It was a phone call that no parent wants to receive:
"It was someone at the school saying that my child had been stuck with a needle. My heart dropped."
This mother, who didn't want to be identified, said her son was one of 10 students poked with this small needle, called a lancet, at I.S. 238 in Hollis, Queens, on February 7:
She says the needle belonged to a student with diabetes who uses lancets to check her blood sugar, but that a 12-year-old girl got a hold of it and stuck the students with it.
"When I got to the school, there was a classroom full of kids. All these kids had been stuck. My son was stuck one time in the arm with it," she said. "The other children — a few of the other children — were stuck multiple times."
She said the children were brought to the hospital — and that her son was tested for blood-borne illnesses like HIV.
"He called my husband and said, 'Dad, the doctor said I don't have HIV,'" the mother recalled. "And that like broke our heart. Why should he even be scared?"
She also had to take her child to an immunologist, who said that due to the small size of the needle, her son will likely be fine but will need follow-up testing in a month, three months, and six months.
Police took a report on the incident, and the school told this parent the needle-wielding girl was suspended.
This mother doesn't want the child back in school with her son, so officials said she could transfer her child to another school.
"No. Why should my child be transferred?" the mother said. "Let her be transferred, she caused the problem."
Initially, the city education department denied to NY1 that a student poked others.
The department later acknowledged the details after the NYPD said the 12-year-old girl was taken into custody.
In a statement from spokeswoman Miranda Barbot, the education department now says, "This was a serious incident and the school called EMS and notified families involved. We are continuing to support these families and took appropriate disciplinary action."
But this mom says the school has done little to follow up with her and didn't notify parents schoolwide about the incident.
Despite the positive outlook from doctors, it's left her shaken.
"As a mom, as a parent, your kids are your life. I'd be no good," the mother said. "I can't even think about it, it chokes me up, I can't. But I would be no good if something happened to my child."
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