Second Grader at Maxham Elementary School in Taunton, MA, Suspended for Drawing Picture of Jesus on the Cross

Second-grader from Maxham Elementary School in Taunton, MA, sent home and forced to get psychological testing for drawing a picture of crucifix.

A second grade student from Maxham Elementary School in Taunton, Ma., was sent home from school and ordered to undergo psychological testing after drawing a stick-figure picture of what appeared to be Jesus on the cross with Xs on his eyes. The child this picture when he was asked by his teacher to depict what Christmas meant to him. The child's father, Chester Johnson, said his son drew himself on the cross and the teacher got flustered because of that. I am appalled beyond words that the teacher had the nerve to send this child home just for drawing a picture of Jesus. The special needs child was booted from school on December 2 when school officials "feared his artwork might be exposing violent tendencies," but was allowed to return on December 7 after a two-day evaluation by a psychiatrist determined that there was nothing wrong with him. I think I have heard it all.

The boy's father, Chester Johnson, in an interview with the Taunton Daily Gazette, said he just wants to get his son out of the school. He is a better person than I am because I would have gone absolutely ballistic had that been my child. I cannot believe that the teacher and the school officials traumatized this child over a picture of Jesus Christ on the cross.

This incident comes on the heels of Lamya Cammon, a first grader at Congress Elementary School, in Milwaukee, Wi., whose teacher cut one of her braids because she wouldn't stop playing with them in class. So, it's okay for a kid to draw a picture of Santa Claus or Rudolph the Red-Nosed reindeer, but Jesus Christ is taboo. Mr. Johnson said he suspects there is a bit of racism in how his son was treated. I am a little reluctant to say the teacher's actions were racist, but I do agree that the school needs to apologize to the child's parents.

Also lost on the school officials and the teacher is the fact that the boy, according to the Taunton Daily Gazette, drew the picture shortly after visiting the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Attelboro to see its Christmas display. I am appalled and deeply troubled that there are too many incidents in which teachers are overreacting to very minor things. This is just unconscionable.

UPDATE#1:  The school district on Tuesday night denied a father's claims that his son was suspended for drawing a stick figure of Jesus on a cross. According to media reports, the Taunton School District said in a written statement that the second-grade student was never suspended over the sketch and that a drawing circulated to reporters by the boy's father, Chester Johnson, is not the same one that was discovered by the teacher.


The district also denied that the boy and his classmates had been assigned to draw something that reminded them of Christmas or any other religious holiday. We will see how this will play out. Someone is lying and they should be exposed immediately.

Photo credit: Second grader's crucifix picture, Taunton Daily Gazette