A third-grader fractured the Schwegler School principal’s wrist in a fit of rage that was quelled when Lawrence Police handcuffed the boy and took him away, officials said Wednesday.

Jane Ziegler, in her first year as principal of the Lawrence elementary school, suffered the injury at the close of school Tuesday while attempting to constrain the boy. The child broke free and kicked Ziegler, fracturing a bone in her left wrist.

“It’s bandaged from her fingers to almost her elbow,” said Supt. Randy Weseman. “It’s so swollen … they can’t do anything with it.”

Ziegler and other school staff rely on restraint procedures designed to bring unruly children under control without injury to anyone.

“They tried to use appropriate restraining techniques, and he busted loose of that and started kicking, spitting, hitting and scratching,” Weseman said.

Police were called at 3 p.m. Tuesday to escort the child out of the school at 2201 Ousdahl Road. Weseman said the student gave officers “a little difficulty,” and the boy was handcuffed by police.

Sgt. Mike Pattrick said the child was taken to the Douglas County Juvenile Intake Assessment Center.

The student was suspended from school and additional disciplinary action could be taken, Weseman said.

Schwegler is the district’s third-largest elementary with 440 students.

In February, Ziegler said she would resign at the end of the school year to seek job opportunities closer to her home in Overland Park. She was not available for comment Wednesday.

Sue Morgan, Lawrence school board president, said the injury to a principal or any other district staff member was a serious matter.

She didn’t have enough details about the Schwegler incident to offer an opinion about whether the student ought to be expelled for the rest of the year, but in general believes the district should “take action that protects the staff and students.”

Weseman said public schools were required by law to offer an education to children who in the past might have had their needs met in hospitals or other off-school facilities.

“We are getting younger kids who have behaviors I didn’t know existed,” he said.