A North Carolina mother is viral after revealing that the after school program she pays $300 per month for her 9-year-old son to attend apparently called the police on them. She is now looking for answers about what happened.

Jazz Monique Love is a nurse based in Greensboro, North Carolina. She posted about the situation on Oct. 7 in a TikTok video with over 1.3 million views. In the video, Love says TMSA Academy called police on her 9-year-old son, claiming she had “abandoned” him.

This happened even though she was paying $300 per month for his after-school care and provided three phone numbers on file that staff apparently never called. After an administrative mix-up of students, school officials kept her son, Jason, in the front office for nearly two hours. Then, they elected to contact police instead of his mother, who works 12-hour nursing shifts.

After School Program Called Police On 9-Year-Old

The incident left the child traumatized and crying about his first encounter with law enforcement. The story underscores a growing pattern of schools criminalizing Black children for routine administrative issues.

Black students are referred to law enforcement at more than twice the rate of white students nationwide. Federal investigations find that schools disproportionately call police when Black children are involved—even for minor issues or, in this case, an administrative error.

“So today, they got it mixed up with another student who they said they have to constantly call the parents to come get,” Love explains on the clip, which lasts over seven minutes. “They say he wasn’t supposed to go to after-school today. They kept him in the front office for whatever reason, whoever made that decision. So once he got to the front office, you would think that they would call the parents to say, ‘Hey, Jason’s not going to after-school today. Is anybody going to pick him up?'”

North Carolina Police Finally Contact Mom At Work

Love says no one called. “Actually, they called the police and said that I abandoned my child,” she said. “So, the police called me.”

She was with a patient, but said she immediately answered. “The officer says, ‘Oh wow, you’re answering on the first ring. I didn’t expect that,'” she says.

“So she proceeds to say, ‘Yeah, hey. Jason is still here at the school in the front office. Front office said that he was abandoned, so I was calling to see, did you need me to bring him home?'” Love continues. “So I say to the officer, ‘If he was kept at the front office since 2 o’clock, it’s now 3:40. Why didn’t nobody call me to ask was I picking up Jason? So I could have clarified, ‘Hey, Jason’s supposed to be in the after-school till 5:45’ or something?'”

Love eventually arrived at the school. “The first person that approached me is a white lady,” she says. “I asked her several times, on camera: ‘Did you call me when you realized my son was still not picked up in the front office?'”

‘Accountability Was Not In the Room’

The employee says that sent her a “message on ParentSquare,” but evidently elected not to call any of the provided phone numbers. ParentSquare is a home-school communication apparatus that works similar to social media.

“You would think after that it would be, ‘You know what, Miss Love? I’m so sorry. We made a mistake.'” she quipped. “Oh no. Accountability was not in the room. Instead, she proceeded to try to make some weird excuse as to why it was OK that they called the police on my 9-year-old instead of admitting that, ‘Hey, I probably should have called the parents.'”

What hurt her most is that her son is now traumatized from the ordeal. “My child is a little Black boy who just had his first encounter with the police like a criminal,” she says. “My son ran into my arms and started crying like a baby—because he is a baby. He’s never been in trouble before. He’s a good kid. And he had an encounter with the police today due to lack of communication and no protocol in place.”

Viewers React to the After School Administrative Error

People in the comments were aghast at how this count occur. “$300 a month and they don’t know where he’s supposed to be after school,” said one woman. “An app is NOT sufficient communication. especially if its urgent,” said another person.

Even actual principals expressed confusion and outrage. “Why in the world would they not call you?!” asked Dr. Roylin Petties III, a Pittsburgh area administrator. “Also, how did they mix him up if they been doing this since August! Yea, that’s wild!”

Another commenter that pointed out a significant issue was the fact that it appears the front office could not differentiate the children. “All of them need to be fired because not one of them recognized your son who has been in the Aftercare program since AUGUST?!?!” the commenter noted. “THAT is unacceptable, they should know him by now and not just his name, but him.”

In the follow-up video, Love says that she has attempted to contact various members of the administration. She was still in search of a formal meeting at the time of the follow-up. She also intimates legal action could be forthcoming.

Principal posted general apology on ParentSquare, according to Love, but she says it was given to other parents and not Love or her aggrieved child. It appears the school only responded to save face after the negative viral attention.

An Ongoing Problem

These stories are more common than you might like to think. In 2019, a school resource officer was fired for arresting a six-year-old for having a temper tantrum. Another report detailed the parents of a 10-year-old boy suing their school district in Louisiana after an officer choked the child and arrested him following an ADHD outburst mismanaged by adults by every adult involved.

In one absurd instance in Tennessee, reported by ProPublica, police in a county with a sordid history of arresting Black children jailed 11 kids, including an 8-year-old Black girl charged with a crime not found in the statute.

All Hip Hop reached out to Love for additional information.

@mrs.j.love Yes I was crying.. my whole body on fire 🤬🤬🤬 #ineedanswers #undertrainedstaff #angryparent #disappointed #fyp ♬ original sound – Jazz Monique