Woke up this morning to this news and have been sick and outraged ever since. Copy-pasting what I got from Alex. I was forwarded the message by several friends before the news even came up on my email from change.org whose feed I subscribe to. The "zero violence tolerance" policies of public schools and the increasing police involvement in "disciplining" issues involving very young, often undiagnosed special needs students is APPALLING. This case isn't an isolated one. Police are called before the parents are. Happens all the time. School psychologists and child advocates get involved too late. Salecia Johnson has already been victimized by her school administration. Please sign this petition and bring this issue to the awareness of others. Justice in the handcuffing and arrest of 6-year-old Salecia
http://www.change.org/petitions/justice-in-the-handcuffing-and-arrest-of-6-year-old-salecia-johnson?utm_campaign=iAYgUBfXSW&utm_medium=email&utm_source=action_alert
Why This Is Important
On April 13th, our six-year-old daughter, Salecia Johnson was handcuffed and arrested at her school, Creekside Elementary in Baldwin, GA for a so-called ‘temper tantrum’. She was charged with battery and suspended for the remainder of the school year. The school took all of these actions without notifying us. Although they claim to have called, we did not have any record of these calls on any of our phones. As a result our daughter was in police custody for more than an hour before we knew. Salecia has been traumatized by this experience. She’s afraid to return to school and recently woke up in the middle of the night saying ‘they are coming to get me.’ In all of this, the most important thing is that this incident does not become anymore of a setback for Salecia and her future. Although we are now being told that Salecia can return to school after a week and there are reports that the charges have been dropped (the police have not notified us), a record of her arrest exists. Also, we believe there should be a more in-depth examination of what happened and why police were brought in to deal with a matter of school discipline.
We are calling on Milledgeville officials to remove any record of Salecia’s arrest and end the use of police in school discipline. Please join us in demanding justice for Salecia. We cannot allow this to happen to another child. Thank you, Constance Ruff
-- REBLOG, PLZ. So sickening that an ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILD can be arrested, but adult murderers like Zimmerman are allowed to bypass punishment due to legal loop-holes. And NO, wee Salecia is NOT the only child who has been treated this way in the southern U.S. states. At least one mother I know personally who will be reading this has dealt with similar concerning her own little girl. CHILDREN. Being arrested/restrained by POLICE for having “tantrums”. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE
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