By John Dobberstein, Editor
Broken Arrow police continue to investigate after the parents of a 13-year-old autistic child complained about alleged abuse by a middle school teacher in November.
The parents, Steven Head and Kassidie Hamilton, said their son had been physically abused by a teacher at Sequoyah 8th Grade Academy in a Level 4 autism classroom. Steve said they heard about the incident from others, rather than directly from the Broken Arrow Public Schools.
The teacher allegedly involved has resigned, and the parents opted to homeschool the student but he is now headed to the high school.
Another teacher at the school apparently witnessed the alleged behavior and reported it to administrators, who did not immediately act, the parents said. The parents filed a report with Broken Arrow police, who responded to the school to investigate.
Adults in the school are mandatory reporters of abuse incidents, but police didn’t have any record of the situation until they were contacted by the parents, Hamilton said.
Hamilton said recently the BAPS had only talked to her about moving their son to another school. “They knew about what happened and only got in contact with us after we found out and made the police report. The incident or incidents happened a week or week and a half before we even found out,” Hamilton said.
BAPS spokesperson Tara Thompson said district officials are “aware of this incident and have been in direct communication with the family since the date it occurred. The BAPD is involved in the ongoing investigation and district officials will continue to cooperate with law enforcement.”A spokesperson for BAPD said the incident was still under investigation.
According to a police report, the child’s mother told police on Nov. 4 that his teacher “yanked him up off the ground by his hair” and another witness said the teacher pulled the boy to the ground with his right leg and he fell, hurting his back.
The teacher was placed on administrative leave and escorted off the property, the report says. An officer said in the report that the mother made statements alleging similar incidents had happened before and there had been no accountability.
The mother also said Hobby Lobby had called police on the teacher the night before this incident for appearing to be intoxicated, and that administrators and school security had been informed “numerous times” that the teacher, “appeared to be under the influence, slurring her speech, unsteady on her feet, talking to the wall or carrying on a conversation in the hallway with no one there, and even bragging to other teachers that she takes prescription pills.”
An assistant administrator told the mother they had been spending extra time in the teacher’s classroom observing “due to numerous reports,” according to the police report.
“We want the schools held liable and the administration held liable,” Head told KTUL, “because this should happen to nobody, yet alone a child with special needs.”
“They haven’t told us about any changes they are going to make in their hiring process or with anything else, though we hope to hear from them soon,” Hamilton added.
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