BELLMEAD, Texas (FOX 44)- Concerned mother Brandy Lopez got a phone call from the principal at La Vega Intermediate H.P. Miles Campus telling her she needed to come to school and pick up her daughter because of an emergency.
“I was trying to ask, ‘Is my daughter okay?’ And is she stable. They just kept telling me, ‘Ma’am, you need to get here soon as possible. Can you come right now?,'” says Lopez.
It turns out several girls were suffering heat exhaustion after having physical education class outside.
“The coach told them to go outside, it’s going to be punishment, so they started doing exercise with sweaters on and everything, and they asked if they could change out, and if they can get a drink of water, and the coach said no,” says concerned father Agustin Cardona.
According to our previous forecast, around noon on Wednesday, we were seeing temperatures in the high 80’s.
“I’m offended as a mother, you know? When I take my children to school, I’m ensuring their safety. And I’m leaving it within that school district’s hands to protect my children like it’s there,” says Lopez.
FOX 44 News reached out to La Vega ISD for a response to this incident, but we did not get an answer. The parents whose children were in P.E. class on Wednesday have made complaints to the district, and even filed a complaint to the Bellmead Police. La Vega Intermediate H.P. Miles Campus Principal Kristi Rizo sent the parents a letter addressing the incident.
In the parent letter sent from La Vega Intermediate H.P. Miles Campus:
“Thank you for speaking to me yesterday about the incident in PE involving your child. We spoke with every parent either in person or by telephone, and we tried to call families again this morning to check in again on your children. While we are deeply saddened that this incident occurred, we are all extremely thankful that each student was able to be seen by medical professionals and released yesterday. The safety and well-being of our students is our top priority, and we work very hard to ensure that. Accordingly, we are in the process of investigating all aspects of what occurred, and we will be working to determine how best we can improve in the future. In the meantime, we want you to know that the teacher of the PE class will not be returning to La Vega ISD.
“If we can help in any way or if you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at any time. My email address is Kristi.rizo@lavegaisd.org , and I can be reached by telephone at 254-799-5553. You may also contact any other member of our administrative team.”
But for these parents, that not enough for their kids. They say their kids are scared to return to school on Monday.
“She’s scared to go back to school. She says, ‘What if they get somebody else? Anybody else who does the same thing as a punishment?,'” says Cardona.
“She has a counselor she works with. The counselor came to the house yesterday, did a session with her, and point blank told me there’s a lot of disturbances there. And it’s going to take a lot of work to get her back,” says Lopez.