Safiya Merchant

Battle Creek Enquirer

A Marshall Middle School mother says her eighth-grader was grabbed by the arm and "manhandled" to the school office last week during an incident that started with a cell phone and resulted in law enforcement officers showing up at the school.

But district officials, who have characterized the incident as a "power struggle" between a school administrator and a 14-year-old student regarding cell-phone usage, say that version of events has not been substantiated and that only a conversation occurred between one police officer and the student.

Marshall Public Schools Superintendent Randy Davis has said an administrator called for police presence after a student refused to put a cell phone away or turn it in and go to the office. He said the student has been confronted over cell-phone issues in the past.

The student's mother, Elizabeth Holloway of Albion, said his only incident occurred in Albion Public Schools two years ago.

Although a police presence was requested to help the student comply with Marshall school officials, Davis said they did not specifically request the three police cars that eventually showed up.

Davis told the Albion Public Schools Board of Education on Tuesday there were no interactions between law enforcement and the student in question except for a "conversation" between the student and one officer.

"The young person and the police officer is on our video tape in the cafeteria, so we see what went on," he said.

The administrator eventually sat down with the student and resolved the issue, and the student went back to class, Davis said. The superintendent said earlier this week he does not know why the administrator decided to call the police, and that he planned to have a conversation with that staff member.

"There were some challenges to it, I don't want to cover that up," Davis said. "We're actually looking at our protocol about why would we call a police officer in support unless the administrator felt like they weren't in control. So we're still looking into that."

The student's mother, Albion resident Elizabeth Holloway, gave a different account of events.

Holloway said she has instructed her son to check his phone during lunch and passing periods in case there are any emergencies. Ever since an Albion Public Schools official did not give her son's phone back for a few days, she's also told him to never give his phone to anyone. Thursday's incident took place during lunch. She said her son took out his phone to check if he had any messages from his mother. He then snapchatted his lunch tray.

The school assistant principal then told her son he needed to turn over his phone, but Holloway's son refused. An argument ensued.

​"He told the assistant principal you need to call my mom and I'll give you her phone number and he was like 'no,' so (my son) called me from his cell phone with the assistant principal standing right there," Holloway said.

Her son put the phone on speaker, and she said at that time that if the assistant principal wanted the phone, he needed to call her. The assistant principal said he was going to call the police and requested she come to the school.

"And I said I can't come up there, I've got triplet infants and a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old," Holloway said.

Holloway said when police arrived, more than a conversation occurred between law enforcement and her son.

"He said that the police were telling him to go to the office with the assistant principal and after how the assistant principal had treated him, he didn't want to go with them," she said. "So they grab him by his arm, twist his arm up and manhandle him to the office."

Holloway said she thinks calling the police was ridiculous. The only call she received from the administrator was after the fact, when he offered her an apology later that afternoon.

"He wasn't being threatening, he wasn't being aggressive, he just was refusing to give you his phone, that's not a reason to call the police," she said. "What happened to the school's due process? What happened to calling the parent?"

Holloway said her son is not a bad kid. He has always gotten good grades and played sports. When he was attending Albion schools, he mentored and tutored kids and helped teachers with errands, she said.

"Incidents like this do not need to happen," she said. "Call the parent. This is not a bad kid. Read his file, learn what type of child he is before dealing with him. They're not taking the time to get to know these students."

At Tuesday's meeting, Albion City Council Member Garrett Brown likened the event to another "power struggle" that occurred in a prominent news story last year, when a South Carolina school resource officer was filmed throwing a black student across the floor.

"What bothers me about the power-struggle description of that in the situation that at the end of the day, the student is a child and the administrator is the adult," Brown said.

Albion Board President Vivian Davis said Tuesday she thought the administrator should not have called for a police presence, adding that that decision should be the last resort.

“If a child is totally disruptive or disorderly, you use the resources in the building first is my premise," Davis told the Enquirer after Tuesday night's board meeting.

Randy Davis did not return a call from the Enquirer on Wednesday for further comment about the incident.

​Contact Safiya Merchant at 269-966-0684 or smerchant@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow her on Twitter: @SafiyaMerchant