Amarillo parent speaking out after daughter suspended from Austin Middle School

AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — A recent social media post regarding a local middle school and a student being suspended has caught the attention of parents around Amarillo.

Mike Bartels said his daughter suffers from severe allergies and late last month, she had an allergic reaction on a Saturday causing her eyes to swell and by Monday, her eyes were still red.

“On Sunday, it was still kind of swollen. We gave her some Benadryl, so she could go to school Monday because we knew it was STAAR testing that week. She woke up, her eyes were kind of red on Monday morning, we still sent her to school and I got a phone call around 10 o’clock in the morning that she was intoxicated,” said Bartels.

Bartels added he told the Austin Middle School administration that when he went to pick up his daughter, he would pick up a drug test at Walgreens and take it down to them. He added the Austin administration accused his daughter of using marijuana due to her eyes being red.

“She passed the drug test, they said that the drug test didn’t work and that I would have to go get another one. So I went to the doctor’s office and got her another drug test and had to wait four days for the results, in the meantime, I took her back to school and they called me and said ‘she can’t be at school, at first, they said she was going to be ISS, then called me back and said I needed, she needed out of school suspension. Then they called me back again, this is all on the same day, and said she was going to have to go to an alternative school…It was judge, jury, executioner all in the same day without even talking to her and asking her if she had any allergies. They told me it was because, they were looking out for student safety, at the same time, they never searched her bag to see if she had any drugs, they never called in any medical professionals in, and they had a police officer there who was very large and intimidating talk to her, so she was stuttering, she was nervous and based on that, they said she was intoxicated.” said Bartels.

Bartels believes that they did let the school know their daughter had severe allergies.

“I believe that when we sign up at the school at the beginning of the year, we list all of her allergies. She did take allergy shots for a couple of years prior to this and had an EpiPen and all that. I believe we had to let the school know about that,” said Bartels.

Bartels said his daughter was allowed to take her STAAR test on Tuesday, but he had to immediately pick her up afterward because they did not want her on campus.

“It broke her heart because it’s her last few weeks of school and she wants to hang out with her friends and finish out the school year strong and she wasn’t able to do that,” said Bartels.

Bartels said the results from the doctor’s drug test would come back clean.

He said his daughter is now back at Austin, the administration has since apologized and he has filed a grievance and he said they have a conference this week regarding the matter.

Bartels added that multiple people have reached out to him to say similar things have happened across the district.

“100% there needs to be some change and I think not everything is not black and white in any situation. I think it needs to be taken on a case-by-case basis and look at the gray areas and extenuating circumstances so we can evaluate what’s going on with kids,” said Bartels.

According to the Amarillo ISD Student Code of Conduct , students shall not:

• Possess, use, give, or sell alcohol or an illegal drug.
• Possess, give, or sell seeds or pieces of marijuana in less than a usable amount.

• Be under the influence of prescription or over-the-counter drugs that cause impairment of the physical or mental faculties.

Amarillo ISD Student Code of Conduct defines Under the influence as a means lacking the normal use of mental or physical faculties. Impairment of a person’s physical or mental faculties may be evidenced by a pattern of abnormal or erratic behavior, the presence of physical symptoms of drug or alcohol use, or by admission. A student “under the influence” need not be legally intoxicated to trigger disciplinary action.

In a statement, Amarillo ISD said:

Because of federal student privacy laws, we cannot comment on specific student situations. However, generally speaking, AISD prioritizes student and staff safety in all situations. When a safety concern is brought to our attention, campus administrators endeavor to make the best decision possible based on the information available at that time. Parents are encouraged to be a part of safety and discipline processes and to bring forward information relevant to the situation. The District wants to work in collaboration with families to ensure the best outcome for all involved.

Amarillo Independent School District

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.