Education

High School Senior Arrested When He Went To School In-Person Again After Being Suspended

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A high school student was arrested Thursday for coming to school while he was suspended for insubordination after going to class when he was supposed to be learning virtually, a school district spokesman told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Maverick Stow, a 17-year-old from William Floyd High School in New York state, was arrested Thursday and charged with criminal trespass for going onto school grounds after he was suspended, according to a statement the Suffolk County Police Department provided to the DCNF.

“I don’t feel my son should have been arrested,” Nora Kaplan-Stow said, according to the Associated Press. “I certainly didn’t like seeing my son in handcuffs, but I support him 1,000%.”

William Floyd School District spokesman James Montalto from told the DCNF that Stow was suspended for insubordination Tuesday after he disobeyed orders to leave when he went to school when he was supposed to be online that day. Montalto said the school is doing three days virtually and two days in-person in adherence to New York’s social distancing rules.

“He readily admits in various media interviews that he walked out on the principal and refused to listen to their directives. We let him finish out the day without incident and then notified his family that he was suspended for five days due to insubordination,” Montalto told the DCNF.

William Floyd High School Senior Maverick Stow was suspended 5 days today for attending in-person classes on his remote learning day. He says students belong in school. The school district says students who “flagrantly” disregard the schedule will be suspended. pic.twitter.com/ZRDSfrBtgJ

— Kristin Thorne (@KristinThorne) September 8, 2020

Montalto added that when Stow arrived the next day and he was not permitted to go into the high school, Stow challenged a district official “to ‘forcibly remove him.'” The district gave Stow a warning letter that if he came again, the police would be notified and he would be arrested, Montalto told the DCNF. Stow brought a group of the media and knew he would get arrested on Thursday, Montalto said to the DCNF.

The school said that if Stow kept trying to go back to school grounds every day they are open, then all classes would transition to virtual learning “for the foreseeable future” and the high school building would close, according to a Wednesday school district statement.

“We strongly believe that Maverick’s rights as a student do not surpass the rights of the other 8,799 students that we have the privilege to educate. I will reiterate another important point, we have implemented the hybrid model due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the social distancing requirements put in place by our government officials,” Montalto said.

Nora Kaplan-Stow did not immediately respond to the DCNF.