One day, about eight years ago, when Tessa Davis’ son was in kindergarten, she got a call from his school outside Little Rock, Ark. She said the school told her he had grabbed a girl’s jacket in the cafeteria and twisted it – they thought he was trying to choke her.
Given his past misbehavior, Davis said, the school gave her two options: He could either be suspended for three days or a school administrator could paddle him. NPR is only identifying her son by his first initial, C, because this story details his behavioral struggles and how he’s been disciplined in school.
Davis said she couldn’t afford to miss three days of work to stay home with C.
