Better go back and reread the story Gondring. The woman who was willing to take the child was Sandy Ortiz, the baby sitter, not Jasmina Vasquez, the mother. The mother might have arrived later, but the story doesn't make that point clear. Your argument is wrong because of that misunderstanding. The authorities chose to keep a child from a non-parent on the second day of repeated problems. Doesn't sound like a police state to me, just school officials who are damned if they take action like the one they took or damned if they don't and another student or teacher is injured because of this out-of-control terror.
The parent was on the way, but sent the babysitter (who was closer) as her agent. They had not called the mother until after handcuffing the kid and deciding to send him off to the psych ward. The babysitter regularly picked up the child and yet they wouldn’t release the kid to the babysitter or wait for the parent to take custody....yet the kid was not dangerous enough to leave handcuffed on the way to the psych ward. It doesn’t add up.
Plus, see 105.