A father was kept apart from his 11-year-old son for hours after his school suggested the boy had “had dr*gs in his system,” when in fact he only had a cold.
The worried parent, surnamed Barksdale, documented the situation on social media, including a conversation with an officer who told him he couldn’t see his boy until he underwent a medical exam.
Highlights
- A father was separated from his son at school after authorities suggested the boy had taken illegal substances.
- The school locked the father out and made the boy take a medical test, only to find he just had a cold.
- The 11-year-old's dad is planning to take legal action against the school authorities.
Initially, when the school called him, the father rushed to the building, believing the institution had given something to his child.
The 11-year-old had been dealing with allergies and feeling unwell in the weeks before the incident, which led him to miss a week and a half of school. The boy had also been grieving the recent passing of many family members, his dad said.
Image credits: theprototype88
After arriving at the school, Barksdale learned that authorities suspected the boy appeared ill because he had been "intoxicated."
When he called the child’s mother to let her in on the exasperating situation, the principal, Lisa Frey, locked Barksdale out.
“She locked me out of the building and wouldn’t tell me anything about what was going on with my son,” the concerned father explained.
The 11-year-old had been dealing with allergies and feeling unwell in the weeks before the incident, so his father was concerned when he received a call from the institution
Image credits: theprototype88
According to the content creator, the principal “got hurt feelings” and wanted to “prove she had control.” She also called him “irate,” though Barksdale says he doesn’t know why.
In one of the videos documenting the incident, Barksdale recalled that Frey was “aggressive and disrespectful” when he came to enroll his son.
“I don’t know if it’s because I’m a Black man raising my children or because I’m a man. I’m not sure what it is. But she has been aggressive, disrespectful, and completely careless,” he said. “Someone like that does not deserve to work around children.”
When he arrived at the school, he found that authorities believed the child had been "intoxicated"
Image credits: theprototype88
The school’s secretary then let him in, though he still wasn’t allowed to see his child or know where he was.
Later, his son told him he was in the “health ward.” A medic came and made the 11-year-old undergo a test despite not receiving the father’s consent.
White Oak is a school specifically for students with behavioral and emotional challenges
Image credits: whiteoakes
Image credits: whiteoakes
The institution also called the police, and a resource officer for the school came down to speak with Barksdale.
Authorities then filed an “emergency petition” to test his son at the hospital.
The hospital found nothing in his system but rhinovirus (i.e., the common cold).
The principal locked the father out of school when he phoned the boy's mother to let her in on the situation
The dad later learned that his son had been taken to a "health ward" to undergo a medical test without his consent
The content creator said he found Frey’s attitude surprising, considering that White Oak, the public institution located in Parkville, Maryland, is a school specifically for students with behavioral and emotional challenges.
The hospital found nothing in the 11-year-old's system but rhinovirus (i.e., the common cold)
The content creator suspects the attack was racially motivated
The father is planning on taking legal action against the institution and shared that he was contacted by a civil rights lawyer from California who’s helping him find a local lawyer.
He decided to take his child out of White Oak School following the incident
Barksdale also said that he’s not the only one who believes the school’s disrespectful treatment was racially motivated. As he explained, his son was the first to suspect that the school’s authorities were racist.
The child said the school insinuated his dad might take illegal substances because he “looks like this.”
Bored Panda has contacted White Oak’s principal and vice-principal for comment.
The school district’s Communications Department declined to comment on the incident “due to privacy concerns.”
People shared their advice after the exasperating situation
