Parents of special needs students at Whistler Elementary Schools filed a lawsuit against the Chicago Public Schools after a teacher allegedly abused the students by hitting them with wooden rulers and other objects.
Eight parents and guardians of kindergarten through second-grade children filed a lawsuit on Wednesday. They alleged that a teacher mentally and physically abused the special needs students. The lawsuit claims the teacher has administered harmful and violent corporal punishment by hitting the students with her hands, wooden rulers, and other objects. They also claimed the teacher would threaten to physically harm the special needs students when they had difficulty completing a task or assignment.
Parents claimed that the teacher routinely administered corporal punishment to special needs students if they had difficulty completing a task. (Photo: Fox 32)
The parents also allege that the teacher would regularly yell profanities at the child. They say it was common for the educator to tell the children, “The longer you cry, the longer I will hit you.”
The lawsuit also alleged the principal at Whistler Elementary School was complacent and supported the teacher’s actions. When they questioned the principal, the parents said they were told that their physically and mentally challenged children are clumsy and sometimes tend to fall.
Julie Hagam, the mother of a 6-year-old boy with autism, said at a news conference on Thursday, “I feel like the principal knew because the teacher has been at Whistler for 20 years.”
Both teacher and principal often told parents who questioned the marks on their children’s bodies that special needs students tend to be clumsy and fall. (Photo: Fox 32)
Hagam said her son had stopped eating lunch and began to cry when they pulled up to the school in the morning. She also said the boy began using expressions he had learned at school. She claimed, “Never did I imagine that he was getting that type of language from the teacher. Looking back on what happened made me feel terrible because I wasn’t picking up the signs that my son was being abused.”
Pearl King also said she took her 5-year-old daughter to the hospital when she came home with signs of abuse in October. King said she complained to the principal and teacher, but both acted like nothing was wrong.
King said her daughter’s behavior has changed since that day, such as fear of making simple mistakes and cries when the school bus approaches.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Public School released a statement stating that the teacher had been removed from the classroom as the school investigated the allegations.
