Spring ISD had disciplinary hearings for several students Friday. But one boy's parents and community activists are fired up, saying a school district officer made up a story to get that teen expelled.
Emotions were high as the parents of a recently expelled Spring High School student left a disciplinary appeals hearing on campus Friday morning. The parents didn't want to speak, but supporting them was a large group of pastors and community activists who say the district's wrongfully accusing 16-year-old Ladaydric Heard of being a gang member.
"Today's meeting with Spring ISD officials and their legal department was absolutely one of the most embarrassing, shameful meetings I have ever been a part of," said community activist Quanell X.
Heard's parents claim the administrators called them on last Friday saying their son was being kicked out of school for allegedly being seen in photos on social media engaging in gang activity. The teen's parents finally got a look at the district's evidence in the hearing.
Activists and the boy's family say the photo and a Spring ISD police report they got access to from a source in the district show an officer allegedly coerced the teen into making the questionable hand signs and false statements that got him kicked out of school.
Quanell X said, "The young man repeatedly told the investigator I'm not in a gang. And this same, no-good, low-down investigator told this boy to pose, take this picture, and I'm going to throw it away."
Now these parents and their supporters are calling for an outside agency to investigate the school district police.
Spring ISD would not comment about the allegations over the police report, but issued a statement to Eyewitness News saying: "Students who violate the Spring ISD student code of conduct are assigned appropriate disciplinary action, which may include assignment to a disciplinary alternative program such as High Point or an expulsion to juvenile justice alternative education."
The school district says it cannot comment on disciplinary actions against a student. But the teen's parents say this is not over and they may be taking their son out of the district altogether.
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