A Virginia Judge has ruled in favor of a sixth-grader’s mom who filed a lawsuit against a private school for suspending her child who did not quickly report that his classmate brought a bullet to class.
Judge Vivian Henderson of Virginia Beach deemed the decision of the school “appalling” after the suspension of the sixth-grader and ruled in favor of Rachel Wigand, the suspended child’s mother, in her lawsuit against St. John the Apostle Catholic School.
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Wigand alleged that last September, the private school violated its contract by suspending her son for a day and a half.
Wigand’s son, identified as A.W., unexpectedly suffered the same suspension as the student who had the bullet in school.
Last September, A.W. was in class preparing for an exam before one of his classmates showed him a bullet.
The sixth-grader waited until after the test was over, went to his next class, and then informed the principal about the bullet, Anderson told NBC News.
The private school quickly alerted police, and officers recovered the bullet from the student’s backpack.
About two hours passed between A.W. being shown the bullet and his report to the principal, Anderson told NBC News.
Wigand’s representative reportedly explained that the school had the option of handing the child detention or another form of in-school action, but instead chose to be harsh on the young man.
“A suspension on a child’s academic record is permanent. When you’re enrolling children in subsequent educational places, they ask you that question: Has your kid ever been suspended? What happened to her child was so absurd. It wasn’t fair that the mom was going to have to answer that question ‘Yes’ for the remainder of this child’s academic career,” Wigand’s attorney Tim Anderson said. “appalling, for lack of a better word, for this court.”
“Especially in an environment where … younger and younger kids are being forced to make adult-like decisions without clear boundaries or parameters,” said Henderson in a recording of Monday’s hearing provided to NBC News by Anderson.
The school’s attorney on the other hand cited its handbook and tuition contract to defend A.W.’s suspension, which states that it had the right to dole out “a more or less severe form of discipline.”
The institution added that the decision to send Wigand’s son home was for a bigger picture in setting a clear standard on school safety and “trying to impose a lesson of ‘Hey, this is why it’s important.’”
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Since he was suspended, Wigand’s child has allegedly faced bullying in school and his mother is hoping to enroll him and her other children at a new school after the Judge rule.
