For the first time, the woman who says she had her kids taken away for educational neglect after she decided to homeschool them met with the Buffalo Common Council's Education Committee Thursday evening.
"At this point who is being held accountable?," Kiarre Harris asked Buffalo School District’s Interim Associate Superintendent for Student Support Services Dr. Eric Rosser.
"I'm not at liberty at this time to make a public comment, but I would most certainly be willing to sit down with you to learn more about your perspective so I can investigate in that manner," Dr. Rosser responded.
Rosser told Harris he has personally tried to contact her by phone a couple of times, to no avail.
Harris was arrested in January, accused of obstructing justice, after Child Protective Services took custody of her children due to “educational neglect.”
CPS has not identified what evidence it has to support an accusation of educational neglect, however court documents indicate it has been in contact with the school district before December 2016, when Harris filed letters of intent to pull her two children from their respective schools.
Since 7 Eyewitness News first broke Harris’ story last week, she has received a growing amount of support from people who believe someone within the school district dropped the ball by not properly filing her letters of intent.
“At this point it seems like they’re just trying to cover their rear end,” Harris told 7 Eyewitness News after the Committee meeting.
Rosser is set to speak with Harris Friday morning.
“My purpose for reaching out to Ms. Harris is to find out what her experience and her story is first hand,” Rosser said.
Harris hopes her conversation with Rosser will speed up the process to get her children back in her custody.
About a half hour before the meeting, about a dozen demonstrators chanted outside Family Court in support of Harris.
“Just listening to what she had to go through was gut wrenching,” demonstrator Duncan Kirkwood said.
Harris says she intends to file complaints with the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Department of Education Civil Rights Division for what she calls racially discriminatory practices.
