Wake County mom banned from Carnage Middle School after defending bullied daughter

Raleigh (WTVD) -- A Wake County mom is asking the school district to let her attend her daughter's 8th grade graduation.

Latia Austin was banned from school after defending her bullied daughter, but the school says she went too far.

"I'm very angry because I can't go to the graduation now," Austin said.

The mom says things were getting bad for her eighth grader so she thought she was doing the right thing by alerting administrators at Carnage Middle School.

Austin claims she called the school twice and complained that her daughter was being bullied and thought the situation was being handled. Then just last week her daughter was suspended for fighting with her alleged bully.

"My daughter called me and said 'mom the girl just walked up and punched me in the face,'" Austin said.

Austin says she got really mad, and although the school had apparently moved her daughter and the alleged bully out of the same homeroom, they still shared two classes together.

So after the inevitable fight happened, she defended her daughter.

"That's when the principal looked at me and said 'you're justifying what she did.' I said 'I'm not justifying what she did but you didn't handle the situation when I called you,'" Austin said.

Austin and the principal had a heated exchange and days later she received a certified letter in the mail telling her she was no longer allowed on school grounds.

Austin says she was wrong to yell but banning her from the school goes too far.

"There are kids killing themselves over bullying. What would have happened if my daughter came home and off and killed herself," she said.

The principal would not comment, but the school district says any parent can challenge a trespass order and they have not received one from Austin yet.

Austin says she plans on filing on appeal so she can go to her daughter's graduation.