TULSA – Two concerned parents are seeking answers after their 4-year-old son came home from school with some disturbing stories.
TPS investigates a teacher accused of spanking a 4-yo student. What the family is saying, tonight at 10 @KJRH2HD pic.twitter.com/7hNWNqXRSs
— Cori Duke (@CoriDuke_KJRH) April 30, 2016
Ashley Neuendorf says her pre-kindergarten aged son, Carter, came home crying and saying that he no longer wanted to go to school, which was a place he used to love.
“ The last couple of months or so he started acting a little strange and kind of like you said, shying away from telling us stuff and he would get kind of flinch-y [sic].”
Carter’s parents say his sudden change of heart was concerning. In the past, he used to tell them everything but lately he'd fallen silent.
Carter finally broke down and told his parents that school wasn’t fun anymore because he was being spanked by his teacher. That's when Kevin Collison and Ashley Neuendorf took their concern to the school's principal.
“He told me that nothing had happened and assured me that nothing was happening in the classroom.”
Then it got worse.
Carter's mother had a face-to-face conversation with the teacher. She says the conversation made her sick to her stomach.
“She said ‘I hit the other kid harder than him, I didn’t hit him hard enough to cry.’”
2 Works for You reporter Cori Duke spoke with to a Tulsa Public Schools spokesperson who said the district completed an investigation and "the teacher involved in the alleged incident was suspended with pay while [they] investigate this matter.”
The district would not disclose the outcome, saying it was a personnel issue but TPS’ policy on corporal punishment is that it’s strictly forbidden.
“I don’t want this to happen to my child or anybody else out there to feel like I do or have this happen to their child.”
2 Works for You reached out to the teacher for comment but she has not responded. The parents plan to report the incident to police this weekend.
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