CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A mother is furious after a cellphone video showed her 5-year-old son with autism allegedly being abused by his teacher, while a paraprofessional also screamed at him.
The Clayton County School District told Channel 2 Action News that the educators are no longer on its payroll.
But Kelsey Bloodsaw, the mother of the child, isn’t happy with how the school district handled this incident.
Bloodsaw told Channel 2’s Tom Jones that anyone who watches the video should immediately realize that educators should never be in a classroom again.
“You gonna shut your mouth. Get over here. Get over here,” the video shows a woman alleged to be a teacher at Riverdale Elementary screaming at the boy as she puts her hands on him, yanking him around.
“Close your mouth,” she said, as the boy constantly screams because of what’s going on.
“The screams literally tore my heart up,” Bloodsaw said.
She said it was painful to watch and hurtful to see a paraprofessional scream at her son during the incident back in January.
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“I feel like my son was being tortured. He was humiliated. He was in pain. He couldn’t defend himself,” she said.
Bloodsaw said when the principal first told her about the alleged abuse, she didn’t believe it. That’s because she had an excellent relationship with the teacher.
She said she would visit the classroom and even talked on the phone with the educator.
So when she heard what happened, she was concerned about her and called her.
“She was like ‘Oh, they’re lying on me.’ Just basically denying everything,” Bloodsaw said.
Then she said she learned someone recorded the incident. Bloodsaw said she filed an Open Records Request and got the video.
She was stunned at what she saw.
“I was really upset. I was really hurt. I cried. I told my mom,” Bloodsaw said.
The school district sent a statement that said after a thorough investigation, the teacher and the paraprofessional no longer work for the district.
Bloodsaw said someone with the district told her the pair was given the option to resign or be fired.
That didn’t sit well with her.
“It shouldn’t be no choice. You’re fired. That’s it. Revoke your license,” Bloodsaw said.
She also thinks the pair should be arrested.
Jones talked to her son. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” he asked. “Spiderman,” the boy replied.
While his mother wants the educators arrested, the child has sympathy for his now former teacher.
“He was like Mommy, don’t send her to jail,” the mother said.
Still, Bloodsaw said she is working to get charges filed against the educators.
The school system said it wants to assure the community it has standards for professionalism and student safety.
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