Dallas ‘bomb’ boy quits school that suspended him

DALLAS (AP) — The family of a 14-year-old Muslim student who got in trouble over a homemade clock mistaken for a possible bomb withdrew the boy Monday from his suburban Dallas high school.

Ahmed Mohamed’s father, Mohamed El-Hassan Mohamed, said he has pulled all of his children from schools in the Irving Independent School District. Mohamed said the family is still deciding where to send the children to school.

Ahmed has said he brought the clock he made to MacArthur High School in Irving last week to show a teacher. Officials say he was arrested after another teacher saw it and became concerned. Ahmed wasn’t charged, but he was suspended from school for three days.

“Ahmed said, ‘I don’t want to go to MacArthur,'” Ahmed’s father told The Dallas Morning News. “These kids aren’t going to be happy there.”

News of the arrest sparked an outpouring of support for Ahmed, including from President Barack Obama.

The turmoil surrounding Ahmed’s case has had a harmful effect on the teen, Mohamed said, adding that his son has lost his appetite and is not sleeping well.

“It’s torn the family and makes us very confused,” Mohamed said.

Numerous schools have offered to enroll Ahmed, his father said. But Mohamed said he wants to give his son a breather before making a decision. He said his entire family plans to fly to New York on Wednesday, where United Nations dignitaries want to meet his son.
Then, if the appropriate visas can be obtained, Mohamed wants to take his son on a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

“I ask Allah to bless this time. After that, we’ll see,” Mohamed said.

When they return, a visit to the White House and a meeting with Obama is in the works, he said.

Obama on Wednesday invited Ahmed to the White House. Using his official Twitter account, Obama wrote, “Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It’s what makes America great.”

Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It's what makes America great.

— President Obama (@POTUS44) September 16, 2015

Ahmed said he makes his own radios, repairs his own go-kart and on Sunday spent about 20 minutes before bedtime assembling a clock using a circuit board, power supply and other items.

His father suggested officials reacted as they did because of the boy’s name and faith.

“He just wants to invent good things for mankind,” said Mohamed. “But because his name is Mohamed and because of September 11, I think my son got mistreated.”

On Monday, Ahmed showed the clock to his engineering teacher and then another teacher, after the clock, which was in his backpack, beeped during class. The second teacher told him that it looked like a bomb, the newspaper reported.

Ahmed was later pulled from class and brought before the principal and police officers for questioning, then handcuffed as he was led out of the school.