No child should be punished for things that are out of their control. Which is why it’s heartbreaking to see what this school did to this first grader several times when he arrived a few minutes late to school.

The boy, Hunter, wasn’t intentionally skipping class or showing up late on purpose. It’s just that his mother had trouble starting her car and sometimes dropped him off a little bit late.

But for this offense, school officials forced Hunter to sit by himself at lunch. And they even put up a piece of cardboard in front of him to further separate him from the rest of the class.  The troubling pictures show a little boy cut off from his classmates at an age when kids are beginning to develop their social skills and are making friends on their own for the first time.

Lucky for Hunter, he had someone in his life who was able to stick up for him. Hunter’s grandmother, Laura Hoover, told his story on social media and asked people to call the school. The overwhelming response led the school to change its detention policy.

But what the community did to help Hunter get to school on time is even more heartwarming.hunter-1

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