The 10-year-old student was also hit over the head by his classmates when the teacher left the class unattended to return the tape, the child’s mother said.
A Texas school district is investigating claims that a teacher taped a student to a chair in an incident Wednesday.
Charlotte Johnson said her 10-year-old son, Zye, was taped to a chair by his fourth-grade teacher at Crosby Elementary School in Forney, Texas, about 30 minutes away from Dallas.
“I’m very emotional, I haven’t had any sleep,” Johnson said. “That’s something you don’t do to a child.”
Zye told his mother his teacher grabbed him by the arm after lunchtime Wednesday and led him to his chair, Johnson said. The teacher enlisted the help of two other students — one to hold him down by his other arm, and the other to get some tape, according to Johnson. The teacher then taped Zye’s body down to his chair, keeping his arms free, she said.
When the teacher left the class to return the tape, a few of Zye’s classmates began hitting him over the head, Johnson said. Zye, who has dwarfism and has chronic migraines, put his arms up instinctively so he wouldn’t get hit in the face, his mother said.
“My son has dwarfism. He’s 10 but he doesn’t look like he is,” Johnson said. “He tells me one of the students told him, ‘I’m going to slap you as hard as Will Smith slapped Chris Rock.”
After the teacher returned, Zye freed himself from the tape because he had a headache and went to an area of the classroom designated for students to “cool down.” While he was there, the teacher came over and said, “You know I was just playing with you,” Johnson said. The student asked to go to the nurse, whom he told about what happened.
It wasn’t until the school day was over that Johnson said she received a phone call from one of the school’s assistant principals about what happened to her son. When she asked why the teacher would do that, she said the official replied, “he wouldn’t be still.”
“I was upset. I said, ‘you mean to tell me she taped him because he would not be still?'” Johnson said. “It really doesn’t matter what he did, you don’t do that to a child. He’s not an animal, you don’t do that and leave him unattended for students to assault him.”
The teacher was put on administrative leave, Johnson said she was told.
The Forney Independent School District said in a statement Tuesday that it is “aware of the allegations, and an investigation is underway.”
“There are two sides to every story, and we need to allow time for the investigation process to take place before commenting further,” district spokesperson Kristin Zastoupil said.
The school district did not identify the teacher involved in the incident, confirm if they were put on administrative leave or if they would face criminal charges.
Johnson believes the teacher should be fired and charged.
“She does not need to be teaching anybody’s children. She needs to be arrested for putting my child in harm’s way to be assaulted by other students,” Johnson said.
Zye returned to school the next day to a different class with a different teacher, according to Johnson, who said the school district has not been in touch with her about the investigation.
“My son was in your care and you’re supposed to protect him from things like this, but it seems you’re only worried about the teacher,” Johnson said about the school district. “It looks to me you’re protecting the teacher and you’re not worried about the well-being of my son.”
A woman identified by Johnson as the teacher did not immediately return requests for comment.