Am I in bizarroworld here? This suspension is wrong! A one week suspension for... what, disagreeing with a school policy? In an assigned essay?

Geez.

Since he didn't actually provide a workable solution to the problem he identified, give him a failing grade and move on. A suspension? You can bet I'd be escalating this if it were my kid, rather than giving him stupid speeches about respecting authority. If you can't handle kids disrespecting your authority, you'd better stay out of education.