WATCH: Mom Speaks Out To CNN After Daughter Suspended For Recording Teacher Using N-Word IN CLASS

Kate Welborn, mother of the teen who was suspended for recording her teacher repeatedly using the n-word in class, spoke out to CNN to demand the school set things right.

Mary Walton, a 15-year-old Missouri teenager, was suspended from Glendale High School Friday after her video of a geometry teacher saying the uncensored n-word circulated on social media. The teacher has since resigned.

On Tuesday afternoon’s edition of CNN’s The Lead, host Jake Tapper interviewed Welborn and family attorney Natalie Hull, who each ripped the school and demanded the suspension be expunged and an apology be issued:

TAPPER: How’s she doing? Does she want to stay at the school? What’s your reaction to all this?

KATE WELBORN: Mary does get to return to school tomorrow, and she does intend to return. I think that the amount of attention that things have gotten, that was an unexpected turn for her, and I think that she would prefer things to be a little quieter, but she does intend to return, and I’m proud of her for doing that.

TAPPER: She is, I mean, something of a whistleblower. But, Natalie, I guess the school argues that phones are not allowed in classrooms, and is this just a matter of her breaking the rules? We should note that the teacher was initially put on administrative leave and then ultimately resigned. But what’s your argument, Natalie, about why Mary shouldn’t be punished, given the fact that the school says, well, she did break the rules?

HULL: Sometimes you need to break the rules for what’s right, and this rule does not have — well, one, it’s inappropriate use is their rule, but this would absolutely be appropriate use for a video when there is misconduct or illegal activity occurring. Indisputable and refutable evidence is absolutely beneficial in situations like this.

We have a room full of teenagers, and if they had gone to the administration with only their word, who knows exactly how long an investigation would have taken? Who knows if they would have been believed? But being able to provide documented evidence such as this is absolutely essential for situations this or worse.

If you look at the policy itself, as you described, it specifically states that they are not even allowed to take video of acts of violence, which absolutely limits a student from even being able to take video of an actual crime.

TAPPER: Right. Right. And, Kate, as parents, we tell our kids to do the right thing, and when they see something, they say something, and to come forward. In this case, your daughter did that, she was punished. What message do you think the school is sending to young people about speaking truth to power, standing up for what’s right?

WELBORN: I think they’re saying know your place. And I think they’re protecting the — I think they’re the adults and the status quo more than they are encouraging the students to learn or grow or apply critical thinking skills.

TAPPER: Natalie, how’s this going to end, do you think? Obviously, you’re saying Mary’s going back to school tomorrow, so, your protest of the three-day suspension didn’t work. What’s next?

HULL: We’re taking this on a step by step, day by day basis. Right now, we’re actually just still hoping that the school district will take this as an opportunity to rethink their stance on lifting — excuse me, on expunging this from Mary’s record and still consider issuing an apology to Mary.

This is a perfect opportunity for the school district to show their students that it is OK to acknowledge when you have made the wrong decision, that it is OK to say, you know what, we were wrong with how we handled this, just like they’re trying to say Mary was, that were wrong in how we handled this, and we’re going to apologize. We’re going to say that we did this incorrectly. We should have done it this way, and we’re sorry for how we treated Mary.

TAPPER: Well, Kate, your daughter is a whistleblower. She’s speaking truth to power. She’s bringing injustice forward. There’s a big future for her in journalism. If she wants to get into it, we need brave people like her.

Watch above via CNN’s The Lead.