CHARLOTTE — A mother claims that an assistant principal attacked her 13-year-old son after he refused to take off his headphones in class at Renaissance West STEAM Academy.
The mother says it happened in October of 2022, but she is now considering taking Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to court.
“I was just devastated to watch him be manhandled like that, especially over something so small,” Ashley Bolton said this week.
The attack allegedly occurred during a confrontation where Bolton’s son, Karter, was asked to remove his headphones but refused. The administrator was called in, and attorneys say the interaction became physical, eventually ending with Karter on the floor.
“Takes two hands on the back of this child’s shoulders and slams him into the concrete floor of the school face-first,” described Mary Frances Parker, the family’s attorney.
Parker states that Karter was treated for an acute traumatic brain injury, eye scratches and bruises following the incident.
Bolton recounted his experience, saying, “I was throwing up for three days. My head hurt. I couldn’t really even get out of bed, couldn’t even turn the lights on, lights making my head hurt.”
Parker also mentioned that the entire alleged interaction was recorded on video, which the school allowed the family to view but has not released publicly.
“It is important that the city, I mean, everyone really deserves to see it. It’s unsettling to think that there’s a principal anywhere, at any school, that would be manhandling children this way. And it’s very hard to understand why there hasn’t been a more proactive response,” Parker said.
The family has filed two incident reports with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) and requested a safety plan from the school, but stated they have seen no action taken thus far. They are threatening a lawsuit if CMS does not take immediate action.
CMS has declined to comment on ongoing litigation.