A mother from Michigan posted on TikTok to express her concern about her 11-year-old daughter being mistreated at school. Her daughter’s drawing of a pig was confiscated by school authorities because the tie on the pig was thought to resemble a penis. The mother, Sierra Carter, is outraged by the actions of her daughter’s art teacher who was concerned about the tie on the pig in the drawing.
The eleven-year-old girl drew a pig waving its arms and titled it “Piggie.” She also added a speech bubble with the word “Hi.” However, her art teacher at Hanover-Horton Elementary School thought that the drawing resembled male genitals and confiscated it.
Sierra Carter’s daughter drew a picture that was taken away. Since then, Sierra has spoken with the teacher, social worker, principal, and superintendent, but the incident went on her daughter’s permanent record. The school still has the drawing to document the event.
Sierra joined TikTok to seek agreement from others and received affirmation from thousands of people who also believed that the school’s treatment of her eleven-year-old daughter’s drawing was shameful.
According to the school’s superintendent, John Denney, the situation is “unfortunate.” He commented on the social media exposure, stating that it has resulted in a “one-sided narrative that has been created on social media that paints our staff in a negative light.”
Sierra posted a TikTok video that has over 800,000 views where she talks openly to the camera about her daughter’s drawing incident at school.
“I got a phone call from my daughter’s teacher – she is in fifth grade; she is 11 years old. Her teacher told me that my daughter had drawn something inappropriate in the art class and that a little boy had come up to her and made her aware that he thought my daughter drew ‘boy parts’ on her pig project.
“She went over and asked my daughter for all of her papers… My daughter told her teacher straight away that she drew a bow tie. But the teacher proceeded to take all of her papers from her, and then she said she had to give my daughter’s project to the vice principal of the school.”
Sierra received a notification for a meeting. In the video she shared, she mentioned :
“I get there this morning, and they take me into a conference room, and I sit down with the teacher and the social worker for the school. They hand me her art project that was just ‘so offensive,’ and as soon as I look at it, I’m like: ‘Are you fricking kidding me?’
“I literally slammed my hand down on the table, and I said: ‘To be completely frank with you, I am p****ed. Why are we sitting here right now? And why was there a big deal made of this? It’s a fricking bow tie.’ They tell me that when they gave it to the principal to ask him what his thoughts were on the whole thing, the first thing that he said was ‘write her up.”
The family received support from social media users.
Do you believe that the drawing made by this 5th-grade girl is inappropriate?
