3-year-old student sent home from Houston ISD school with unexplained head injury

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A mother wants answers from Houston ISD after her 3-year-old left school Monday with a head injury.

Her mother, Jazzlyn Price, said her daughter Harmoni is both autistic and nonverbal.

She’s in pre-kindergarten at Briargrove Elementary in the Greater Uptown.

“I just feel like someone is hiding something,” Price said.

According to Price, Harmoni came home from school and was clearly injured.

“My daughter’s teacher sent me a text message saying she had a bump on her head, and basically, she didn’t know how it got there,” Price said.

According to Price, the teacher explained that she had left Harmoni with two teacher’s aides at 1:45 p.m.

Price said she was told one of the aides noticed Harmoni’s head injury at the end of the school day, around 3 p.m.

“The teacher’s aide said the last time they changed Harmoni was 2:45, so sometime between 2:45 and 3, she ends up with this big knot on her head, and nobody knows how it got there,” Price said.

Price immediately wondered what the school could see on their security cameras.

“Apparently, the cameras are broken at the school, and they are unable to get footage,” Price said.

“We cannot comment publicly on issues involving individual students,” the district said after ABC13 asked about the incident.

“I think every student in the classroom is nonverbal, so if they are being abused or mistreated, no one will know. They can’t advocate for themselves or speak up, so it’s just kind of scary,” Price said.

Eyewitness News followed up with HISD and asked if the incident was being investigated either internally or externally.

In a second statement, HISD said:

“After checking with our Chief of Police, we do not have a report of this incident. As such, no follow-up was conducted. However, a patrol officer was sent today to the school, where a report could be made. The campus may be handling this incident internally if it did occur.”

Price said she’s contacted child protective services and plans to make her own call to police.

“Knots like that, especially that size, don’t just appear on someone’s head. I just want to know what happened,” Price said.

Briargrove was a place Price believed was safe for Harmoni.

But she said every step of their response to her daughter’s injury has proved that is not the case.

“Not only did they see the knot and put her on the bus, but they did not send her to the nurse, (nor did they) send her to get looked at. She could’ve passed out,” Price said.

Eyewitness News asked the district whether Briargrove’s security cameras are functioning but has yet to hear back.