A six-year-old in Fayette County, Georgia was suspended in March after he bit his sandwich into the shape of a gun at lunch and pointed it at another student. He has autism. His parents say the district has disciplined him dozens of times.
John Medina is a first grader at Sara Harp Minter Elementary School. School records show he has been disciplined at least 33 times since 2023, and 14 of those were suspensions. Some of the incidents were physical. He kicked and punched another student at recess. Others were the sandwich, pointing a water bottle while making gun noises, and a drawing of a pilgrim shooting a turkey.
Speaking with Atlanta News First, his mother, Kristin Medina, said the school called her about the sandwich. "They informed me over that phone call that he was getting suspended for it," she said. "And you're just like baffled."
The family's case
Medina is not arguing that her son never misbehaves. Her argument is about the plan. John's individualized education program includes accommodations meant to head off this kind of incident, including taking him for a short walk when he gets overstimulated. She said the school could have prevented some of the behavior by following it.
The family hired Donna Reynolds to represent them in meetings with the district. Reynolds was a special education director in another Georgia district before that. She said the suspension did not account for John's age or his disability. "I don't think a six-year-old without autism would understand that that's not appropriate," she said. "They make their fingers into a gun. They pick up sticks and make them into guns."
Reynolds said districts are supposed to weigh several things before they discipline a student in a situation like this one. "They need to look at the whole picture," she said. "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?"
What federal law says about repeated removals
Fourteen suspensions is enough to trigger a federal requirement. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, once a student with a disability has been removed from school for more than about 10 school days in a year, the district generally has to hold what is called a manifestation determination review.
That review asks whether the behavior was caused by the child's disability or substantially related to it, and whether the school failed to carry out the IEP. If either answer is yes, the district is supposed to address the behavior through the plan instead of continuing to remove the student. Parents can request the review, and they can appeal what it concludes. Whether that happened here is part of what the family is disputing.
Most parents never hear about any of this until they need it.
The district's response
Fayette County Schools Superintendent Jonathan Patterson declined multiple interview requests from Atlanta News First. He called the station's investigative reporter to read a statement and would not take questions on the call. He did not address the sandwich incident.
"We just want to recognize that these things are difficult," Patterson said. "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." He said the district is committed to meeting with families. "We're committed to keep coming back to the table and trying to resolve those things," he said.
Fayette County Schools has been accused before of improperly disciplining a student with a disability.
The effect on John
Medina said the discipline has added up for her son. "I think he feels like he's a bad kid," she said. "There 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."
She said she decided to talk about it publicly so other parents of children with disabilities would know it happens. John starts second grade in August.
Sources
Atlanta News First: Georgia first grader with autism suspended for biting sandwich into shape of gun
