A Texas middle school student who was suffering an asthma attack and accepted an inhaler from a classmate faces one month in an alternative school, Fox 4 News reports.
Alexis Kyle, 13, who used her classmate's inhaler, is facing the same penalty as Indiyah Rush, 12, who offered Alexis her inhaler Tuesday in gym class at Schrade Middle School in Rowlett after seeing Alexis struggle to breathe.
"I'm getting in trouble, but the thing is, she's getting in trouble, too. She tried to help me," Alexis told the news station.
Alexis, for her part, had no idea she was breaking a rule by accepting the inhaler.
Both girls are honor roll students, the news station says. And now they both face 30 days at an alternative school as an automatic punishment for sharing a controlled substance, a category that includes prescription drugs, like an inhaler, until the principal can meet with the girls and their parents. The final punishment could change and be anywhere from zero days to a month.
"The little girl saved her life. And the reason we say that [is] because we have been to situations where she has been to ICU, so we know how bad her asthma is," Alexis' stepfather, Michael Green, told Fox 4 News.
Indiyah's mom, Monique Rush, is equally upset, noting that Indiya was also suspended.
"I mean, they punished her twice," Monique Rush said. "They suspended her on top of sending her to alternative school. I mean, how could you do a kid like that?"
"It's a prescription, and one student's severity with asthma may not mirror that of the girl who let the other borrow hers, and that could have resulted in some pretty significant issues," Garland Independent School District spokesperson Chris Moore said.
Indiyah and her mom, however, think that the alternative school is too harsh a punishment.
"I was just trying to save her life. I didn't think I was trying to do anything bad," Indiyah said.