Photo by josh.

Local lawmakers and parents are demanding an apology from the U.S. National Arboretum after security guards’ “inappropriate and overly aggressive treatment” of District first graders, as D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton put it.

Here’s what happened, according to Two Rivers Elementary School parent Alayna Waldrum. On May 1, a group of first graders from Two Rivers, including Waldrum’s son, went on a field trip to the National Arboretum as part of their annual study of spiders.

Some of the students were playing around picnic tables near the parking lot. That’s when a member of the Arboretum staff, sitting in a truck in the parking lot, started yelling at the kids from her vehicle that they were in a restricted area (though there were no signs indicating that was the case). Rather than talk to any of the teachers or chaperones, the Arboretum staffer instead called an armed security guard to deal with the group of six and seven year olds.

“If they don’t know how to handle that [situation] without calling armed security, that’s ridiculous,” says Waldrum, who was not on the field trip but learned about the incident through discussions with the teachers and chaperones.

The interaction left the Two Rivers group shaken, says Waldrum. The school’s staff and chaperones decided to immediately leave the Arboretum, well before their planned departure time. Teachers told Waldrum they “just wanted to get the kids out of there.”

The U.S. National Arboretum has not responded to requests for comment. In a letter sent today, Norton asks for an action plan from the institution within 30 days regarding “how the U.S. Arboretum will train its staff and volunteers to ensure all visitors feel welcome.”

Last Thursday, Waldrum sent a letter to Dr. Richard Olsen, the Arboretum’s director, with five demands: an apology, a community meeting, the development of protocol for dealing with visitors, clear signage about which areas are “off limits,” and available information for visitors about the Arboretum’s rules.

She says she was moved to write the letter because she “got the clear feeling that [field trip attendees] were really frightened by the behavior of the [Arboretum] staff, and they felt like the Arboretum was off limits to them.” She was hoping the director would “make it clear that the Arboretum is a welcoming place.”

But so far, she hasn’t heard back from Olsen. “Beyond my outrage over the incident itself, now I am disappointed and really angry that he has not responded,” she says.

In his letter to Olsen, At-large Councilmember David Grosso, the chairperson of the education committee, says that this isn’t the first he’s heard of “overzealous security guards at the Arboretum who act arbitrarily, aggressively, and rudely towards visitors for minor—or nonexistent—infractions” and adds that often “the security team is the most rude towards people of color.”

Waldrum says other Two Rivers parents have told her they’ve contacted the Arboretum with their concerns, as did the school’s principal. “We appreciate the public support for our students regarding the situation last week at the Arboretum,” the school said in a statement. “We value our relationships with community partners, and look forward to working with the Arboretum to reach a solution so that all students are made to feel welcome.”

Both Norton and Waldrum express gratitude in their letters for the armed officer who deescalated the situation, noting that things could have gotten much worse. “You hear so many incidents where things just go completely haywire because people think there’s a threat where there isn’t one,” says Waldrum.

Updated with a statement from Two Rivers Elementary School.