Two teachers from a Santa Fe grade school are facing charges of child abuse after they were caught on camera dragging a 6-year-old blind boy down the hall after he refused to go to another classroom. One of his special-ed teachers grabbed him by the ankle, then another colleague took hold of the child's other leg, and they both pulled him along the ground. A third teacher watched the whole thing happen and will face consequences for not reporting the problem.
Thing is, the parents were reportedly very fond of their boy's teachers and felt that their child had a good relationship with them. So, is this child abuse, or something less severe?
That's up to the Sante Fe attorney to decide, but if I had to guess, looking in from the outside, it's a little bit in between. "Child abuse" seems a little extreme here ... but maybe there's more than meets the eye. It's really hard to say, so maybe I should stop "saying" anything, but the story looks to be more gray than it does black and white.
The sergeant on the case, however, sums it up pretty nicely. Police Sgt. Andrea Dobyns explained, "We don't believe the teacher was intentionally trying to hurt the child, but our problem is the blatant neglect for his safety."
That's exactly it. It doesn't look like the teachers were trying to injure the boy, but at the same time, in what state of mind do you have to be in to think that it's OK to drag a child, disabled or not, to a classroom? It shows extremely poor judgement. Even if it was purposely malevolent, still, like, no. Treat the child, and yourself, with dignity and find another way to solve the problem.
Bottom line -- you can't excuse inexcusable behavior. I'm sure these teachers will have to face the music, whatever it may be.
Do you think this is child abuse?
Photo via stephendepolo/Flickr
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Comments 20
If it was at home and your kid did this (and they all do) you just leave him there and ignore him, but this was in a school hallway, so they had to remove him. However, it was poor judgement to drag him--should have gotten a large male (if there was one) to help, or several more people to carry this boy and not drag him.
I was prepared to get all fired up about this, then I watched the video. It's clear they aren't hurting the boy. Was it an appropriate way to deal with the problem? No. Was it abuse? No. Do they need training? YES.
They are being unnecessaily rough with him. He doesn't look like he's in pain, so I don't think it's abuse. However, this should have been handled differently. I think perhaps grabbing the child by the wrist and gently pulling/urging him along would have been a better approach.
WTF? How is this not abusive? Even if he is not hurt THIS TIME, being dragged down the hall by his feet is abusive.
I dont think it was right BUT seeing special needs kids taken by the hand and the way they can throw themselves down and into things and get hurt, being on his back was actually safer than trying to drag him along using his arms/hands. I think administration should have been called in.
the parents should have been called before ANYONE put a hand on that child. he's BLIND ffs. i hope everyone involved is fired immediately..
These are professional educators handling a blind child, and they believed the best way to handle his lack of cooperation was to drag him down the hall? Children misbehave, professionals entrusted with their care are supposed to be able to handle misbehavior. It's appalling that one teacher decided this was a good way to handle a child, that another teacher agreed and assisted is mind blowing. In what other circumstances would we see two adults drag a child anywhere and decide that their behavior was acceptable? If these two "professionals" could not handle a six year old child, they needed to call for assistance. It's not that difficult to come to that conclusion. If no assistance was available, then let him sit until someone could come help. Pretty basic concept. Then consequences for his behavior can be given. What he has learned instead is that if people are bigger than you, they can do as they wish to you. Isn't that the opposite of what he is supposed to learn in school? Schools are supposed to be a safe place for our children to be, when teachers behave this way when they know cameras are watching, you have to wonder what is happening where there are no cameras?
Not about the dragging issue, but, FYI, being blind is not a mental issue. What's up with all the replies about the way "special needs kids" behave? There is nothing mentally wrong with this child, unless that part was left out of the story. He's just like any other kid his age, just blind, his mind works the same as the rest.