When we send our kids to school, we expect that they’ll be well taken care of, whether it’s a preschool, kindergarten or elementary school.
The idea that teachers do their best to take care of our kids while they’re at school seems obvious.
And that’s what the parents of a 6-year-old boy thought while their son was attending kindergarten at Riverdale School in Ohio, USA.
But unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.
One day at school, Ian was walking down the hall to the bathroom. Suddenly, he was stopped by a teacher named Barb Williams.
According to the kindergartner’s parents, the school initially tried to downplay the severity of the incident.
But once the security footage was made available to them, they said there was no mistaking why their son came home bruised and terrified to return to Williams’ classroom.
In the school’s security footage, Williams grabs Ian by the face and pushes him up against the wall. Then, she takes hold of the boy’s shirt and lifts him up by it, reports Cleveland19 News.
The boy’s parents reacted strongly to the incident, and rightly so.
Williams was suspended for 10 days without pay and then returned to school again. But Ian’s parents, Anthony and Autumn Nelson, weren’t happy with the school’s response.
The couple was stunned that she had gotten off so easily.
“I would consider what would happen to myself, if I were to do that to her,” says Anthony Nelson, father of 6-year-old Ian. “If I were to do that to her, I would go to jail.”
“We thought it was just a little incident that happened, and that’s what the school made it out to sound like,” explained Anthony Nelson.
“And then all of a sudden we get this video today and this is just outrageous,” he continued.
Ian was pushed so hard against the wall that, he had bruises on his back, his parents say.
“He’s scared of her,” said Autumn Nelson.
“Even going to the school next year or the year after, he will still have to see her if she is present in the building. That’s probably going to scare him.”
Nevertheless, the principal and superintendent didn’t want to fire Williams, who, according to them, was a very good teacher.
District superintendent Eric Hoffman has reached out to apologize to the Nelsons for what happened. Meanwhile, the school has filed reports with the local police department, Child Protective Services, and the Department of Education.
Then after the footage was made public, Williams resigned and the police pressed charges. She pleaded “no contest” and only had to pay a $250 fee plus court charges.
While we’re glad that Williams was eventually found guilty, the school should have stuck up for little Ian and called the police and fired Williams right away.
No child should be afraid to go to school. Williams should never be allowed anywhere near children again.
Watch the terrible incident here, but be warned — it will be disturbing for some viewers!
Teaching kindergarten requires a healthy amount of patience, and from the video evidence, Barb Williams clearly does not have that.
You simply cannot be using physical force to overpower children at school. And this shouldn’t even need to be said.
I hope this woman is never allowed to work with children again. Share if you agree!
