Mississippi student arrested after getting upset over schedule change
DESOTO COUNTY, Miss. (WREG) — The mother of a 13-year-old DeSoto County student is outraged after her daughter was arrested and held in juvenile court.
Cassandra Newbern is still fuming about what happened on September 28 at DeSoto Central Middle School.
“I couldn’t sleep. I paced the floor. I’m like, ‘What could my child have done that bad to keep her incarcerated overnight as a juvenile?'” she said.
According to Desoto County Schools and Southaven Police, her 13-year-old daughter became upset about an unexpected change in her class schedule.
“It’s hard for her to adjust to change, and that was a sudden change, so I feel like the whole situation could have been prevented,” Newbern said.
The “situation” reportedly escalated when the teen tore up her new schedule and became “insubordinate to administration” and “flipped off two tables with her middle finger” while walking out of the school lunchroom. The act was caught on a security camera.
“I actually saw the video. She “flipped” off a table of students, but she didn’t use no profanity, but they used that as basically everyone knows what the middle finger means,” Newbern said.
The school resource officer reportedly contacted a youth court judge who granted a custody order, and the 13-year-old was booked into the Desoto County Juvenile Center in Hernando, a move Newbern calls totally unnecessary.
Newbern also said her parental rights were violated when juvenile authorities reportedly questioned her daughter without her being present.
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“Have you ever been in trouble? Do you know why you are here? What does your mom do? Just questions I feel I should have been present,” she said.
Newbern said her daughter was released after 19 hours and the charges of insubordination and using profane gestures were dropped, but the teen is reluctant to go back to school.
“She cried the morning I told her she had to go and she’s been crying since she came home like she was traumatized,” she said.
The teen was suspended for three days. DeSoto County Schools has not returned our request for clarification on whether the 13-year-old’s actions warranted being arrested.
Southaven Police said the incident is still under investigation. Cassandra Newbern said she is considering legal action.
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