Debbie Shepard, grandmother of the 10 year-old boy who was injured during an incident on the Cold Springs Elementary School playground on Friday, spoke to KGVO News on Sunday afternoon. 

Shepard said she took her grandson, Braeden, to Missoula Community Medical Center herself, after receiving a call informing her that an incident had occurred, and that he had been injured.

"In my opinion, if he had a bloody nose and he fell backward, the school should have done more than just have cleaned him up and called me," Shepard said. "They should have called for an ambulance. We also, the biological mother and I, called the police from the hospital. The reason I called them was because of Braeden being a special needs child, and having been in the same class, we've had problems before with Braeden's behaviors, and the discipline style and methods that they use."

Shepard said she, the mother and the school district have had a good relationship over the years, and this year had been no exception.

"We had made a fabulous IEP (Individual Education Plan) for the year, and it was stated in the plan created this fall, that if Braeden were to charge, as the teacher has put it, and hit any adult or student, that we would call law enforcement and he would be ticketed," Shepard said. "That is what upset me most of all, that they did not follow their own IEP protocol."

She explained what happened after Braeden was taken to Community Medical Center.

"They took a CAT scan of his head, and some x-rays of his neck and he had a brain bleed," Shepard said. "So, they flew him by helicopter to Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, and because there wasn't enough room for his mother or I to fly with him, he had to go alone, while his mother and I drove to Spokane. After being in the emergency room, they took him to the pediatric ICU for observation. He had been throwing up blood at school, at the hospital and on the helicopter. So Friday, they gave him medication for the nausea and vomiting. They were hoping that the brain bleed would repair itself and they wouldn't have to do anything, so he was being watched."

Shepard said Braeden had been diagnosed with  severe concussion, and has since returned to Missoula, where he is recovering at home.

"I will be meeting with the police on Monday to find out exactly what happened," she said. "He needs to feel safe at school. We have worked so hard to let him know what's safe and what isn't safe, and he needs to feel safe while he is there. I don't know exactly what happened, and I'm just as confused as everyone else."

The full interview is below.

Debbie Shepard, grandmother of injured Cold Springs Elementary School student.

 

 

A 10 year-old Missoula boy who was injured after a confrontation with a school employee on the Cold Springs Elementary playground, has reportedly been transported to a Spokane hospital.

Public Information Officer Travis Welsh with the Missoula Police Department said the incident occurred on Friday morning, when it was time to call children back into the school building after recess.

"Just before 11 a.m. Friday morning, there were a teacher and a para-educator out on the playground at Cold Springs Elementary School, on Briggs Street," Welsh said. "The teachers were trying to get the students into a line, and one particular student was having difficulty following instructions."

Welsh explained how the injury occurred.

"At one point the 10 year-old boy charged at the teacher and there was a physical interaction between the two which resulted in the boy falling to the ground and striking his head," he said. "Witnesses at the scene said the teacher put her arms up to protect herself and the boy fell down."

Spokesperson for School District One, Hatton Littman issued a news release that stated 'following school protocol, Cold Springs faculty provided minor first aid to the student and contacted his family. The family sought additional medical treatment for the student after leaving the school.. The District is confident that the investigation by Missoula Police will indicate that the injury is the result of an accident that took place on school property.'

 

 

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