10-09 · Child Discipline: DCF Handbook

A complaint allegation was received alleging that on 8/27/24, the teacher aggressively snatched food out of CB's mouth causing a scratch on the right side of her lip and a lump on the inside of her mouth. The teacher was asking CB to put her food away but she was hungry. CB comes in every morning with graham crackers to have for her breakfast. Yesterday, on 9/5/24, the school staff was having challenges with CB, and she was doing the opposite of what she was asked to do during prayer time. The teacher tried to assist her. Then, CB was instructed to get out of her chair and sit on the floor. Then, she wasn't allowed to participate in the classroom activity. CB started rolling and rolling on the carpet back and forth. At this time, the school staff began to record CB's behavior to show her mother. CB was recorded for over a minute. However, due to CB's rolling back and forth on the carpet, she sustained rug burn and a rash from the incident because she wasn't stopped. In addition, when CB was in the office, she was being antagonized by school staff. CB was moving a disinfectant container back and forth and the container was grabbed from her, and she was told to sit down. CB began a groaning sound and stated she wanted to go back and do her work. The school was made aware of CB's behavior and her delay was explained, along with what can invoke behaviors. They were also given an IEP, and they agreed they could handle children with who are autistic. Findings: A complaint inspection was conducted on 9/17/2024 and statements from the director (B. Andrews) and teacher (D. Solano) were received. Per the director, the parent mentioned that the child has an IEP and she was informed that the school does not have services for children with IEPs. The mother mentioned that the IEP was mainly for speech but they realized that she had behavior outbursts when the child started school. The school called the mom to setup a meeting but the parent was upset that they were calling her. When parent arrived they attempted to show her the video of the child rolling on the rug and she was upset. The child was on top of the table and they asked her to get off so the parent was asking why should she have to get off. The child's enrollment was terminated due to the parent's behavior and unwillingness to cooperate. The director stated that they were not allowing the child to play with disinfectant or furniture for the child's safety and those items are not toys. Per the teacher, she was asking the child to put her crackers away and she was not listening. The teacher grabbed the crackers from her hand and took a cracker out of the child's mouth. She noticed the scratch on the child's face and it may have come from the cracker when she took it out of her mouth but she is not sure. With regards to the second incident involving the rug, the child didn't want to participate in the prayer so she went to the carpet and started rolling back and forth saying "Jesus is bad" amongst other things. The teacher stated that she was asking her to stop as she continued with the classroom prayer. The child was on the carpet because she was refusing to participate and the teacher was not forcing her to. There are cameras at the school but the footage from the camera in the room in question was unavailable. The school is transitioning to a new camera system and some rooms have not been equipped with the new system. This complaint is Substantiated for not following the written discipline policy as the teacher pulled food out of the child's mouth because she wasn't listening. All other allegations mentioned on complaint above are unsubstantiated

Corrected Corrected by Sep 16, 2024

Category: ratio. Marked corrected in the state record.