The mother of a Barrow County high school student said her daughter’s skull was fractured when she was slammed against a concrete wall Thursday during a fight at school.
Chrisalena Pringle told Channel 2 Action News that her daughter, Iris Narens, is home and resting after she was treated at an Atlanta hospital over the weekend.
She is suspended from Winder-Barrow High School until Wednesday, but Pringle takes issue with the way the incident was handled.
In cellphone video of the fight filmed by another student, Narens is shown grappling with a girl in a hallway. She is pushed headfirst into a concrete wall, and a loud popping sound is heard. The video has been widely shared on social media.
RELATED: Georgia student flown to hospital after having head slammed into wall during fight
Pringle’s daughter said the fight started when she corrected the girl’s math problem in class, and the girl called Narens a “racially charged” name, according to Channel 2.
As of Monday, Barrow County Sheriff’s Office investigators had found “no evidence” the incident involved bullying. The sheriff’s office said it was not aware of the video until hours after the incident.
Narens was “escorted to a classroom for further evaluation” after being found sitting in the hallway alert, the Barrow County School System said in a news release Monday afternoon. The release added that a staff member, described as having emergency training, evaluated Narens and said she was “not exhibiting any of the symptoms that would have indicated a call to EMS.”
Pringle was contacted about 20 minutes later, the sheriff’s office said. She told Channel 2 she knew something was seriously wrong with Narens after she went to check on her in the nurse’s office.
“When I see her in the nurse's office, I look at her and I saw that I might lose my child,” Pringle said. “She couldn’t walk, she couldn’t really talk, her eyes were fluttering.”
The school system’s statement said Narens’ parents were advised to take her for further evaluation.
Pringle drove her to a hospital in Winder. From there, Narens was flown to an Atlanta hospital.
“They should have called 911,” Pringle said of school staff. “She should not have been moved. She shouldn’t be getting in trouble in any way, shape or form.”
The school system did not release any details about the other girl involved in the fight, other than to say it issued “appropriate consequences.”
The statement said, “Due to privacy laws, the school system is not allowed to release medical, discipline or education records of students.”
Pringle would like to see the school dole out serious punishment.
“If you do these things, pay the consequences," she said.
The school system called the incident “very unfortunate,” adding that it was handled “according to system policies and protocols.”
“We do not condone fighting or any type of violence in our schools or the recording of incidents, and we work actively to prevent it,” the statement continued. “We were glad to learn that our student is now home recovering. Violence, in whatever form it takes, has significant consequences and is never the answer to interpersonal conflict.”
