By Emma Ockerman, Vice, June 23, 2021
After a Florida teacher mistook a third grader’s drawing of a person hugging a rocket for male genitalia, police seized the child for an involuntary psychiatric examination and threw her into the back of a squad car, according to a new federal lawsuit.
A group of parents and advocates filed the complaint against the School Board of Palm Beach County and local officials Tuesday. What happened to the third-grader, who was 8 years old at the time of the incident, is often called being “Baker Acted,” after a Florida law that allows children to be taken to a facility for an involuntary mental health exam if they’re suspected of seriously harming themselves or others in the near future.
At least 1,216 kids were “Baker Acted” in the Palm Beach County School District between the 2016 school year and 2020 school year, according to the lawsuit. As a result, hundreds were removed from their classrooms each year, handcuffed, and driven away by police employed by the school district.
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