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A Southhaven, Mississippi, mother says her first-grade son wasn’t warned before he received a disciplinary incident report for saying “Jesus Christ.”
On Jan. 6, Shonna Coleman posted a photo on Facebook of the “Parent Notice of Disciplinary Incident” she received concerning her 7-year-old’s behavior. Hope Sullivan Elementary issued the write-up on Jan. 4.
“Please pray for the schools. My son got this from school for saying Jesus Christ. 
#,” she captioned the Facebook photo.
The document claimed that the child used “Unacceptable Language.” Underneath a space for additional notes, the teacher wrote that Coleman’s son said “Jesus Christ” after he dropped some Legos.
The disciplinary incident report alleged that the teacher “Had Conference With Student” and “Telephoned [A] Parent” as their actionable steps.
Coleman told FOX 4 KDFW she was “shocked and surprised” her son was sent home with a disciplinary note for saying Jesus Christ.
“It’s kind of unfair that he didn’t get a warning. It went straight to a write-up,” argued Coleman. “I understand if he did it a second time, and then you write him up.”
“He didn’t get a warning,” the mother emphasized. “He got talking to, she called me, and they put a note out there. This type of stuff follows a kid in their record.”
Hope Sullivan Elementary is a part of DeSoto County School District, based in Hernando, Mississippi.
“DeSoto County students would not be reprimanded for simply saying Jesus Christ,” a school district spokesperson said in a statement. “It is possible that a student could be corrected for a disrespectful use of Jesus Christ’s name.”
In January 2023, a report on Yale research noted that teachers “blame Black boys more than white boys for identical misbehaviors, and are more likely to send them to the principal’s office.”
The study found that Black boys are three times more likely to be suspended or expelled than their white male peers. The Yale study was conducted via a survey of 1,339 teachers at nearly 300 middle and high schools nationwide.
Yale researcher Jayanti Owens noted that there were various possibilities why teachers sent Black boys to the principal at higher rates.
“If a teacher believes minority students are worse behaved, they might want to get them out of their classroom. Or they might think Black parents are less likely than White parents to complain, or that the school administrator is less likely to push back on the teacher’s decision.”
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