A 5-year-old North Carolina girl named Caitlin Miller was suspended for one day last week for playing with a stick she and her friends on the playground pretended was a gun. Caitlin's friends were playing queen and princess, and Caitlin, as the royal guard, picked up a stick so she could fend off imaginary attackers.
When teachers observed the game, they intervened. "One minute she's playing with her friends and the next her teachers are dragging her to the principal's office," said the girl's mother, Brandy Miller. "She's confused. Nobody explained anything to her." Caitlin's suspension note claimed she was "threatening to shoot and kill other students," a charge Caitlin says is not true.
Still, the school district stood by the suspension, commenting in a statement that it will "not tolerate assaults, threats, or harassment from any student." Watch Caitlin explain what happened — and see a picture of the stick in question — in the local news report below. Bonnie Kristian
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Political cartoons for October 27Cartoons Monday's political cartoons include improving national monuments, the NBA gambling scandal, and the AI energy vampire
-
Donald Trump’s week in Asia: can he shift power away from China?Today's Big Question US president’s whirlwind week of diplomacy aims to bolster economic ties and de-escalate trade war with China
-
The Icelandic women’s strike 50 years onIn The Spotlight The nation is ‘still no paradise’ for women, say campaigners
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstancesSpeed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governorSpeed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditionsSpeed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billionSpeed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on recordSpeed Read
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homesSpeed Read
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creatureSpeed Read
