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'The injury speaks to something else' | Mother seeks answers from SAISD after son, who is blind, returns with black eye

Tonya Williams-Parrish's blind, special-needs son cannot tell her how he got a black eye at school this week. School officials can, but she said they have not.

SAN ANTONIO — The call about Yussif Williams came Monday afternoon. Tonya Williams-Parrish said she got the news her son sustained an eye injury at Brackenridge High School.

"When he first came home, his top eyelid was swollen shut," she said.

Williams-Parrish, an area educator, is a mother of nine. Two are her biological children, while six are adopted, along with another cousin she adopted. Yussif, who is 13, is Syrian.

The mother said the more she sought answers, the more questions she had, especially as Yussif's eye turned purple.

"The injury speaks to something else," Williams-Parrish said. "If you tell me that he was biting or that he was headbanging or something like that, I can accept that, because I know my child."

She admits her son does injure himself from banging his head or biting his skin. But what he wouldn't do, she says, is pop himself in the eye. 

Yussif is blind and considered nonverbal because he can only say around 20 words and has cerebral palsy. So, he can't explain what happened.

"Everyone who has answered or reached out to me have said, 'Well, we're still trying to get the timeline together,'" Williams-Parish said. "How many days does that take?"

The San Antonio Independent School District released the following statement:

"We realize this is an unfortunate and distressing situation. We remain committed to ensuring the safety and security for all students enrolled in our schools. Earlier this week, a student sustained an injury, and our school staff reacted as swiftly as possible to examine and care for the child. We are in continuous contact with the family, and we are committed to ensuring the appropriate support remains in place for this child."

Williams-Parrish said she'd rather keep her son at home because her trust in Brackenridge High School is fleeting.

"If you can't tell me what happened, how can I as a parent feel comfortable sending him back?" she said. 

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