Mom angry after school handcuffed 8-year-old son

SANFORD, NC -- The mother of an 8-year-old child with special needs is expressing outrage after she says her son was handcuffed at school -- and she was never notified.

The incident happened in November at the William Warren Child Development School.

Both the student and a school resource officer are no longer at the school.

The boy's mom asked that we not use her name or her son's. She said her child was involved in a classroom disturbance and a school resource officer was called. She told ABC11 that the deputy handcuffed her son, lifted him up, and took him to another room to calm down.

The next day, the mom says she met with the principal, teacher and the deputy, whom she feels overreacted.

The only thing he could say was he was a danger to himself and others," the mother said. "When you are 8 at a special-needs school based on behavior, you should not be able to handcuff a child."

On Wednesday night, school superintendent Dr. Andy Bryan said in an emailed statement that they "care about all their children and do everything to help them learn."

He went on to say, "at times, SROs who are employed by our sheriff's office have to use different methods of intervention to keep students and staff safe."

Bryan said he has "an open-door policy for any parent in our district who wants to discuss a concern about their child," and welcomes the opportunity to have that conversation.

The young boy's mother says her son is now in a different school -- and is doing much better.