LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A Las Vegas mother said school leaders need to be held accountable for expelling her daughter.
Shairome Reece’s 11-year-old daughter was accused of hitting an assistant principal at Sedway Middle School, but an investigation revealed that never happened.
For more than two months, Reece’s daughter missed school. Time her mother said she can’t get back. Reece and her daughter attended a hearing on April 5 in front of mediators to discuss the expulsion.
“[In] this final investigation, this young lady was not the one who struck the assistant principal,” an administrator at Sedway said.
8newsnow.com obtained video of the April 5th hearing.
According to documents, a fight happened on Jan. 30 and Reece’s daughter was kicked out, all based on an accusation she hit an assistant principal.
“I did not understand the decision as to why she got put to expulsion,” Reece told mediators at the hearing.
Reece said she fought hard to have her daughter reinstated.
“I don’t understand the whole point of the hearing if they already had a decision, if they already knew what happened. I felt like they were trying to cover it up,” Reece said.
The Clark County School District told 8newsnow.com it doesn’t comment on student privacy matters.
Nonetheless, the matter caused emotional distress for Reece’s family.
Her daughter was enrolled in Sedway’s special education program and had an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP), which required the 11-year-old to get extra attention.
Reece said there were services she couldn’t receive for the two months she was expelled.
“How can I go to work if my child is still out of school? And if I leave her here, that’s another way for me to go to jail,” Reece said.
Last week, Reece received a citation from the Clark County School District Police Department in the mail charging her daughter with fighting.
An advocate on behalf of Reece, Kamilah Bywaters, spoke at the April 5 hearing.
“It is really concerning that on her incident report, it was a charge of battery. I’m not sure what that looks like, but an accusation of battery. And then we come here to find out today…she’s not the one who hit the assistant principal,” Bywaters, who is president of the Las Vegas Alliance of Black School Educators, said.
Reece’s 11-year-old has dreams of becoming a doctor, dreams that could be impacted.
“They failed her tremendously,” Reece said of the district.
What is not clear is who made the accusation that Reece’s daughter struck the assistant principal, and if that person will face discipline for the student missing two months of school.
