WARREN, Mich. -- Several parents in Warren said they are outraged after learning about a potentially dangerous situation that happened at their children's charter school.
A spokeswoman for National Heritage Academies said an 8-year-old boy was issued a six-day suspension for bringing a pocketknife to class at Great Oaks Academy. She said the child made some sort of threat after another student teased him.
The student who teased the boy told his parents he was threatened. The next day, school officials said they searched the 8-year-old's backpack and found two pocket knives.
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Parents said they were notified too late, and some said that if the boy is not expelled, they will pull their kids out of the school.
One father is so upset he has already pulled his third-grade daughter out of class.
"Right now, there are talks of him coming back, and I don't want to take the chance of her being in class with him," parent Mike Chaney said.
According to Michigan's school violence laws, a knife with a blade less than three inches in length is not considered a dangerous weapon, but some parents said they strongly disagree.
"(School officials are) pretty much telling us that it wasn't important enough contact us -- little knives aren't considered weapons," parent Kelly Sorlien said.
The principal told Local 4 a letter will be sent out to all of the parents apologizing for not notifying them about the boy with the knife. On Friday, school leaders said they will meet with parents to determine if the boy should be allowed back into school.
"They say that (the boy) has a right to be educated here on the premises, but we feel that our kids should not be in fear and should not have a disrupted educational environment," parent Talia Goetting said.
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