LONGVIEW, Texas (KETK) — The mother of a Spring Hill High School freshman said her son was wrongfully accused of doing drugs on campus and suspended. He now has to repeat the ninth grade after not attending an alternative program for an offense he says he did not commit.

In February, Taydrien Kimbel was sent home and later enrolled in a Disciplinary Alternative Education Program or DAEP, after administrators accused him of smoking marijuana in the school bathroom.

Taydrien’s mother, Nicole Kimbel, said she was panicked when she got a call from the Spring Hill High School principal about an incident in the bathroom on February 10.

“She thought my son was under the influence of marijuana. When I talked to my son he said the bathroom was already like that when he went in there,” said Nicole Kimbel.

“Taydrien recalled the chain of events and said the nurses used a flashlight to look at his eyes, told him to hold his arms out, touch his nose and walk back and forth to the door,” said Taydrien in a written statement.

However, Taydrien said that he doesn’t smoke marijuana.

“Soon as we left the school we got a home-administered drug test and we called the principal to let her know it came back clean,” said Kimbel.

Kimbel said the school did not answer the phone, and the next Monday she talked to the principal in-person.

“She told me she needed a doctor’s note from the day of the incident and I told her if she would have returned my phone call I would have gotten one,” said Kimbel.

Kimbel said the principal would not accept a negative urine sample from CHRISTUS Mother Francis that Monday.

“To see that as his parent, it proved I had no chance to prove that he’s innocent. Their minds were already made up,” said Kimbel.

Taydrien was given DAEP for a month and has not gone. He will have to repeat the 9th grade.

He has since been enrolled in an online homeschool.

“He felt like it was unfair. He didn’t understand why this was happening when he knows he didn’t do anything wrong,” said Kimbel.

When we asked the district about the incident, they sent us a statement saying:

“Spring Hill ISD is not able to comment regarding student disciplinary issues or consequences assigned. All matters related to student discipline are addressed in accordance with the student code of conduct and district policy.”

Spring Hill ISD

“I don’t see how they can sleep well at night knowing a child didn’t do what they are accusing him of,” said Kimbel.

After meeting with the principal, Taydrien’s mother is now in the process of challenging the accusation with TEA and getting DAEP removed from her son’s record.