Yesterday was a hard day and I am down today. The school insists that Tommy deliberately punched a classmate in the face. Tommy insists that he reached out to shove the boy down and didn’t mean to hurt him. I think Tommy acted impulsively and regrets what he did so he wants to deny it away rather than accept responsibility for a very bad choice. The other boy is fine and the other parents aren’t upset. The school just wants one more reason to say they can’t help Tommy. Tommy was punched in the face so hard a few years ago that he had two very black eyes. Tommy slapped more than hit this boy but it is still very disappointing. He has never hit anyone before. He has been stabbed with pencils and shoved several times this year but none of the other students have followed through on their threats to hit him. I wonder if waiting for it to happen sent him over the edge. My parents have deemed that Tommy is now on an unstoppable path to jail. With sincere concern for the other children they are pushing me hard to find someplace to send Tommy. There is nothing for Tommy other than relinquishing custody to the state. There are no private schools that would accept Tommy. I feel like I failed him long ago when I allowed the school to focus on his behavior and ignore academics. He is now hopelessly behind academically and complete unaware of how to be a student. Is my choice to give him away and watch him spend the rest of his life wasting away in group homes or to let him happily spend his days reading books in the security of his own room?