MICHIGAN (WTVR)--A father is outraged after an odd phone call from his child's school principle.
It was all over the way cupcakes were decorated for his son's birthday.
Casey Fountain is both outraged and amused. Last week Fountain's third grade son had a birthday party at school.
His wife decided to whip up 30 cupcakes for the boy's classmates. She topped the treats with plastic army guys like the ones you see here. Fountain says he never thought his innocent act of party planning would lead to controversy.
“And shortly after my wife delivered the cupcakes to the school she got a phone call from his teacher that said that the army men had to be removed, because they had guns.”
Fountain says the principal of Shall Elementary School called him personally and told him that dressing the cupcakes with soldiers was insensitive considering recent gun related tragedies. Fountain says she was referring to the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut. That didn't sit too well with this father.
“I think it's disgusting that they won't allow them in our schools they are lumping them together with sociopaths that shoot children, because they use the same tool,” says Fountain.
The school is standing by its decision to remove the army soldiers from the cupcakes. The school's principal didn't want to go on camera, but did release a statement. In part it reads 'these are toys that were commonplace in the past. However some parents prohibit all guns as toys'.
The principal went on: 'in light of that difference, the school offered to replace the soldiers with another item. The soldiers were returned to the student.'
In the end - Fountain wants to set the record straight. He says just because he disagrees with the school's decision-- that doesn't mean he doesn't care about the safety of America’s school kids
“If they're afraid of our military, if they are afraid of our soldiers, especially our World War 2 soldiers, there's bigger issues there in my opinion,” he says.
