigate why a boy so young would cop a suspension over what appeared to be a "minor infraction".
An Education Queensland spokesman confirmed the Year 4 student had been suspended for taking an inappropriate photograph to school and using it to harass other kids.
"The student was suspended under the college's Responsible Behaviour Plan for breaching guidelines covering safety and respect for others," the spokesman said.
Mulgrave MP Warren Pitt told The Weekend Post he was stunned about the suspension, but wanted to find out the full circumstances before criticising the decision.
He urged the boy's father to contact him so he could investigate the claim.
Late on Friday after The Weekend Post contacted the Education Department, the boy's father said he was phoned by the school principal to arrange a meeting on Monday to discuss his son immediately returning to school.
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Discipline: The boy was suspended for seven days from Bentley Park College.
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