A south suburb school in Illinois is accused of calling the police on a child with autism over missing vaccination records, according to ABC 7.
The parents of 8-year-old Tamir Rhodes said that their son had all his shots; all that was left was to transfer the necessary paperwork to the school nurse. However, it was reported that the school took drastic action by contacting the police because of his lack of documentation.
According to Tamir’s mother, Shunita Rhodes, said that the school nurse called her while her son was at Meadowview Intermediate School and asked for his vaccination records.
Shunita informed the school nurse that Tamir’s previous school, which was within the district, has all his vaccination records.
“Can you just call over there, call the nurse and obtain the records? To my dismay, she said ‘no, that’s not my job,'” Shunita told ABC.
Shunita told the nurse that she will send over the medical records that day, but first, she had to attend a work meeting.
A police officer from Country Club Hills called Shunita while she was in the meeting, she said.
“He said to me that I was called here because of a case of neglect, and I said neglect? He said well ma’am, I can see that it’s not a case of neglect, so can you just call the school district and work out the matter. I said, OK,” she said.
According to Shunita, Tamir was labeled a trespasser at school and the police were called to have him removed.
ABC reported:
Tamir was dropped off by officers and retrieved by his older brother. The Rhodes are outraged.
“What happened to sending a note in a child’s bookbag?” Timothy Rhodes said. “I would have left work early to come get him instead of him riding in a police car.”
The parents said the school hasn’t been willing to address the issue, so they hired attorney Calvin Townsend to get answers.
“A kid who has special need, someone who feels comfortable in a certain environment and when you take him out of that environment you’re further traumatizing him. We want the principal the school nurse to answer for and the district as well,” Townsend said. “No kid should have to ride in the back of a police car over shot records.”
The I-Team reached out to Meadowview Intermediate School to find out why Tamir was sent home with police and what their policy is for vaccine records. Principal Philip Bazile declined to comment and told the I-Team to reach out to the district’s superintendent for a statement. Superintendent Dr. Duane Meighan never returned calls or emails.
Watch the video below:
