At Lawton Chiles Middle Academy, located in Lakeland, Florida, an 11-year-old boy was arrested after refusing to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at his school. He is in the sixth grade.
The reported back-and-forth between the child and teacher (a substitute) is pretty wild. The report stems from a handwritten statement the teacher gave to the district about the incident. So, to be clear, this is as the disciplining teacher reported it, not the child (or other children’s) perspective.
Bay News 9 reports that the student in question was prompted to stand for the Pledge. In response, the child reportedly told the teacher that the flag is racist against black people. “Why if it was so bad here he did not go to another place to live,” she allegedly replied, which… is wrong and offensive on so many levels. Somehow, it gets worse.
The child reportedly replied with an extremely intelligent (and wise) statement: “They brought me here.”
As the substitute herself reported in her statement, she replied, “Well you can always go back, because I came here from Cuba and the day I feel I’m not welcome here anymore I would find another place to live.” She reportedly added: “Then I had to call the office because I did not want to continue dealing with him.” If the rest doesn’t speak volumes on the attitude here, dealing with him certainly does.
Bay News 9 reports that the child was then apprehended by a school resource officer. Why? They deemed that he had threatened the teacher with violence (specifically, beating the teacher), wouldn’t follow directions, and said the principal should be fired. The child said that he did not threaten the teacher. And, to repeat, this interaction got an 11-year-old child arrested. He was charged with resisting arrest without violence and disrupting a school function and was brought to a juvenile detention center.
Dhakira Talbot, the child’s mother, said, “My son has never been through anything like this. I feel like this should’ve been handled differently. If any disciplinary action should’ve been taken, it should’ve been with the school. He shouldn’t have been arrested.”
“I want the charges dropped and I want the school to be held accountable for what happened because it shouldn’t have been handled the way it was handled,” Talbot continued.
So again, all extremely reasonable.
Speaking to Yahoo Lifestyle, a public relations specialist representing the Polk County Public Schools clarified that students may choose not to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The substitute teacher in question didn’t know this. Why did they not check before having a student arrested? Hmm. The PR specialist said:
“A student at Lawton Chiles Middle Academy was arrested after becoming disruptive and refusing to follow repeated instructions of school staff and law enforcement. This incident followed the daily Pledge of Allegiance in the classroom. Unfortunately, a substitute teacher was not aware of this.
We are looking into this matter, but this individual will no longer be allowed to substitute at any of our schools. Our HR department will contact Kelly Services (which provides our substitutes) to further refine how our substitutes are trained.”
In addition to being arrested, the child was suspended for three days. While this would be horrific no matter the child’s academic abilities, his mother noted that her son is in gifted classes.
The Lakeland Police Department can’t release public records on the misdemeanor arrest, as the child is obviously a juvenile.