Children should generally be praised for doing the right thing, especially when they go out of their way to do so. Unfortunately, the elementary school staff in Louisiana decided that policy was more important than their relationship with a 6-year-old boy and his family. The ordeal began when the father’s pocketknife accidentally got attached to the mesh of the boy’s backpack. It wasn’t until lunchtime at school that he discovered the knife and informed his teacher about it. Staff took the child to the principal’s office, where things escalated to an unnecessary degree.
First, the Louisiana principal questioned the 6-year-old alone and made no attempt to contact the parents. Then, staff brought in the boy’s older 9-year-old brother, who also attended the same school, and began interrogating him for almost an hour. According to the children’s mother, the older brother is medicated, has PTSD, anxiety, and ADHD, and has been on a 504 plan. Unfortunately, the pressure and anxiety the principal pushed on the two boys triggered the older brother to have an emotional episode, not to mention they were dragged off away from lunchtime with their peers.
Throughout all this, the school never told the parents; it wasn’t until the ride home that the younger son told his mom about what happened. Of course, the dad explained the pocketknife was his and took full responsibility, but the school still suspended the 6-year-old because “policy is policy.” The mishandling of the school staff during this whole situation caused a domino effect of trauma and stress on the two boys and their parents. Not to mention, the school had some weird policy in which they refused to give back the pocketknife to the dad. Upset about everything, the mom took to Reddit to vent her frustration.
“This entire situation has caused my family months of anxiety and distress,” OP lamented. “Do I have any grounds for action based on how this was initially handled.. especially the lack of parental notification and emotional impact on both children?” She also was adamant about getting the knife back from the school. While something as petty as a pocketknife seems insignificant compared to how the children were treated, the Louisiana mom explains her stance:
” It’s not about the knife. It’s about the school punishing honesty, violating my son’s 504 plan, ignoring due process, and now covering themselves instead of being accountable.”
As the parents have since contacted the district and superintendent, some commenters believe the school is holding on to the knife for liability or evidence reasons. Many, of course, strongly recommend they get a lawyer involved. “Stay strong…dealing with these kinds of injustices is really draining,” encourages a user. Plenty more show their support and share their advice on the matter. Hopefully, the family can get justice for what happened to their sons so that they can put this bad situation behind them.
