Mother voices outrage after school confiscated her 11-year-old daughter’s drawing of a pig

A concerned mother has expressed her outrage after her daughter’s school confiscated a drawing of a pig because its playful tie resembled a penis.

Sierra Carter, from Michigan, took to TikTok to explain that she had received a phone call from her 11-year-old son’s art teacher who was concerned about one of his creations.

Sierra’s daughter had drawn a colorful masterpiece, titled Piggie, which featured the farm animal waving its arms, along with a speech bubble that simply read, “Hello.”

But the Hanover-Horton Elementary School tutor deemed it “inappropriate” and said the pig’s bow tie showed male genitalia.

Since then, Sierra has attended meetings with the teacher, a social worker and the principal, as well as the school’s superintendent, but says the matter has not yet been satisfactorily resolved and says the image is still kept on record. from her daughter.

Social media users were quick to share their support for Sierra and her family, calling the situation “shameful.”

But school superintendent John Denney called the situation “unfortunate” and claimed it was a “one-sided narrative that has been created on social media that paints our staff in a negative light.”

In the candid clip, which has over 800,000 views so far, Sierra spoke into the camera while explaining what was happening.

She said: ‘I got a phone call from my daughter’s teacher: she’s in fifth grade, she’s 11 years old. Her teacher told me that my daughter had drawn something inappropriate in art class and that a little boy had come up to her and told her that she thought my daughter had drawn “boy parts” on the pig project in she.

‘He came over and asked my daughter for all her papers… My daughter told her teacher right away that she drew a bow tie.

“But the teacher proceeded to take all her papers away and then said she had to give my daughter’s project to the vice principal of the school.”

Sierra, who was later called into a meeting, continued: ‘I got there this morning and they took me into a conference room, and I sat down with the teacher and the school social worker.

They handed me their art project that was just “so offensive” and as soon as I look at it, I’m like, “Are you kidding?”

“I literally slammed my hand on the table and said, ‘To be completely frank with you, I’m pissed off. Why are we sitting here now? And why was a big problem made with this? It’s a fucking bow tie.”

“I’m told that when they gave it to the director to ask what he thought about the whole thing, the first thing he said was ‘write it down.'”

Sierra said she then demanded that they bring it over so she could discuss the drawing with him.

After pointing out that it was just a bow tie, Sierra said: ‘[The principal] it says “a bow tie is a tie”.

“And I’m like, ‘Sorry, my daughter isn’t Monet, but to her a bow tie is a bow and a tie. And if another kid looks at it and thinks it’s something else that sounds more like a he-trouble than a her-problem. Why are you making this my daughter’s problem, I don’t know.”

Sierra said the director agreed not to write about the incident, but stated that he wanted to keep the artwork on file in case problems arose in the future.

She continued: ‘My daughter has never been inappropriate. She has never even talked about “girl parts” or “boy parts”, she has never drawn anything at home or at school or anything.

The protective mother, who repeatedly claimed her daughter had done nothing wrong, ended the clip by saying she had been left “super confused.”

She said her daughter’s teacher should have shut the whole thing down from the start, and other social media users were quick to agree.

One wrote: ‘The social worker could have stopped this problem in seconds, embarrassing! Adults have their heads in the gutter.

Another said: ‘As an administrator I am so sorry you have had to deal with this. When I saw the photo, I thought: ‘You’re kidding, keep defending your son!’

And a third added: ‘You’ve got to be kidding! That’s ridiculous! It’s clearly a bow tie and the teachers/principal/social worker should be SHAME!!’

An event for entrepreneurs went a step further in their support by turning the controversial drawing into a T-shirt design and selling it for $24.99.

Since then, Sierra has posted a number of other updates to her followers on the video-sharing platform.

She thanked people for their support before revealing that her daughter can sometimes struggle in school and with socializing due to her ADHD.

Sierra, who also met with the superintendent after the incident, said: “I just want the school to understand how hurtful their accusations are towards my daughter and I just want them to fix it.”

“I just want them to apologize and I don’t want my daughter to feel like she’s constantly in trouble for something because she’s working so hard to be good at school.”

She called the school’s actions ‘defeating’ and ‘very discouraging’ before claiming the artwork was still being kept in her daughter’s archive.

In an official statement from Superintendent John Denney, he told FEMAIL: ‘Our staff are charged with keeping schools safe and free from distractions or disruptions. In carrying out that responsibility, they strive to comply with all legal and policy requirements. All decisions related to this matter were made in accordance with and in compliance with those principles.

“It is unfortunate that a one-sided narrative has been created on social media that paints our staff in a negative light. As in any situation, there are two sides to this story. In this case, a student appropriately raised his concerns with our staff.’

He continued: ‘In response, our staff handled the situation with compassion and discretion. Staff contacted the student’s parents to discuss the situation. No student was singled out or ostracized. Every effort was made to protect the privacy and dignity of all students. Nothing has been placed in any student’s school records related to this matter.

“Due to student confidentiality laws, we are unable to provide further information on this situation.”