'Clearly a bowtie:' Child's drawing confiscated by school officials

HORTON, Mich. (WWMT) — A child's drawing was confiscated by staff at Hanover Horton Schools in Horton, Mich. after it was considered to be "inappropriate."

At first glance, the doodle looks to be an innocent rendition of a pig, but that's not what came to mind for school officials, WLNS reported.

“I got a call from my daughter’s teacher saying she had drawn something inappropriate in art class,” Sierra Carter, who has been fighting with Hanover Horton Schools to omit the picture from her daughter's file, told WLNS. “The teacher looked at it [and] said she had to give it to the principal, to get his thoughts on that. She told me that when she gave it to him and asked him what his thoughts were, he instantly said [to] write her up for it.”

Carter confronted the principal at Hanover Horton about the situation but was then asked, "who is responsible for apologizing to her daughter," according to WLNS.

Despite the reply, Carter pushed forward, resulting in school officials agreeing to remove the write-up against her daughter.

However, although the write-up was removed, Hanover Horton Schools kept documentation of the incident on file in case Carter's daughter "did anything else," WLNS reported.

When asked about the situation, Hanover Horton Superintendent John Denney stated school officials handled the incident with "compassion and discretion," and didn't ostracize Carter's daughter, WLNS reported.

But that wasn't the case, according to Carter.

After Carter's 11-year-old daughter expressed that she doesn't want to go to school, and she's both anxious and worried about getting in trouble, Carter took to TikTok, hoping to create change by "giving her daughter's situation more light," WLNS reported.

I never expected any of this to become such a big deal, it never should have become a big deal,” Carter shared with WLNS. "Everybody is refusing to remove the artwork, and they are refusing to apologize, and those are the only two things I’ve asked for."

In response to the TikTok posted by Carter, Denney called it "unfortunate," stating that it was a "one-sided narrative that has been created on social media that paints our staff in a negative light," according to WLNS.