DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A family is demanding action from Volusia County Schools after a district mental health counselor pressed charges against a 10-year-old student whom she accused of groping her.
The incident has made national headlines — and even provided material to Saturday Night Live — but the family says the boy did not grab the employee’s breast during a hug like she reported to the Holly Hill Police Department. They have hired an attorney to defend the boy, who served a 10-day suspension from school and is still facing simple battery charges.
In addition to clearing the boy’s record, the family is demanding the school district fire the employee and discipline others involved.
“We will not stand by this and allow him to be accused of something that he did not do,” Ed Hollins, the boy’s grandfather, said at a virtual press conference Monday morning. “I would not stand for my grandchild or any child to be treated this way by a professional. This is a new way of lynching.”
‘He’s only 10’:Florida school employee presses charges against student after she says she was groped
The family, along with attorney Rawsi Williams and West Volusia NAACP President Sean King, said the boy is among the latest of many Black students who have been disproportionately and more severely punished by the Volusia County school system.
“Over the last two years of being president, this is a weekly call that I’m getting with situations of this nature, especially with the Volusia County school system, where our Black and brown kids are put on the wrong end of every situation, and no matter how you confront the issue, it continues to happen,” King said, calling the incident a “travesty.”
The News-Journal, a part of the USA TODAY Network, does not name or publish photos of juveniles accused of crimes. It is also not naming the district employee, who has opted into Marsy’s Law to protect her privacy.
Employee accused boy of groping her
The district mental health counselor reported the alleged incident Oct. 24.
A suspension letter sent to the boy’s guardians stated the counselor was in the student’s classroom discussing another student when the class returned from lunch and the child “approached (the counselor) to hug her.”
“(The counselor) turned sideways to give a side hug,” the report stated. “(The student) put his left arm around her shoulder and then with his right hand he reached and grabbed her left breast in which she had to grab his wrist and remove his hand.”
The explanation states that the student “proceeded to smirk and walk away” and later “began yelling and kicking things and stormed off” when his primary teacher called him to ask about the incident.
The Holly Hill Police Department report, which the employee subsequently filed, stated that the incident, which was reported as a simple battery, happened around 11:30 a.m. to noon.
That report states that the counselor saw the student running toward her and turned her body. The student hugged her and then “cupped her left breast in a disrespectful way,” and she had to “forcibly remove his hand,” she told police.
The report also notes that the primary teacher in the classroom did not witness the incident, but tried to talk to the student about it afterward.
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The family disputes the counselor’s version of the incident and notes there were no witnesses. They also object to the school district’s handling of the “wrongful suspension.”
“That really hit me really hard that a mental health specialist could accuse my grandson of (that), and then the wording that she used, it was so graphic, like he’s some kind of sex maniac or something. It’s like, this really hurts,” the boy’s grandmother, Lakesha Hollins, said after wiping away tears with a tissue.
The family’s pastor, Cynthia Williams, said the boy is loving, kind, honest and well-mannered.
The child’s father, whom The News-Journal is not naming to protect the boy’s identity, said he was at a loss for words when the boy asked if people would look at him as a “monster” rather than as himself when he returns to school.
The family is awaiting a meeting to allow the boy to return to school and has requested he be put in a different classroom and have no contact with the counselor. The district considered whether to expel the 10-year-old but did not find enough evidence to do so.
“Time and time again, we have seen Volusia County Schools violate the rights of their Black students,” Williams, the family’s Miami-based attorney, said.
Williams has previously defended two Black students who accused district employees of putting them in chokeholds in two separate incidents.
She said calls that she gets from minority families are often related to suspension or extreme discipline, such as choking or “unwarranted and excessive physical contact.” Non-minority families more often reach out to her about bullying and less severe incidents.
Family wants record cleared, charges dropped and apology
In this situation, Williams is asking the school district to reverse the boy’s suspension; expunge the incident from his record; apologize to the family; terminate the mental health counselor; and discipline the school’s principal and the other teacher in the room, whom they say yelled at the boy and wrongfully accused him, even though she did not witness it.
Williams says they have already contacted the Florida Department of Education to file complaints against the licenses and certifications of the counselor, teacher and principal. They also plan to file complaints against Volusia County Schools with the U.S. Department of Education for the “well-known and pervasive pattern” of racial discrimination within the district.
She said the district failed to follow its own policy for investigation and discipline, as it did not comply with the family’s request to meet with the school and did not notify the family of a meeting to uphold the suspension.
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Williams also noted the suspension notice was not signed by the school and left several boxes blank regarding whether the child had been given a chance to present his version or deny the charges, as well as whether the parent was called.
VCS Director of Communications Angel Gomez previously shared via email that a District Student Placement Committee determines whether to recommend students for expulsion. He said the committee meets privately and no one else is allowed at the meetings, but parents and guardians could appeal a decision afterward.
“The student has been disciplined to the extent of the student code of conduct. Under Florida law, teachers remain private citizens and school districts cannot encourage nor prohibit the exercise of criminal charges or prosecutions by employees,” Gomez wrote on Monday. “Volusia County Schools is not able to make any comments regarding any disciplinary action on a student or any action taken by a staff member involving student discipline.”
Even if he did accidentally touch the counselor, Williams says the discipline was not “restorative and logical,” as a document on the district’s discipline procedures states. That phrasing, which appears in a 2020 introduction to the student conduct code, says discipline should make “sense to everyone involved,” and that “teaching students to really think about how their behavior affects others” is key.
“Reasonable adults would have said, ‘This was an accident,’ and moved on,” she said.
On a second stage, Williams is prepared to fight the pending charge filed with the Holly Hill Police Department if it moves forward.
She said the police department has instructed that the charge would be dropped if the student attended a program for the alleged deviancy, which they are opposing on the grounds that the boy did nothing wrong.
A third course may be to demand damages from the school district through a federal lawsuit for violating the boy’s rights, which could unfold further down the road.