A seven-year-old second-grader was found hanging in a bathroom stall at Paul Barnhart Elementary in Charles County, Maryland. While the reports are conflicting about what actually happened, what is known is that the child had severe contusions to the neck and to the face which were caused by blunt force trauma, and that the principal is the one who found the child after being told about the incident by a fourth grader who was also present.
The fourth grader is being accused by the family of the second grader of trying to hang their child in the bathroom. The child, who has not been named, was hospitalized for his injuries and has since been released. Some reports state that the child was found unresponsive and foaming at the mouth, while others say that the youth was responsive and alert after the incident. Conflicting statements also assert that it was a matter of horseplay between the two students, who were alleged to be friends, gone terribly wrong. After being unable to release his friend’s zipper that was stuck on a hook, the fourth grader went to get help from the principal, who was the adult who found the boy.
After understandable public outcry, the school superintendent, Maria V. Navarro, Ed. D. released two statements, the first asserted that the school was not covering up the incident, as had been reported on social media.
Charles County Public School Superintendent Dr. Maria V. Navarro has issued a statement regarding that incident involving the 7-year-old reportedly found hung in the bathroom of C. Paul Barnhart Elementary School in Maryland. https://t.co/6DPJuMkqO3 pic.twitter.com/tTzXEuAMBp
— Willi Quinn (@willi_quinn) November 18, 2024
The following day, Nov. 18, she released another statement: after a thorough investigation of three whole days, the powers that be concluded the incident was not racially motivated, but the student is still receiving disciplinary actions; it is unclear why if it was innocent horseplay, that resulted in an accident, that there would be a need for punitive action against an alleged innocent student. Two years ago, this same county was hit by a scandal when a Confederate Flag was raised onto La Plata High School’s flagpole, which is located only 8 miles away from Barnhart Elementary, where the hanging took place.
So clearly, it is an area known for its racial harmony.
The parents of the injured child are obviously calling foul against the reports of horseplay. According to the mother, her child reported to her that he was told, “I’m going to show you how I did people back in the day.” The child who was injured is Black, but there is no report on the race of the other child, but according to the 2020 census, the county is 54% Black and 37% white, and if what the other child reportedly said to the victim is true, it is unlikely a Black child would say that another. The victim has since been released from the hospital and is recovering at home. The child is reported to have multiple and severe bruising on his neck and face. The superintendent has also not described what type of horseplay results in blunt force trauma. The mother also states that when she was phoned about the incident, she was told that her child was “choking,” which she immediately thought was a food-related incident, not that he had been harmed by another student. It’s an interesting thing to say you are not trying to cover something up but then tell a parent her child was choking and not being choked.
The parents have stated that their child will not be returning to the school.
Maybe this was all just a misunderstanding that started with a second grader, a fourth grader, and a bathroom hook, it happens all the time, and it used to happen more frequently. It is an interesting thing to watch the history school boards try to erase from the curriculum, play out with the student body in present time. If the purpose of learning these things is so that they are not repeated, then maybe the purpose of not learning them, is so that they are.
