Friday, March 9, 2012

Girl Handcuffed For Being Rude

ADAMS COUNTY - Children who cop an attitude at school might want to think twice. Eleven-year-old Yajira Quezada, a sixth-grader at Shaw Heights Middle School, was handcuffed and taken to a holding facility for disobeying the orders of an assistant principal during lunch and being "argumentative and extremely rude," 9Wants to Know has learned.

An Adams County Sheriff's Office incident report says the assistant principal found Yajira walking in the hallway during lunch because the girl claimed she was cold and needed to get a sweater from her locker.

The report says the assistant principal was in mid-sentence when Yajira, "turned and walked away saying, 'I don't have time for this.'"

That was enough to handcuff the girl and send her out like a prisoner. Are you freaking kidding me? She had marks on her wrist.  I wouldn't even classify this as extremely rude, like the article does.

We have to teach our kids to know their rights and stand for them. We want to teach them not to be bullies, but then put them in an environment where they are bullied by those they are supposed to trust. So she was a smartass, welcome to working with kids.  She isn't even a teenager yet, for crying out loud!  Have a talk with her or her mother. I find it hard to believe she was the sole reason this escalated into a police matter. Over a freaking sweater.

Gaytan doesn't condone her daughter's behavior but questions the severity of the punishment and the handcuff marks left on Yajira's hands.

Steve Saunders, director of communications and community relations for Adams County School District 50, says anytime an incident rises to this level, officials take a close look at what happened.

"You hate to see something escalate to where it becomes a police matter. Once they step in and take over a case, it is really in their hands. The conclusion was, as far as the district was concerned, everything was handled appropriately," Saunders said.

The mom sounds reasonable. I'd like clarification on what they mean by "escalated to this level" because it sounds like she was trying to hurry to get back to class and took a boatload of stupidity instead. The school district doubled down and said they believe this was appropriate.  I hope that comes back to bite them in the ass.

What a load of crap.  I hope they pay dearly for it. Our kids are going to have an uphill battle with their liberty, and not being treated like disobedient cattle. She was flippant, but if I was cuffed every time I disagreed with school staff I'd have permanent callouses on my wrists. It sounds like this little girl learned the value of manners, but I also hope she learned the value of knowing when the other party is out of line, no matter what job title or power they hold.

No comments:

Post a Comment