An incident involving the alleged physical assault of students at Dutchtown Elementary in Henry County, Atlanta, has prompted outrage and an official investigation.
Britney Walker, the mother of a fourth-grade student, Nevaeh, claimed that her daughter and other students were struck in the back by a school staff member while they were leaving the classroom after requesting laptop chargers.
The identity of the employee involved has not been publicly disclosed.
Nevaeh, in recounting the incident, mentioned that:
“She literally hit us in our backs, and we had two people that saw what happened.”
Another teacher reportedly intervened, escorting the students to a quiet room to provide statements about the incident. Nevaeh was not the only student affected; four others were also allegedly involved.
On Tuesday, the school’s principal contacted Walker, prompting her to pick up her child. According to Walker, school authorities informed her that Nevaeh was “physically assaulted” during the incident.
Upon examination, Walker noticed red marks on her daughter’s back, resembling scratch marks.
Local news station WSB-TV obtained photos that appeared to show the scratch marks on Nevaeh’s back.
In response to the incident, Henry County Schools placed the employee involved on administrative leave, pending the outcome of an investigation. The day after the incident, Walker filed a report at the local police station, expressing her desire for more accountability.
Walker expressed her concerns, stating:
“It’s nowhere you can go and assault kids where you don’t go to jail. If I abuse my daughter, I’d be in jail. So why would she be different? She should not be able to ever work in a school system ever again,” as reported by 11Alive.
In a related incident in Tennessee, a mother took the decision to withdraw her autistic daughter from school after accusing teachers of verbally assaulting her child.
