'Rude' girl handcuffed at school

WESTMINSTER, Colo., March 6 (UPI) -- A Colorado woman said she moved her 11-year-old daughter to a new school after administrators had her handcuffed for being "rude."

Mireya Gaytan said her daughter, Yajira, was handcuffed and taken by a school resource officer to a juvenile holding facility for disobeying the orders of the assistant principal at Shaw Heights Middle School in Westminster and being what the school described as "argumentative and extremely rude," KUSA-TV, Denver, reported Tuesday.

The Adams County Sheriff's Office incident report said Yajira was confronted in the school's hallway during lunch while on her way to her locker to retrieve a sweater. The report said she walked away from the assistant principal in mid-sentence, saying "I don't have time for this."

"She told me that I need to quit giving her my attitude. Why would they handcuff me? I'm not the type of girl to get arrested," Yajira said.

Gaytan said she does not approve of her daughter's behavior, but she does not understand the severity of the punishment, which she said left her daughter with handcuff marks on her hands.

"They're treating them like criminals. And they're not, they're kids," Gaytan said.

She said she moved her daughters to a different school.

Steve Saunders, director of communications and community relations for Adams County School District 50, said a review found administrators acted appropriately.

"You hate to see something escalate to where it becomes a police matter. Once they step in and take over a case, it is really in their hands. The conclusion was, as far as the district was concerned, everything was handled appropriately," Saunders said.