The Jonesboro Police Department says a mother put her 10-year-old son in danger, forcing him to walk almost five miles to school as punishment. Police cited Valerie Borders, 34, on Monday for endangering the welfare of a minor in the second degree. Officers determined Borders forced her son to make a 4.5-mile trek to school from their home at Fairview Drive. Nequavion Borders, 10, had recently lost his bus-riding privileges for the fifth time from MicroSociety magnet school, located at 1110 West Washington. His mother sent him to school on foot Monday as punishment for the repeated suspensions. He only made it a few blocks before he was picked up by police. “She did the right thing,” Nequavion said. “She knew that I had been suspended off the bus five days, so she didn’t do nothing wrong. She made me walk. I just had to walk. They shouldn’t have picked me up. I could’ve walked by myself.” Valerie Borders did not want to make a comment, but she did allow her son to speak on her behalf exclusively to Region 8 News. He says he now realizes why his mother wanted to teach him a lesson and “not to just get on the bus and act a fool.”
