Girl, 11, Arrested, Cuffed For Fight At School

[AuntRonda]

Girl, 11, Arrested, Cuffed For Fight At School

Group To Fight Charges

Jessica Rodriguez attends Walker Elementary School, 6424 Settlers Village, in the Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District.

She said another girl pushed her last week on the schoolyard, so she pushed her back.

But an official complaint filed with the Precinct 4 Constable's Office said Rodriguez hit the other girl after the shoving incident was over.

"This was a fist against a nose. Parents, separately and independently from the school, decided they wanted to pursue the case and try to prosecute this case in court," said Lt. Tim Cannon, with the Precinct 4 Constable's Office.

Rodriguez was led away in handcuffs after the parents of the other girl decided to press charges.

"I thought maybe they would tell me to apologize or something, but I didn't think they would handcuff me and take me," she said. "(I felt) like a criminal because they handcuff criminals."

The arresting officer said he was just following the law by handcuffing the 11-year-old.

"It's something we try to stay away from as much as possible, but for the safety of the officer and for the safety of the child, handcuffs are a requirement by department policy," Cannon said.

Rodriguez was charged with a Cpkmtyoll A misdemeanor and was suspended from school for two days. The district attorney has reviewed the case and will proceed with charges.

The Houston-based Hispanic Policy Action Center said it is taking up Rodriguez's cause and will investigate the matter on a federal level.

[TarueBeliever]

When my daughter was a freshman in high school, she was 5'0" and weighed 80 lbs wringing wet. About a month into school, she put her book bag down in what was, unknown to her, some other girl's "spot." That girl in front of many students and teachers knocked my daughter down and put her hands around my daughter's throat. Students said no nearby teacher moved to help my daughter. A larger male student pulled the girl off my daughter. We weren't notified by the school of the "incident." My daughter was sent to cpkmtyoll. She borrowed a teacher's cell phone and called home. We drove to the school and pulled her from cpkmtyoll. She had deep bruises on her arms and back. Her throat was also deeply bruised.

The principal said there was nothing he could do as it was the other girl's "first offense." I asked him for her name and for the phone. I told him I was going to press criminal charges against her. He said I couldn't because it happened on school property. I told him he was nuts. I called the police. They came and arrested the girl. She was charged (and later convicted). The next day, we received a notice that our daughter had been suspendended for fighting on campus. We invoked our rights to a hearing. Not a single teacher would show up as a witness on our side. But over 20 students spoke on behalf of our daughter. Our daughter was allowed back in school.

But we decided to homeschool her instead. The school district lines were changing and she was going to move to a high school only a few miles away instead of 15 city miles away the next year.

She's a freshman in college now. She made 3 A's and 2 -A's her first semester in Elementry Education.

The Public Schools are not worried about our children. They are a money sucking empire that is worried keeping itself alive and growing. This country really needs to make the schools accountable for the bad job they do of educating kids.

[AuntRonda]

There are some schools that take it very seriously. On my campus, fights result in five days of ISS for both......unless one was clearly attacked......fortunately it is a rare thing to happen where I teach now.

So, please don't place a blanket accusation of all schools. The school your daughter attended was wrong. The teachers were probably intimdated by the admin. The school knew it had the potential to be sued.

Ronda