Georgia school suspends 6yo boy for biting sandwich into shape of gun and pointing it at classmate, his mom is ‘baffled’

A six-year-old boy with autism in Fayette County, Georgia, has been suspended from school for biting his sandwich until it resembled a handgun and pointing at a classmate.

As reported by Atlanta News First, the first grader’s mother, Kristen Medina, alleges that this specific suspension is just the latest development in a disciplinary saga and says the school has failed to take into account her son’s disability.

The outlet says that since 2023, the school has disciplined the boy at least 33 times, with 14 of those being suspensions. Those include a suspension for pointing a water bottle at a classmate while making gun noises and drawing a picture of a pilgrim shooting a turkey. They also note incidents of violent behavior towards other students, including kicking and punching other children.

“I think he feels like he’s a bad kid”

Medina says she was shocked when she received the call about the sandwich incident, saying, “They informed me over that phone call that he was getting suspended for it. And you’re just like baffled.” She also said this suspension has had a negative impact on her son’s mood:

“I think he feels like he’s a bad kid. here were definitely times when he would come home and say ‘I’m a bad kid’ and that’s really hard to hear as a mom.”

The family then hired a former special education director who works in Georgia schools to represent them during meetings with the faculty. She told the outlet that a six-year-old with autism would not be able to understand that this behavior isn’t tolerated in schools, saying:

“I don’t think a six-year-old without autism would understand that that’s not appropriate. They make their fingers into a gun. They pick up sticks and make them into guns. … They need to look at the whole picture. You need to look at his age. You need to look at his disability. You need to look at past behavior, and you need to determine whether this is more of a teaching moment or is this something that really needs discipline, and is that discipline then going to change the behavior?”

Fayette County Schools Superintendent Jonathan Patterson didn’t comment specifically on the boy’s case, but stated:

“We just want to recognize that these things are difficult. We have parents who are very happy with what’s going on and we have parents that aren’t. And so we try to work through those individually. We’re committed to meeting parents to try to work through these challenging situations that maybe we agree on, that maybe we don’t agree on, but we’re committed to keep coming back to the table and trying to resolve those things.”

Medina says she wants her son’s story to be told to help parents of other children with disabilities, and believes there are straightforward things educators could do to help children with autism, like taking them on short walks if they become overstimulated.

The consequences for schools breaking regulations can be serious, as a Tennessee Christian Preparatory School discovered when they barred a gay student from attending her graduation, with a court ruling the school must pay her $10,000 compensation.