Mom arrested for trespassing at school

OLEAN, N.Y. (WIVB) - She says she just wanted to pick up her children, but school officials brought in the police instead.

Marvelle Woodruff claims she's being bullied and singled out by police and school officials in Olean. She provided News 4 with cell phone video of a recent confrontation inside the school.

In the video, you can hear Woodruff say, "Stop grabbing me. I haven't done anything wrong. Let go of me, I haven't done anything wrong. Let go of me. [Your kids are in the office.] You don't have to grab me. You don't have to grab me. I know how to walk."

Woodruff says she was just trying to pick up her two children at Washington West Elementary School.

"I never knew that they would take is as far as using the police department to hurt me now. I entered through the back doors where other parents enter also," argued Woodruff.

That's when she was spotted in the hallway and arrested by Olean Police for trespass.

Woodruff said, "I was grabbed a hold of on the right shoulder, where the officer was pinching me. He yanked me and I turned around an I said, 'What crime have I committed?'"

Olean Police Chief Terry Schnell commented, "I have to question why she had someone videoing her in the first place. To me it seems like it was premeditated on her part. That she knew what was going to happen."

The school sent Woodruff a letter earlier this month directing her to pick up the children at the office and to use the main entrance. Olean Police say Woodruff was not allowed in the hallway, and that she violated school procedure.

"That is when he took her by the arm, escorted her back to the office, and she was placed under arrest for trespass," explained Chief Schnell.

Superintendent of Schools Colleen Taggerty tell News 4 that police were at the school because teachers were feeling nervous, and that Woodruff was making threats. Chief Schnell says this isn't the first incident at the school involving Woodruff.