In my opinion, these parents had absolutely no concern for their son’s own personal well-being. If they weren’t concerned for the safety of other students when they saw the drawing, why were they not at least concerned for his mental health? Did they at least not think he might want to shoot himself when they saw the drawing with the words “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me.”
I am also a bit puzzled at the school’s behavior, which is based on a personal experience I had with my own child. When my son was in 2nd grade (yes, 2nd grade), I got a call from the principal that I needed to pick him up immediately - he had just punched his teacher. When I picked him up, I was informed that if it happened again, there may be one of two consequences. Either they would call an ambulance and take him to a local mental health hospital or he would be expelled. I completely understood where they were coming from. My son has ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder and even at that time he was medicated, in therapy and regularly had appointments at a developmental clinic. The school was aware of this and even had him seeing the school counselor. Not because he was ever aggressive, but because he could be a difficult child. I came to find out that that day was the one (and only time) he threw his medication into the garbage in the morning so the impulse control from ADHD mixed with his ODD made for a powder-keg situation.
In light of what we know about the meeting with the parents though, I can’t help but wonder what the school would have done if I hadn’t picked him up. Would they have made good on their threats or would they have given him another chance because it was his first “offense”? I don’t think the searching for ammunition is egregious on its own, but coupled with the picture the next day, would they have had the power to expel him or get him immediate help? Or did they have to give them a first warning of that (which probably didn’t come after the ammunition search and doesn’t sound like it even could have come if the parents didn’t respond to the school’s request to discuss it) before they could proceed?