Second mother speaks out after playground collision leaves first grader's skull fractured

LAKEVILLE, Ind.-- Weston and Jolene Swanson got a call Friday that their LaVille Elementary first grader, Sehven, bumped heads at recess.

"They just said the girls were playing on the playground, and they both were running and collided, and they hit heads," Jolene said.

"It really didn't seem that bad, it just seemed like a normal cut, scrape, boo-boo on the playground," Weston said. "Like, 'hey, we're just kind of letting you know, if you see a little mark, that's what it's from.'"

Besides Sehven's headache, they weren't too concerned over the weekend.

"Monday morning, we sent the kids off to school. We were sitting here, and my wife was just scrolling Facebook and saw the post from the other mother," Weston said.

It was a post showing photos of Paisleigh Smith and her injuries after that Friday recess collision. ABC57's Annie Kate spoke with her mother, Alexis Barger, and saw Paisleigh's medical records.

"She has a skull fracture that starts in the middle of her forehead, all the way down through her nasal cavity, and the orbital bone is fractured under her eye," Barger said. "She has a concussion, and she had trace amounts of bleeding on her brain from the skull fracture."

Barger was shocked the school didn't call an ambulance.

"She should have had an ambulance called," she said.

"They didn't just bump heads, like it was a serious collision," Weston said. "I immediately left to go pick her up from school, and I took her to the hospital."

Considering Paisleigh's injuries, the Swansons got Sehven checked out.

"You don't need to be a nurse to know looking at that other little girl, she needed to go to the emergency room immediately," Jolene said. "And I should have been able to pick my daughter up and make that judgement call."

Luckily, Sehven's scans came back clear, the Swansons said, but they argue they should have been told how serious the situation really was.

"We had to find out on Facebook," Jolene said.

"It was definitely brought to our attention later that the nurse was out for part of the day and someone else was stepping in her shoes," Weston said.

After all, it was a school counselor who called Barger Friday, not a nurse.

"If someone is stepping in for the nurse, 'Hey, I am not a medical professional.' If that was said to us at the time of the phone call, we would have handled it differently," Weston said.

The lack of communication and apparent lack of concern in general is disturbing for the Swansons.

"It makes us cry, talking to [Sehven] about it," Jolene said. "She feels like it was her fault, and it was a complete accident."

For now, they're keeping Sehven out of school until they feel their child is safe and the proper protocols are in place.

"It's hard not being able to send your child to school because you don't feel they're safe there," Jolene said.

There is still no word from a Union-North United School Corporation spokesperson after multiple requests for comment.

ABC57's Annie Kate was turned away from the office Wednesday because no one was available. That was shortly after the superintendent called the Swansons, telling them they would look into the situation more.