Parents Furious After 5-Year-Old Suspended From Kindergarten For Making ‘Terroristic Threat’

A family in Modesto, California, is fighting for revocation of a suspension order against a 5-year-old kindergartner by his elementary school’s administrators after he refused to take off his backpack in class claiming there was a bomb in it, reports said Tuesday.

On Aug. 31, during just his third week of school at Great Valley Academy, Jackson Riley told his teacher that there was a bomb inside his backpack and he could not take it off because it would then explode.

The teacher then asked the child if she could take a look inside his backpack herself while he still had it on; to this Jackson agreed and the teacher found no bomb inside the bag.

“He said he couldn’t take his backpack off because it would explode, meaning he doesn’t want anybody to get hurt,” his mother Michelle Riley told Fox News affiliate KTXL. “So I mean, granted, it’s all in the world of pretend-play, and we’re talking about an imaginary bomb.”

Riley’s school authorities were however not amused and sent his parents a letter saying their son violated a school code and was suspended for his intent to "threaten, intimidate or harass others."

However, the letter also mentioned the rules only applied to students “in any of grades 4 to 12.” Jackson received a one-day suspension and had to be picked up by his father from school.

“We said, 'This doesn’t fit, and furthermore we don’t really feel like our son was threatening you,'” Jackson’s father Ian Riley said. “'He’s got an imagination. In his mind, he’s being this hero that’s preventing you from being exploded from an imaginary bomb in his backpack.'"

The administration agreed that the code didn’t fit to be imposed on the kindergartner, but didn't remove the suspension from Jackson's school record.

Jackson’s father said that the school officials sent another letter later specifying that Jackson had made “terroristic threats.” The school is yet to comment on the incident, according to NBC News affiliate KCRA.com.

The family has asked the administration to remove the suspension from their child's record.

"He’s 5. He has an imagination. We just want what’s right is right, and what’s right in this instance is for our child to not have a permanent mark on his record because of this,” Jackson's father said.

Ian told the Huffington Post that a meeting has been scheduled Friday between the parents, the principal and the school’s CEO, in order to discuss the incident further.

Ian added that he was hopeful that the meeting will end with the mark of suspension being removed from his son's school record.

The parents were concerned that the suspension will have a lasting impact on the minds of people in school regarding their son.

“It becomes easy to label the kid, ‘Yeah, he already made a terrorist threat. It wouldn’t shock me if he meant this in malice too,’” Michelle said.

“We don’t want terrorist threats to be on his permanent record,” Ian said. “The kid is 5.”

Ian said other parents at the school have been "really, really supportive" since the incident.