Poudre School District Sued for Allegedly Illegally Restraining Student

A mother is suing the Poudre School District (PSD) for allegedly illegally restraining her daughter at Boltz Middle School last year.

According to Fox31, the incident occurred last March, when Jalilah Al-Haddad, a mostly non-verbal 14-year-old eighth grader with severe autism, asked her teacher to use the restroom.

The teacher reportedly denied her request, which led to Al-Haddad soiling her pants. Her mother, Dawn Malvase, told the station that her daughter then began to throw her feces before being physically restrained.

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Malvase claims that her daughter also received a "blistering" rug burn from the interaction.

Both PSD and Fort Collins Police Services investigated the incident and determined that the district did not act in error.

"Poudre School District takes the safety and wellbeing of all our students and staff seriously. The district does not comment on confidential student matters," PSD said in a statement to FOX31. "PSD determined that staff followed appropriate district policies and procedures. Generally, we can confirm that Fort Collins Police Services investigated this situation in 2020 and found no wrongdoing on behalf of the school district."

Malvase disagrees, alleging that Al-Haddad does not want to go to school anymore.

"You can't deny someone from using the bathroom," she told the station. "It's like traumatizing a 2-year-old. You can't speak about what happened and how it affected them."

Colorado law states that restraint must only be used in cases of emergency "after the failure of less restrictive alternatives."