04 February 2023 , 19:38
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A fuming mother has hit out at her child's school after a drawing she made was confiscated by teachers who deemed it "inappropriate".
The drawing, named "Piggie" appears to be an innocent depiction of a pig saying "hi" as it waves its arms.
But staff at Hanover Horton Schools in Michigan, US thought that the pig's attire looked like something else, and decided to write up the child for her drawing.
Her mother, Sierra Carter, said that the situation was "bull c**p" and told local news station WLNS that "it’s very clearly a bowtie".
Sierra was first informed about the incident when she received a phone call from her daughter's teacher.
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Taking to TikTok to vent her frustration, she said: "Her teacher told me that my daughter had drawn something inappropriate in the art class and that a little boy had come up to her and made her aware that he thought my daughter drew boy parts on her pig project."
The angry mother confronted the principal and pointed out to him that it was a bow tie (6WLNS)
The teacher told her that upon seeing her 11-year-old daughter's artwork, the principal's immediate reaction was to "write her up" for it. (6WLNS)She added: "My daughter told the teacher right away that she drew a bow tie and the teacher proceeded to take all of her papers from her and then she said she had to give my daughter's project to the vice principal at the school to handle".
The teacher told her that upon seeing her 11-year-old daughter's artwork, the principal's immediate reaction was to "write her up" for it.
Sierra later met with her daughter's teacher and a social worker from the school so they could discuss the incident and show her the "inappropriate" artwork.
She said: "They hand me her art project that was just 'so offensive' and as soon as I look at it I'm like 'are you fricken kidding me, are you kidding me.'
Sierra Carter spoke about the incident on WLNS (6WLNS)"I literally slam my hand down on the table and I said 'to be completely frank with you I am p***ed. Like why are we sitting here right now and why was there a big deal made out of this? It's a fricken bow tie.'"
The angry mother confronted the principal and pointed out to him that it was a bow tie, to which he responded: "A bow tie is a bow".
She replied, saying: "I'm sorry my daughter's not Monet but to her, a bow tie is a bow and a tie.
"If another kid happened to look at it and think it was something else that sounds more like a 'he' problem, not a 'she' problem and why you're making this my daughter's problem I don't know."
She said the principal eventually agreed to remove the write-up but told her that her daughter's drawing would be kept in her file "in case any future incidences come up where she's inappropriate".
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But Sierra claims it's unfair on her daughter and has asked for it not to be kept on file.
She said: "My daughter has never been inappropriate. She has never even talked about boy parts, girl parts, has never drawn anything at home, at school, anything."
She said that although she could see how the picture could be misconstrued, teachers should have told the other child that it was a bow tie.
"I can see where an 11-year-old boy might have looked at her artwork and seen something different but I feel like that's where her teacher should have shut it down... It could have been shut down and it could have been stopped, but it was not," she said.
Commenters on Sierra's TikTok post agreed with her outrage.
One person said: "I'd tell them I was mad that they sexualised my child's drawing off of what a young boy said they should be ashamed"
Another commented: "The social worker could have stopped this issue in seconds, shameful! The adults have their heads in the gutter."
While a third added: "I would frame it and give it to the teacher and principal as a gift."
The mother has since met with the school's superintendent and is fighting for two demands.
She explained: "The two things that we're asking for are that one the artwork is not copied or placed in her file at all, and the second thing we're asking for is an apology."
Hanover Horton Superintendent John Denney told WLNS that school officials handled the issue with "compassion and discretion" and didn’t ostracise the student.
However, Sierra disagreed. She claimed her daughter no longer wants to go to school because she's anxious and worried about getting in trouble.