School is supposed to be the place parents can trust their children will be safe, fed, and looked after — especially when that child is nonverbal and depends on adults to notice when something is wrong.
That is what makes one Wisconsin mother’s allegation so upsetting. Debra Hawkes says staff at Madison East High School served her 15-year-old son Jaden, who is nonverbal and autistic, a can of dog food instead of a regular lunch. And for her, the worst part is not just that it happened, but that she cannot understand how anyone could call it an accident.
Because by the time she found out, she says her son had already eaten some of it.
She Got the Call No Parent Expects
Hawkes says a staff member at the school called her a few weeks ago to confirm what had happened. She was also sent a photo of the can of wet Nutrish dog food that had reportedly been given to Jaden.
According to her, it looked like he had already taken several bites.
That detail is what makes the whole situation feel so much worse. This was not a close call where someone caught the mistake in time. Her son, who cannot simply explain what happened in his own words, had already been exposed to something he never should have been given in the first place.
And from Hawkes’ point of view, that is exactly why the explanation matters so much.
‘If It Was an Accident … It Can’t Be an Accident’
That was the mother’s blunt reaction when speaking out about the incident.
She says she does not understand how something like this could happen at all, and she is especially shaken by the fact that the food was still in a metal can — something she says could also have physically hurt her son if he had cut himself on it.
That concern makes sense. For parents of children with disabilities, trust in school staff is not some abstract idea. It is daily, practical, and constant. You are trusting them with your child’s body, emotions, meals, routines, and dignity.
So when that trust is broken, even once, the damage goes far beyond one lunch period.
Hawkes also says her son has not been himself since the incident. She described him as normally energetic and kind, and believes this may have changed something in him emotionally.
The District Has Taken Action, But the Questions Are Still There
According to reports, the Madison Metropolitan School District confirmed that a staff member was placed on leave after Jaden was given the can of dog food. Hawkes has also said the person involved has since been fired.
The district released a statement saying student safety and well-being are taken seriously and that the matter is under investigation, though it could not share more because of privacy laws.
That response may matter procedurally, but it does not answer the question at the center of all of this: how did a student end up with dog food in his lunch at school?
For Hawkes, that question clearly has not gone away. She reportedly went to the school nearly every day for a week trying to get answers.
And honestly, that is what makes this story stick. Not just the shock of what she says happened, but the image of a mother having to keep showing up, asking again and again how her son ended up in a situation so unthinkable in the first place.
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