Family questions arrest of Cy-Fair 4th-grader

Community activist Quanell X and Anna Patterson, the boy's great-grandmother and legal guardian, said at a news conference Thursday at the Harris County Juvenile Detention Center that Cy-Fair ISD officials overreacted to Wednesday's incident. less Community activist Quanell X and Anna Patterson, the boy's great-grandmother and legal guardian, said at a news conference Thursday at the Harris County Juvenile Detention Center that Cy-Fair ISD officials ... more Photo: J. Patric Schneider Photo: J. Patric Schneider Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Family questions arrest of Cy-Fair 4th-grader 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Relatives of a 10-year-old boy are asking why the Cypress-Fairbanks school district found it necessary to arrest a fourth-grader after he threw a plastic container at a teacher.

The boy, who attends Emmott Elementary School, remained in custody Thursday at the Harris County Juvenile Detention Center, 1200 Congress, in downtown Houston, where community activist Quanell X called a news conference.

"You mean to tell me that in 2012 we're now locking away children in elementary school for just disrupting the learning environment?" Quanell said. "The zero tolerance policy should be done away with."

A spokeswoman for the school district said Thursday that federal privacy laws limit what she could disclose about the incident, but she said the family's description of what happened was inconsistent with that of campus personnel.

"It includes inaccuracies," spokeswoman Kelli Durham said. "Assault of a public servant - and teachers are considered public servants - is against the law."

Photos of the boy's classroom, taken by a district employee after the incident, showed the room in disarray, with chairs upended and reading materials strewn about the floor.

Anna Patterson, the boy's great-grandmother and legal guardian, said he has a court appearance scheduled for Friday morning at the detention center, but she didn't know when he would be released.

"I was here last night, but they said I couldn't see him," Patterson, 70, said at the news conference. "I didn't sleep last night. I was really upset."

Patterson said school officials called her to the school Wednesday after the incident happened, but she didn't realize her great-grandson was going to be taken into custody.

"After I was there about 30 minutes or so, they came back in the room and told me they were going to arrest him," she said. "They said it was an assault against a teacher."

In the two semesters the boy has attended the school, at 11750 Steeple Way Blvd., Patterson said he had been suspended more times than she could count. But the suspensions were unjustified, she said.

"The least little thing he does wrong, they suspend him," she said.

The boy is on medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Patterson said, and had an appointment scheduled Thursday to see a therapist at Depelchin Children's Center.

Quanell said the district's decision to have the boy arrested showed a lack of resources to deal with children who have behavioral problems.

"You would think Cy-Fair ISD would have something else in place to deal with their problems than putting them in jail," he said. "I guess Cy-Fair ISD believes this detention facility would do a much better job than a therapist would do."

carol.christian@chron.com