KARNS CITY, Pa. — A local mother told Channel 11 school officials in Butler County thought her son was trying to sneak drugs into school with a necklace he was wearing for picture day.
But the necklace actually contained his grandmother's ashes.
She's frustrated because she wanted someone from the school to call her and claims nobody did until after they confiscated the necklace and embarrassed her 12-year-old son.
"It just hurts," said Christina Waldenville. "He took the necklace off and handed it to the security guard so a, if a 12-year-old is smart enough to cop drugs and sneak it into a memorial necklace, why in the hell would he voluntarily hand it over?"
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She showed Channel 11 the memorial necklace her son wore to school Thursday for pictures with her mother's ashes inside.
The cremation jewelry is made for grieving and healing.
Her son has had a tough time since losing his grandma less than a year ago. She says the school turned something pure into something suspect.
"It was picture day. My son Landon wanted just a little piece of his grandma with him," Waldenville said.
She has taught the kids never to open the silver container that holds the ashes, but said that's exactly what school officials at Chicora Elementary in the Karns City School District made her son do.
"I get that they want to check it out, I understand that," Waldenville said. "What I don't understand is why they never called me and made my son feel like he was doing something wrong."
The sixth grader so loved his grandma, who died at 50 of lung cancer, that when she started losing her hair, he shaved his, too.
"Honestly, the damage is done when it comes to my kids," Waldenville said. "They are hurt, they are devastated. I just hope that no other parent has to see their kids hurt that way when they come home from school. They literally just wanted their picture taken with a piece of their granny."
Channel 11 reached out to the school district several times and did not receive a response.
Waldenville did say that the district allowed her son to wear the necklace for his pictures, but then took it from him and handed it over to her later.