The temperature in Lafayette was 30 degrees when Kerra Wilson dropped her 4-year-old son off at Evangeline Elementary School Tuesday morning.
Kerra told KATC she sent her son to school with a hooded jacket and later received a call from the principal stating his jacket was taken.
“I did tell her that he did wear that jacket before, so why is it a problem today? And she said we have to follow LPSS rules. They cannot wear the jackets with hoods and I said 'well, okay, that’s fine,'” Kerra said.
Kerra says administrators should have given her son’s jacket back at the end of the school day, but that wasn't the case.
When Kerra arrived to pick her son up, she says she was surprised to see teachers with hooded coats, while her son had no jacket at all.
“He had on a knitted hat, gloves and a sweatshirt,“ Kerra said. "I was devastated because I didn’t think that they would even do something like that to someone’s child.”
Despite the apologies from the school, Kerra feels it’s not enough.
“The other teachers are sitting out there with coats and hoods,” Kerra said. "How could you, as a mother, as a teacher, feel that that is okay."
Kerra’s mother, Lashonda Wilson, says she was upset to know her grandchild experienced this situation.
"To even be outside, to let this child go outside without the jacket. He is not an animal, he’s a human, and he wasn’t getting treated like a human,” Wilson said.
Wilson says the type of jacket shouldn't matter.
"As long as they are safe and warm, that's all they should be concerned about," Wilson explained. "It shouldn't be nothing else about taking his jacket."
The Lafayette Parish School System (LPSS) provided a statement to KATC. In the statement, LPSS says:
"The Evangeline Elementary parent was informed by school administration that the student's hooded jacket did not comply with the dress code and was held in the office. Due to cold weather, students remained inside the building during the day. Unfortunately, the jacket was not returned to the student before dismissal.
School administration has apologized to the parent and addressed the matter directly. To prevent similar issues and ensure students' comfort, children are now kept in the cafeteria while waiting for pick-up, avoiding exposure to the cold.
Elementary school principals have been directed to take steps to prevent similar situations in the future. Teachers will remind students that hooded garments are prohibited under the LPSS Dress Code Policy. Students wearing such garments will be required to remove them while inside the building, and parents will be notified of any policy violations so they can plan accordingly."
