Breastfeeding Mom Banned From Elementary School Campus

Editor’s note: The ban issued has since been lifted. See “Breastfeeding Mom’s School Ban Lifted” for more details.

A 25-year-old mother was booted from her niece’s Florida Panhandle elementary school campus Wednesday after a parent complained about her nursing an infant daughter in public.

Meagan Shoemaker told the Northwest Florida Daily News she put up a barrier between herself and the school children while watching her niece’s weekly fitness event. That, however, wasn’t enough to prevent the complaint lodged by a parent at Niceville’s Plew Elementary School.

Principal Carolyn McAllister asked Shoemaker to use discretion when feeding the 8 ½-month-old, WPTV reported.

Shoemaker thought she had.

The incident escalated when Shoemaker, who picks up her niece daily, stopped by the front office. McAllister said the young mother became “belligerent,” WFTV reported.

Shoemaker denies being confrontational, and told the Northwest Florida Daily News she was only defending her rights under Florida law to breastfeed in public.

“I wasn’t backing down and I was standing my ground, but I wasn’t violent,” the paper quoted her as saying.

Even so, McAllister and the resource officer tracked her down in a cruiser and gave her a trespass warning, the paper reported. That warning bans her from being on school grounds for the rest of the year.

Photo Credit: Image via Shutterstock

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