The family of an 11-year-old boy said he was suspended from his Virginia Beach, Virginia, school because administrators thought he waited too long to report that another student brought a bullet to class.
An attorney for the family accused St. John the Apostle Catholic School of punishing the sixth grader when he was only trying to do the right thing.
“They’re like, ‘Thank you so much for reporting, now you’re suspended.’ And it’s like, ‘I did the right thing and now I’m in trouble,’” attorney Tim Anderson said in a phone call Friday. “They’re ruining this kid’s academic career by putting a suspension on his middle school record.”
The incident happened last week as the boy’s class was preparing to take a standardized test. Anderson said a student pulled out a bullet and showed it to the 11-year-old right before the test started.
The boy was “shocked” but didn’t tell the school principal until about two hours later, Anderson said.
“They took the standardized test. It took about an hour and a half. He then went to another class with the student, and as soon as that was over he went to the principal’s office and told the principal that this other kid brought a bullet to school,” the attorney explained.
The police were called and officers found the bullet in the student’s bag, according to Anderson. The student who had the bullet was suspended for two days.
The 11-year-old who reported it also received a two-day suspension because he did not immediately report what he saw, the attorney said.
“That was quite shocking to [his] mom that one, he would receive the exact same punishment that the kid that brought the bullet to school received. But two, that’s not even a punishable violation,” Anderson said.
The boy’s mother, Rachel Wigand, tried to talk to the principal, but the school refused to change its mind about the suspension. The boy was allowed to return to school on Monday.
A spokesperson for The Catholic Diocese of Richmond said its “culture of safety requires that students and adults alike report potential threats as quickly as they are made aware of them.”
“In a real emergency, gaps in reporting time may have major consequences for school safety,” the spokesperson said. “Our policies affirm this expectation, and we take our policy about timely and urgent reporting seriously. As with any disciplinary matter, we treat this as an opportunity for students to learn and move forward.”
Michael Riley, the superintendent of Catholic schools told NBC affiliate WAVY of Portsmouth, that the school cannot, and will not, take chances when it comes to student safety.”
“As part of this charge, we expect students to bring safety issues to the attention of school staff immediately, and our school safety policies cement this expectation,” he said.
Wigand said her son did not immediately tell the teacher during class because he wanted to remain anonymous.
“But the school forfeited that on how they handled this,” she said, adding that her son is worried about being labeled “a snitch.”
She’s had to tell him, “You did the right thing. You hold your head up high and you let other kids know that they need to report something if they see something.”
Anderson said he wants the school to apologize and remove the suspension from the boy’s record. Wigand said she thinks schools should train students on ways they can report suspicious activity.
“People keep saying see something, say something, and I agree with that and that’s exactly what my son did,” she said. “We train these kids on active shooter drills constantly. How are we training them to report?”
