The question I have is, where the hell was the parent? The 6yo should have been supervised and informed of the right and wrong places to take the knife. And the child should be taking nothing to school that the parent doesn't know about.

Also, while it is easy to blame the school/teacher/administration you have to remember that they are downstream of hundreds of children that come at them like a dam break. Kids from diverse backgrounds, often with learning disabilities, or discipline issues. The teachers can't handle each and every one of them like the bundle of joy their parents see. If little Johnny innocently pulls out a knife and little Sue stumbles into it and gets so much as a scratch your talking multi-million dollar lawsuit. Schools are run on a shoestring and any case can sink their budget. So the rules are written in simple bright lines. It also limits claims of favoritism, racism, special treatment.

If it can be mistaken for a weapon or even moderately controversial or dangerous it is forbidden. I bet the 45 day suspension is the proscribed penalty. More a punishment for the parent than child. Forty-five days was probably selected to keep it beyond the easy, no pain, reach of a parent who might otherwise try to take it in stride, avoid having to make provisions for daycare, by taking a few days off. A kid being kicked for three days or a week is a vacation. A kid having to be put into daycare so mommy can go to work is a wake up call.

I also give you odds that there is a fairly lenient appeals process. The 45 days is a threat to get the parent to get involved and engaged. The usual way it works is the 45 days suspension becomes a week or less if the parent meets with the school counselor, agrees to parenting classes, and consents to monthly in-person meeting for a year to make sure the kid maintains course in the right direction.