MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A third-grader could possibly be suspended for the rest of the school year because he brought a pocket knife to school to appease bullies.
He attends Winchester Elementary School.
Vongretchen Anderson is 8-year-old Calvin Hardin’s guardian.
“I said, ‘Did you decide to take that knife on your own?’ He said, ‘No,’ and I know he ain’t that type of child,” Anderson said.
She said he brought the knife to satisfy bullies. She did not know he brought a knife to school until he got in trouble.
She claims some kids at the school have stuffed Calvin in garbage cans. She said they have been demanding money from him for months.
“They asked him to get in the group. He said he didn’t want to get in the group. So, by him not wanting to get in the group, he had to bring, pay them a dollar everyday,” Anderson said.
She said she learned about it in September. She went to the school to let staff know, and they told her they would take care of it.
Anderson believes that bullying problem grew.
She said the bullies told Calvin that if he did not have a dollar, he needed to bring something else.
He found the pocket knife under the couch at home.
“Calvin is scared to come home and say anything, because these little boys telling him if we see you in the apartments, because they stay over here, we’re going to beat you up,” Anderson said.
Anderson knows bringing a weapon to school is wrong. Still, she feels Calvin’s punishment is extreme.
She said the district is investigating, but paperwork she received suggested he is likely suspended for the rest of the school year. He might have to attend an alternative school.
“I feel like it could’ve been resolved when I went up there and I told them that he was being bullied, his money had been taken from him,” Anderson said.
Anderson said she believes the school also suspended the boy who was given the knife.
WREG reached out to Shelby County Schools for information about the incident and suspensions. The district said it is looking into it.