Sixth Grader Suspended For Taking Self-Harming Classmate's Razor Blade
A sixth grader was suspended—and now faces expulsion—for taking a razor blade away from a classmate who was cutting himself. Her school has a "zero tolerance" weapons policy.
After throwing away the blade and trying to talk the boy out of self-harming, Adrionna Harris told administrators at her Virginia Beach, Va. middle school what happened. She was rewarded with a 10-day suspension and a recommendation for expulsion.
If she had never told an adult that she held the razor blade, however briefly, she would have faced no punishment.
"I was shocked and surprised. I was very shocked that a student would get suspended for saving another child," Rachael Harris, Adrionna's mother, told local news station WAVY. "The school system over-reached absolutely."
"Under the circumstances, she thought he would bleed out, as he was cutting himself, and there was no teacher in sight," Rachael Harris said, "It was a 911 situation, and there wasn't time to find a teacher."
After the story made the local news, the school district moved Adrionna's suspension hearing up by one week, and agreed to talk to her mom about the incident. The Harris family hopes the suspension will be dropped and Adrionna will be back in school Friday.
No word on what the school is doing for the student found cutting himself.