Comment

Comment by Pam Vredenburg on March 19, 2012 at 6:44am

An 11-year-old Colorado student was handcuffed and taken to a juvenile holding facility when she became 'argumentative and extremely rude' with her school's assistant principal.

Yajira Quezada, a sixth grader at Shaw Heights Middle School, was in a hallway trying to retrieve a sweater from her locker when she was reportedly confronted by the school official.

The assistant principal began to admonish Ms Quezada before she abruptly turned away saying, 'I don't have time for this,' according to a 9news.com report.

'She told me that I need to quit giving her my attitude. Why would they handcuff me? I'm not the type of girl to get arrested,' Ms Quezada said.

After a counsellor's attempt to intervene was unsuccessful, Ms Quezada girl was handcuffed and placed in a resource officer's patrol car before being whisked away to a juvenile detention centre dubbed 'The Link.'

No charges were filed.

Ms Quezada's mother, Mireya Gaytan, questioned the school's actions and bruise marks on left on her daughter's wrist by the handcuffs.

'They're treating them like criminals. And they're not, they're kids,' Ms Gaytan, said. "I don't want this to happen to any more 11-year-old kids. They're scaring them. They're traumatizing them," Gaytan said.

Ms Gaytan has moved both her daughters to a new school following the incident.

School officials promised to take a close look at the incident, as they normally do anytime the police become involved in a school concern, according to Steve Saunders, communications director for Adams County School District 50.

'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 told 9news.com.

In any case, Ms Quezada seems to have learned a valuable lesson when it comes to communicating with teachers.

'Not to give them attitude,' she said. 'I am blaming myself.'