Father: Alvarado school slow to respond after metal sign injures child

A North Texas father is upset after his daughter gashed her arm open during recess and the school didn’t call an ambulance.

10-year-old Madison will likely always have a scar as a reminder of the horror she went through in April. She was running at recess when she tripped on a sharp metal sign that read ‘Gather Your Things’ at Alvarado Intermediate School.

“When she fell, it ripped her arm open,” said Madison’s father, Josh Lemons. “The wound looked like, from top of your bicep to here, it was 6-and-a-half to 7 inch gap in her arm. Cut her bicep and tendons in her arm."

The injury to her arm was so large and deep, the photos of it were too graphic for television.

“It was the worst thing I've ever seen in my life,” said Lemons.

Yet after it happened, the school did not call an ambulance. They only called Lemons, who works a half hour away in Fort Worth.

“When they called me, there was no rush, no sense of urgency, no anything,” he explained. “It was just, ‘You need to get here. Your daughter needs a few stitches.’"

When Lemons arrived, he could not believe his eyes.

“Her pants, shoes, shirt, looked like a horror movie,” he said. “She was covered in blood, her hair, face, all down the front of her pants."

Lemons drove Madison to a hospital and was transferred by ambulance to Cook Children's Hospital. She had to go through plastic surgery, hundreds of stitches and physical therapy.

The superintendent, who has seen the photos of Madison's injuries, stands behind the school nurse relying on her medical expertise to decide when to call an ambulance.

It was not the response Lemons was hoping for.

“I want to be sure this doesn't happen to anyone else,” Lemons said.

His other concern? More than a month later, even after Lemons complained to the superintendent, the signs that caused Madison’s injuries were still up.

Initially, the district told FOX 4 a safety committee would decide what should be done. But a couple of hours later, a spokesman called back to say the signs would come down and they would find another way to communicate reminders to students.

“Why does it take getting someone else involved other than seeing a little kid injured?” asked Lemons.