Mom of Odessa Student injured speaks out

[Anonymous]

The mother of the boy, Lenny Diaz, who was struck in the head, resulting in a serious head injury, is finally speak out to the media about what happened to her son.

SOURCE: https://www.mymcmedia.org/student-suffers-stroke-faces-major-surgery-following-mcps-gym-class-incident/

The mother of Lenny Diaz, a sixth grader at Odessa Shannon Middle School in Silver Spring, is “honestly bothered” and “distraught” after her son was hospitalized after an incident during gym class that she called bullying. “I have so many emotions running through my body,” said Emily Diaz, Lenny’s mother.

Diaz spoke with MCM Monday, slightly more than one month after her son suffered serious injuries during the physical education class. He currently is home recovering, awaiting major surgery in January to re-input part of his brain that had to be removed following the incident. Meanwhile, he receives physical therapy and wears a helmet to protect his skull.

MCM reached out to Montgomery County Public Schools concerning the incident and was told to file a request under the Maryland Public Information Act. The request was denied due to student privacy concerns, according to an MCPS spokesperson in a letter to MCM.

An MCPS spokesperson wrote, “While we cannot comment on the specific details of this matter due to legal restrictions concerning privacy, we want to assure the community that we take this, and all incidents concerning the well-being and safety of our students, with the utmost seriousness. We have followed our established internal processes, including adherence to applicable Codes of Conduct, and we continue to work in close cooperation with local and state authorities to address this case. Our thoughts remain with the student and their family, and we continue to make resources available to all students or staff who require support.”

According to Diaz, her son was playing flag football when the ball hit a female student. In what Diaz believes was retaliation, the girl apparently grabbed a pin that was holding a goalie net in place and hit him on the back of the head.

No camera captured the incident as the students were playing outdoors on the fields, she was told.

He received an open-skull fracture with fragments of his skull being forced into his brain, according to his mother. He had surgery following the Oct. 22 incident and suffered a stroke during the procedure.

[Anonymous]

Aw, that’s is so awful.
A stroke and serious surgery at 11? That is so sad.
I’m not in the area, (public schools where I am are very similar, which is why my kids attend private), but I’m rooting for her and her little boy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Aw, that’s is so awful.
A stroke and serious surgery at 11? That is so sad.
I’m not in the area, (public schools where I am are very similar, which is why my kids attend private), but I’m rooting for her and her little boy.

He's had a serious brain injury so there is far more to this story and will need at least one more surgery and life long issues/care.

[Anonymous]

When will MCPS wake up and realize their approach to disciplining bullies does not work? Probably never. They say they serve both children’s’ needs….which is a lie when it’s outsized support for the bully. Probably rewarding that bully for not bludgeoning someone to death this week since she nearly did it last month.

[Anonymous]

Omg this is heartbreaking and criminal. I hadn’t heard about this incident but WTF I hope this boy heals and the mom gets some answers.

[Anonymous]

That is so terrible. I hope his youth enables him to recover completely, but he has a long road ahead. I wonder if the girl is still in school, or if she will be in juvenile detention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That is so terrible. I hope his youth enables him to recover completely, but he has a long road ahead. I wonder if the girl is still in school, or if she will be in juvenile detention.

And F that, she was old enough to know that clocking someone in the head like that (it had to be forceful for that level of brain injury) was far more dangerous than being hit by a ball.

[Anonymous]

If this girl is still in the school system, then that is why MCPS, outside the magnet programs, is falling in quality. She should be in detention, or at a minimum, not in MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If this girl is still in the school system, then that is why MCPS, outside the magnet programs, is falling in quality. She should be in detention, or at a minimum, not in MCPS

You can't boot kids out of the public school system. She at best, could be placed at an alternative school in the system. Unfortunately, given her age, that would be hard to pull off legally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If this girl is still in the school system, then that is why MCPS, outside the magnet programs, is falling in quality. She should be in detention, or at a minimum, not in MCPS

You can't boot kids out of the public school system. She at best, could be placed at an alternative school in the system. Unfortunately, given her age, that would be hard to pull off legally.

Are you saying there are no alternative schools for middle schoolers?

[Anonymous]

smh. So she gets to move to a different school, and endanger a d8fferent group of kids. Excellent.

[Anonymous]

I thought there was more to the story. I heard that the boy was actually harassing the girl on purpose and had done so on previous occasions. Of course that does not justify the girl hitting him on the head, she should know better but I don’t think she’s the monster they are trying to make her out to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought there was more to the story. I heard that the boy was actually harassing the girl on purpose and had done so on previous occasions. Of course that does not justify the girl hitting him on the head, she should know better but I don’t think she’s the monster they are trying to make her out to be.

There is no excuse for her to retaliate like she did as it had to be pretty brutal to cause a life long injury, a few major surgeries and life long care. This child probably isn't fully recovering from this. MCPS is to blame as they failed ot supervise the kids or handle the issues.

[Anonymous]

I posted on the previous thread that I knew a boy in 5th grade that had a very similar injury after another kid threw a small rock at him at the bus stop. Was that kid a sociopath? No, I don’t think they had any previous history of violence (or any after that) but made a really dumb decision in the moment. My own child was hit in the head with a rock thrown by another kid at the cathedral school playground — he needed stitches but luckily it did not crack the skull.
I don’t know anything about the girl — certainly she needs some consequences but all the people on these threads acting like she’s a sociopath might be misguided. We just don’t know. Kids that age make a whole lot of bad impulsive decisions.

The whole situation is awful and I hope the boy is able to make a full recovery. The child I remember did make a full recovery although he did wear a helmet for at least a year due to the gap in his skull.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Aw, that’s is so awful.
A stroke and serious surgery at 11? That is so sad.
I’m not in the area, (public schools where I am are very similar, which is why my kids attend private), but I’m rooting for her and her little boy.

This is not just public school you fool.