I think that school system has gone overboard. If it were me I would sue the school. They should not be allowed to prevent a parent from picking their child up even if it were on horseback. Horseback riding is just as safe or safer than being in a car with the idiots that are out on the roads now days. But I would have to say schools are pushing their limits way too far these days.

I believe totally that the school should of released the child. If the mother showe up on a hourse well then the family including the child has been raised around them. The school should not have the right to keep the child from the mother no matter what Mode of transportation she uses. If you lived out rest there is posability that achild will also be ridden to school on a horse . it's not like the mother was abusing the child. there are tons and tons of families that do not have that triple diget income to pay for there frigin fancy cars and the gas that goes with them. With the way the economy is going I wouldn't be suprised if you see a lot more of this in th future . Yea for Deidre

Had it been my daughter I would of had the principal arrested for kid napping. Then I woulod of sued the school. It is my daughter where the hell do you tell me I cant take my daughter on horse back. I am her parent not the principal. Thisis just another case of the american people giving up their rights. If we keep letting the goverment take rights just because they don't apply to us, whose rights do you think thet will take next? I think we should impeach that crack pot of a president and the people take back this country.

Yes the school should have released the girl. The principal was stupid and upset because she was challenged by a parent. There is no way if that was my daughter the principal would have told me no.

Okay..neither situation was correct! The mother should have been more responsible. Times are tough for everyone and every penny counts, but the safety of your child comes first. Given, the child may ride at home on the horses, but construction, and busy streets are a whole different matter. Her mom could have came up with a better solution. The school letting the child be escorted home by the officer to wait ALONE, that is just as bad as the mom. Were was the common sense! I am a mother myself, and I love my child, and his safety and will being is my responsibility. Both were in the wrong, and I hope that the mother comes up with a better solution, as well as the school system on how they dismiss the children.

You can bet I would have my kid on that horse and headed home...This is absolutely ridiculous. School officials were out of line and the police were out of line. It is time for American citizens to rise up and take our country back from these morons that are running our schools, cities, states and federal government...!

First what gives any school that right to withhold a child from a parent. At are school here in Jacksonville I've seen parents pick up there kids with a motorcycle and no helments and ride home with there kids on bikes or walk home with them. So where is are values really going. Well we know for sure who we will not vote for President in the next election that's for sure. And as for the school and the parent I would sue the school.

If there was no odd behavior problems present, then I would say that the principal should have let the pupil go with the mother. If she chose to pick up her daughter on horseback, what's the big deal! That's the way it was done a long time ago~L^. I'm old school and I don't see anything wrong with that.

This Principal definitely has control issues or severe paranoia for her to be acting this way. My goodness it was the girls Mom who went to pick her up, not some stranger!

I would like to know where in the rule books it states that a Parent can NOT pick up their child on Horseback? I knew of areas where kids rode their horses to school by themselves. There are even areas where the kids ride their snowmobiles to school. What about kids who ride their bicycles? You mean to tell me that kids are safer on bicycles? Kids on bikes are often difficult to see but you would definitely see a horse trotting down the road!!!!

I am not one who likes to settle things in the court room by bogging down the courts with frivolous lawsuits, but this case definitely is one I would go ahead with. Not only sue the Principal and the School District but also the Police Department that allowed this child to be left home alone waiting for her Mom. OH, and I am the child of retired Police Officers, but never would they leave a child home alone like that knowing the Mom was on her way.

I totally agree with Uly. The principal should have turned the child over to the mother.

This is just ridiculous! They are worried about the safety of the children yet the stupid policeman who drove the child home left her alone??? How moronic can he be?? I don't care if it was only for 5 mins. that cop should have stayed with that child until the mother arrived.

You have got to be kidding. I am shocked and appalled that anyone with a brain would upset a child and pull that child away from their mother like that. The school official should be fired on the spot and the police should be reprimanded. Shame on you.

If there is any laws agains picking up a child on horseback, then the Principal was holding that child against her will. Unless there is a court order in place stating that the child can not be released to her mother...AGAIN, the principal is holding that child agains her will from her mother. At most, the mother needed to have provided a helmet which is the same as if the child would have been picked up by her mother in a motorcycle instead. But how much safer is it to the child to wait at home unsupervised? Once a child is released to a parent, it is the parent's responsibility to look out for the child's safety. The only other way the child should have been kept from her mother is...if there was the presence of alcohol in her breath....if not then RELEASE THE CHILD TO HER MOTHER!!!!!!!!! After all, it is a form of transportation! Principal needs to be made aware of what lines to BACK AWAY from.

The funny part about this is that in a small town this wouldn't have been a big deal. Something like this happens in a city and people act stupid. there are trail rides that go on for tens if not hundreds of miles down state highways which small children are involved in an no one says a word. just sounds like some liby yankee see's something different and want to bitch about it.

I don't know what the streets are like and if horse back riding is legal on the streets around this school so it is hard for me to judge the school district on this. It is weird to me though because my elementary school still has horses that kids ride during break time (Trabuco School in Ca.) I used to ride my horse to school. If I were to make a snap judgment I would say it is crap.

I totally agree with this one. What happen to our freedom and making better decisions for our enviroment. Not only that, times are hard and people better get ready to see alot more four legged transportation.

If this were rural Kentucky, a horse would be fine. Jacksonville is not a rural town. I don't know if I would've made the same decisions as the principal in question. But the parent was also being disingenuous when she says she doesn't have the money to drive...she has money for horses in Jacksonville, obviously, so money isn't really an issue. As a parent, I've never sat for more than twenty minutes waiting for my children...what school do her kids go to where a parent has to wait in a two and a half hour line? She's being one of those ignorant, selfish, difficult parents our system has to put up with, who would be better served by staying on her meds.

I think this is obsurd. I grew up in FL and we lived less than a mile from school. On multiple occassions (pretty much weekly) my mother rode on horseback ponying the other horse to pick me up from school. The school was so used to it that they would notify me that my mom was on horseback so I wouldnt waste time sitting in the car rider line and the local newspapers came out to do a story on it. It received nothing but positive press, things have really gotten out of control, that is what is wrong with people these days, people need to get over things. i am sure the girl was devestated and the mother was doing nothing to harm her or anyone else.

WORD UP! I agree w/ u 100%, Uly.

If what I just read is the whole story - and the truth - then the school, police, or whoever had NO REASON and NO RIGHT to hold her daughter from her...especially BY PHYSICALLY PULLING HER ARM/HAND! and for such a stupid reason. To me, that just says 'power trip' from the principal and the cop. She was in no danger. Please. It's not like they were in the heart of Brooklyn & the mother comes galloping up on a stolen horse in the middle of a shoot-out!

They were just pissed b/c she did something out of the ordinary about something that aggrevated her & it brought (pointless) attention. Oh well! Is there some law against that? The little girl is THE MOTHER'S daughter, not the police or principal's. Who do they think they are???