11Alive
An 8-year-old student in Georgia was suspended for three days after school staff said a small LEGO model he showed classmates counted as a weapon.
The incident happened at Walnut Creek Elementary in McDonough, where the child’s mother says her son, who has autism and ADHD, was removed from class over the toy construction.
Chanti Little told reporters the LEGO build was not a real firearm and argued the punishment was too severe given her son’s diagnoses.
“My child did not go to school and [say] anything harmful or bad,” Little said to local news station 11Alive. “They could have just explained to him, ‘hey, we cannot build things that we think are a weapon, or look like a gun.”
The principal had told the mother that her son had “brought a weapon” to school, which sent her into “panic mode.”
Henry County Schools says its Code of Conduct allows principals to decide consequences based on factors including intent, severity, and the student’s age. The district handbook outlines four levels of prohibited behavior and states that administrators can issue either in-school or out-of-school suspension depending on the circumstances.
Little said she plans to push the district for more information about how the decision was made and whether the school followed the correct procedures before suspending her son.
This is similar to another incident from Missouri in 2024 where a student was suspended for making a gun out of Dr Pepper cans at home and then sharing his art with friends on Snapchat. Following the boy’s suspension, he filed suit against the school district.
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