MILWAUKEE (WISN/CNN) – A mother in Milwaukee refused to remove a GPS device her son wears on his belt, which she says keeps him safe, so the boy’s school suspended him.
Cassandra Hadley says her 6-year-old Kahlil, who has autism, is prone to wandering, so she uses a GPS device to keep him safe.
The boy wears the device on a belt under his clothes.
"Anything can trigger the wandering: something he's interested in. He sees something floating across the street, and it grabs his attention. He has a very one-track mind,” Hadley said.
If Kahlil wanders too far away while wearing the device, it will send an alert to his mom’s phone.
The device also has a microphone, which Hadley can activate to hear her son’s surroundings in an emergency.
The 6-year-old started wearing the device Friday, and on Tuesday, Hadley got an urgent message from her son’s school.
"I needed to come to the school and either remove the device or remove him, which I refused,” Hadley said. "I'm his mom, and I'm responsible for him."
Upon Hadley’s refusal, the school suspended Kahlil.
"They're keeping him out of school when he has every right to be there,” Hadley said.
In the boy’s suspension letter, the district cited the fact that Kahlil was wearing “a GPS device with listening capabilities.”
The microphone feature, which can be turned off, concerned school officials because it could violate others’ privacy rights, they say.
"For students with specific needs a GPS device can be considered as part of their program. The parents have been previously told that there is a process for approving GPS devices, and they refused to follow that process,” officials said.
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