DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. -- A frustrated mother is shocked and demanding an explanation for a second-degree burn she thinks her 3-year-old son got at school.
Naeema James said she noticed the injury on Aakil's back about 50 minutes after he got home from Pine Ridge Elementary School - and immediately went back.
"We always make sure to take off his school clothes and get them washed when he comes home," James said. "When dad took off his shirt he noticed this mark and we didn't know what it was."
James said the principal, lead special education teacher and two paraprofessionals took her and her husband to a back room where they claimed they couldn't explain how the boy got his injuries. Neither could her son who she said is autistic and non-verbal and attends a special class at the school.
She ended up taking the boy to the emergency room where they first told her how bad the injury was.
"It was determined that it was a second-degree burn that he received," James said.
Now, she's just trying to figure out what happened - but not getting very far.
"They were just trying to find out a timeline, asking if it could have been my children that did it, even though they were at school," James said.
She doesn't believe the burn happened on the bus because she thinks the driver would have said something.
"Because if it happened on the bus, he should have been screaming and irate," she said. "It is a second-degree burn. He had to be screaming."
A statement from the DeKalb County School District central office does acknowledge an incident, but provides few details, only saying that:
"The safety and security of students is always a priority in the DeKalb County School District (DCSD). The district is investigating an incident involving potential harm to a student at Pine Ridge Elementary. Appropriate action will be taken based on the findings of the investigation."
But James wants to see someone outside the district dig for answers.
"An outside investigation, definitely," she said. "We want to know what happened. We need answers."
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