Kyler Robertson's father was stabbed to death Sunday afternoon during an argument, a tragedy that the 16-year-old boy has struggled to understand.

On Tuesday, still grieving, Kyler decided he would rather go to Byron Nelson High School and be around his friends than stay home.

When he arrived at the Trophy Club school, his eyes were bloodshot and watery. He was accused of being under the influence of marijuana, according to a Northwest school district document provided to the Star-Telegram. Kyler was suspended for three days and was told that beginning Friday, he would be placed in the district's alternative education program until Jan. 14, 2011.

On Wednesday afternoon, his mother, Cristy Fritz, provided school officials with a negative drug test for marijuana for Kyler, and she was told that he will no longer have to attend the alternative school.

But Kyler, a member of the school's junior-varsity golf team, remains suspended and has to file an appeal to have that removed from his record, Fritz said.

She wants an apology from the district for the way it has handled the case. "We're just so overwhelmed with everything that is going on right now," Fritz said. "He wanted to be at school and be among his friends and support."

The district includes three days of suspension to allow time for more investigation before a student is sent to the alternative campus, said Lesley Weaver, a district spokeswoman. "Those three days are included in there to make sure ... we have all the facts," Weaver said.

Weaver said she could not discuss specifics about a student's case because of federal privacy rules.

Kyler arrived a few minutes after the first bell sounded, and a teacher sent him to the office for being tardy, Fritz said. After office staffers alerted campus administrators that something was wrong with Kyler, his mother was summoned to the school.

A school nurse assessed Kyler and reported that his behavior and mental status were normal but that he had bloodshot and watery eyes and elevated pulse and blood pressure and appeared jittery, Fritz said.

Fritz said she was told that her son would be suspended for three days and then sent to the alternative school.

"I asked, 'Do you have any evidence? What is your basis for this?' They said this is just our observation and he smelled like marijuana," she said.

After leaving the campus, Kyler underwent a urine drug screening at his doctor's office within two hours. "Kyler has been evaluated by me and shows no evidence of being under the influence of any illicit drug or alcohol," Keller physician Brandon Atkinson wrote in a statement to the school Tuesday.

Atkinson diagnosed Kyler, who suffers from allergies, with a sinus infection, Fritz said.And Kyler's blood pressure rises from time to time because of a kidney problem he had as an infant, his mother said.

Kyler's father, Richard "Richie" Robertson, 39, of Fort Worth, was killed Sunday afternoon, shortly after dropping off a man in the 7100 block of Willow Creek Road, a dead-end street south of Azle in unincorporated Tarrant County.

Sheriff's Department officials said Robertson got into an argument with a man who lived on the property. Another man, Paul Leggett, stabbed Robertson in the left upper back as Robertson sat in his vehicle, according to the Sheriff's Department.

This report includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.

Jessamy Brown, 817-390-7326

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