Special needs student fed pizza from trash can

PLEASANT GROVE, UT (KTRK) -- The mother of Utah special needs student says her daughter was forced to eat pizza from a trash can.

Sierra Prince is a special-needs student in the 8th grade. On Wednesday, she says she asked for a piece of pizza for lunch but was told there wasn't any left. When she asked a second time, a kitchen employee grabbed a slice from the top of a trash can and handed it to the girl.

"I didn't really like the taste of it at all," Sierra said. "It was nasty."

Sierra is a diabetic with learning disabilities and says she only ate the slice of pizza because that's what her aid and staff told her to.

"I didn't want to eat it but I was dosed for pizza anyway because I'm diabetic so I had to eat it," said Sierra.

"Sierra can't make her own decisions on what she eats. That's why they hired the helper," said her mother, Nicole Cordoba. "Not only one person made the decision for Sierra to eat out of the trash, 3 adults did."

Cordoba quickly complained to the school district who then sent an email to school employees reading in part:

Kimberly Bird, Alpine School District Spokeswoman, issued a statement to TV station KSTU reading in part:

The lunch manager has since been placed on administrative leave. Cordoba now wants assurance it won't happen to her daughter or any other child again.

"Just make sure our kids are safe. That's why we send them to school so they can learn and they're safe. We don't send them there so they can eat out of the trash can," Cordoba said.