5-Year-Old’s Mouth Taped, Lunch Thrown, In Outrageous Conduct By Michigan Teachers – By Suman Varandani (ibtimes.com) / April 24 2018
A Michigan substitute teacher was fired after a preschool student raised complaint of outrageous misconduct inside the Crestwood School District in southern Michigan, reports said Monday.
According to the child’s mother, two teachers used scotch tape to shut her son’s mouth and also threw away his lunch.
The substitute was “immediately released from employment” after a witness told school officials they saw the assistant place scotch tape on 5-year-old Abdul Dannaoui’s mouth in March.
In a statement, the school district’s superintendent said the incident was reported to Abdul’s parents and “other appropriate authorities.” However, the boy’s family accused the district of failing to conduct a proper check and issue adequate discipline over the incident.
The incident reportedly took place on March 26 during lunchtime.
Two teachers had prevented Abdul from eating his lunch by taping his mouth shut as many as 10 times, his mother Hoda Dannaoui told ABC affiliate WXYZ on Monday.
“I’m emotionally heartbroken. Disappointed. That’s his second home. That’s how they treat a child with asthma,” Abdul’s mother said, adding that she plans to remove him from the school. “I am not afraid. I’m going to fight for my kid.”
The family plans to take legal action against the school district over the incident, their attorney Nabih Ayad told WXYZ.
“We’re calling on the city of Dearborn Heights police as well as the state administration to conduct a full and thorough investigation of this. I want to get to the bottom of this, I want to know what these teachers have done and whether they’ve done it to other students, how many times they’ve done it and what else they’re doing to other students,” Ayad said.
In a video, the child showed how the teachers used pieces of tape to cover his mouth. The boy said he was scared to inform school authorities about the incident.
The school district responded to the allegations in a statement, saying:
“A substitute teacher assistant placed a piece of Scotch tape over the mouth of a student for a very brief period of time. The GSRP — Great Start Readiness Program — teacher was in the room as were the other children. The teacher reported the incident to the GSRP director who reported it to her supervisor. The substitute teacher assistant was immediately released from employment.”
