School Employee Attacks Student
An employee of Berks County Schools in Pennsylvania allegedly body-slammed a 17-year old student. A teacher then allegedly lied to cover up the incident. The incident occurred at the Paramount Academy, a school for students with therapeutic needs.
The allegations are as follows: The assaulter is a “behavioral specialist” that was working in the teacher’s room. Students were being loud, and the specialist told the class that the next student to say something would be “body-slammed” through the door. A short time later, the student, who was not loud earlier, asked if he could sharpen his pencil. After the teacher gave him permission he stood up, and the specialist grabbed him by the shirt and rammed him against the door several times. He then pushed the student through the door, then rammed him headfirst into the wall, then pinned him to the floor.
The behavioral specialist is 6’4″, and weighs 280lbs, while the student is 5’8″ and weighs 162lbs.
The student suffered scratches and bruises to his upper torso.
The teacher was arrested for falsifying information during the investigation.
Everyone is presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.
Analysis of School Employee Attacks
Schools hire employees to care for students. In doing so, they should do their due diligence to screen potential employees to try to find signs that such behavior has occurred in their past. Past behavior is a good predictor of future behavior. Yet despite background checks and interviews, sometimes schools hire people who are not suitable for working with children, especially children with special needs. This can lead to incidents such as this.
When such an incident occurs, it is in the school’s best interest to be open and cooperate with law enforcement or child protective services investigations. The teacher alluded to interviewers that she lied because because she was told by her “higher ups” to clean up the incident. If true, then this is unfortunate and the problem runs up the chain of command.
Don’t be that kind of school.