Child bullied, booted from California school for not wearing mask

A 9-year-old child has been booted from a California school for not wearing his mask, after students and teachers reportedly bullied him for his refusal.

According to RedState managing editor Jennifer Van Laar, Kamdin Hernandez was forced to take part in an independent study alone at a Simi Valley Schools campus after "peacefully refusing to wear a mask," due to the masks reportedly aggravating anxiety, ADD, and panic.

Van Laar said that at least one teacher had physically pulled Hernandez's mask over his nose. "He was asked by staff why he's so disrespectful - meaning simply by not wearing mask," she wrote.

Kids were also yelling at Hernandez to "just wear the mask."

While being bullied by staff and students, Hernandez sent emails to his mother pleading for her to pick him up.

"hey mom can you come and pick me up from school. the princeuple (sic) was forceing me out the class room with her body and now the class has locked me out from going in. So please come and pick me up," an email obtained by RedState from Hernandez reads.

A second email sent around 20 minutes later reads: "please PICK ME UP."

Hernandez has reportedly been booted from campus until he signs a behavioral contract.

The child's father, Tim Hernandez, posted about the incident on his Instagram, writing that Kamdin had been "forced out of his class by the principal" at Garden Grove Elementary on January 10.

"He was segregated by himself in another classroom because last week Friday Jan. 7th he was kicked out of school illegally according to Education Code 48900. So, instead of making the same mistake 4 times the schools solution was to place him in a class by himself where the Principal was babysitting him," wrote Tim Hernandez.

He continued on to state that his wife had attempted to contact the principle on four separate occasion. "Principal is saying my son is a threat and he can be excluded from school without notifying us," wrote Hernandez, who added that without the emails from his son, they would have never known that their son was being separated.

"We need to stand up as a community and support our kids. Help end this madness. If you are a parent that talks about how crazy these masks are my son is standing up and I'm so proud how brave he is but he can't do it alone. Kids deserve a choice to wear the mask or not. This will never end unless they peacefully decline to wear them. This isn't normal or a way to treat any child," wrote Hernandez.

On January 13, Hernandez posted a video from outside the school, saying that he was staying outside the school’s fence with his son because they left him outside by himself.

"I have been outside with my son due to #gardengroveelementary keeping him from entering class. This has been the 4th day/time the principal has kept him from entering. My son asked for his weekly studies and she said, 'NO'. They won't even allow him to have his work so he can learn. Parents in Simi Valley PLEASE help us and stand with us because we know this is wrong. This is a game for the school!" Hernandez wrote.

The following day, Hernandez posted a second video, this time with a school resource officer and staff meeting him outside. Hernandez noted that the school did give him schoolwork.

"This is a solution provided by the school to say he will be in protective custody. They provide no Education Code as to why he is being excluded as the email in my previous post shows. They did give him a clipboard with work today because of my previous post," wrote Hernandez.

"The school doesn't seem to care about my son's mental and psychological health as he has explained how the mask makes him feel stressed, anxious, and unable to think. Tell me when does this end with my son getting his in-person education? The cop was respectful and was nice, I respect our Simi Valley police officers," he continued.

The officer told Hernandez that once a student is removed, a parent needs to pick them up. If a parent refuses to pick them up, child protective services would be called to pick up the child.

"He's going to be excluded from campus for refusing the words mask inside of the classroom," the officer said, noting that the school cannot continue to have staff outside to watch him, they need to tend to their other duties.

"What am I gonna do? I'm gonna call — just the same thing as a parent not picking up their child at the end of the day. What do? We do we contact protective services, they can come and pick him up," the school resource officer told Hernandez.

"You guys don't care about what his ADHD, you don't care about his mental disorder, his mental stress, his psychological stress, everything else that all this has happened. And now we're having a conversation in front of them because this is a great, great situation," said Hernandez.

Later in the conversation, Hernandez told the officer that the school would not provide any mask exemption for his child, and that getting a doctor's exemption was extremely difficult. The officer concluded the conversation by stating that he would talk with the staff to see what could be done.

Garden Grove Elementary has been reached for comment.