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‘They don’t care’: Family says son who uses wheelchair left behind from field trip

CLEVELAND COUNTY, N.C. — A Cleveland County family is upset after a high school student was left behind while his classmates went on a field trip.

Forrest Flowers’ parents claim a teacher failed to order a school bus that would accommodate their son’s wheelchair.

“I tell them they done me dirty. All the way,” Forrest Flowers said. “They don’t care.”

Flowers is in 10th grade at Burns High School in Cleveland County. School officials said they are looking into the complaints but that they do have vehicles for exceptional children.

Flowers and his family are asking why one hasn’t been available for him like they had been when he was in middle and elementary school. The boy’s parents have brought up their frustrations to school administrators before and were very emotional about what happened.

“He loves to tend to his animals and stuff like that,” said his mother Donna Flowers.

Forrest Flowers has spina bifida. He wants to be a farmer and feels at home at the high school.

Flowers’ father said he had to take his son on the first field trip for a Future Farmers class. He said for a second field trip earlier in the month, his son was left on campus at Burns High.

“It made me feel bad because I didn’t want to stay,” Forrest Flowers said.

“He was kind of teary-eyed and said, ‘They didn’t take me daddy because they couldn’t get me on the bus,’” said Joe Flowers.

His father said he had to go to the school and explain that his son should be provided transportation. He said it wasn’t a problem when Forrest was attending other schools in the Cleveland County school system.

“I know Cleveland County has all kinds of buses to take children,” Joe Flowers said.

He said he was told by the school that someone would take Forrest back for the farm trip he missed, but that didn’t happen. Joe Flowers said they were told the school didn’t have wheelchair-accessible transportation.

“It’s really hurt me and my wife. We have sat and cried over stuff like this,” Joe Flowers said. “I know they done my son wrong.”

Forrest Flowers’ parents said field trips are important to him because he’s limited in sports and almost every other extracurricular activity. They said those trips are the one thing he loves and can do with his classmates.

He will have similar classes next semester.

The US Department of Education has an Office of Civil Rights that ensures equal access to education. Families looking to file a discrimination complaint can click here for the online form.

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