HOUSTON - Two young boys in Spring have been pulled out of school by their parents. They say the school was too harsh in how it punished the boys for what they considered to be a harmless prank.
Maxwell Grady and Cayden Kinsley are tight.
"We are good friends," said Maxwell.
So, when the 6th graders got in trouble at Schindewolf Intermediate School.
"It wasn't supposed to be mad serious, it was supposed to be a joke," said Maxwell.
"He comes up behind me and pantses me," said Cayden.
Maxwell pulled down Cayden's pants, but nothing was exposed. School administrators said the boys would have to be spend 30 days at an alternative school.
"When you equate pantsing with a friend, just a joking thing with bringing drugs to school, there's no comparison," said Stacie Grady, Maxwell's mom.
It's classified as a Level II offense, which puts it on the same level as fighting, theft and creating hit lists.
"He feels like they are treating him like a criminal," said Melanie Kinsley, Cayden's mother.
District officials issued a statement saying" Klein ISD does not tolerate inappropriate behavior, especially behavior that is embarrassing and degrading for other students. At the beginning of the school year, as school administrators explained the Student Code of Conduct to students, they warned students of potential consequences for incidents of misbehavior, specifically identifying the conduct at issue here. As explained in the Student Code of Conduct, procedures are in place for these parents to appeal the campus discipline beyond the campus level; however, we are aware of no request for an appeal in this situation."
However, it's the way school leaders explained their decision that upset this mom.
"She was trying to explain it more as a sexual nature," said Kinsley.
These moms say they were ok with their boys being punished.
"Any scenario I would have been ok with, except annex," said Grady.
Instead of alternative school, Maxwell and Cayden are now doing 30 days of home school and they are sorry.
"I really regret doing that," said Maxwell.
These 6th graders never imagined this would be their punishment for pantsing.
"I would say don't do it, it's not worth it," said Cayden.
Both parents told us they have filed one appeal, but choose not to appeal further because they didn't want the process to drag out and impact next school year.
