With allegations that a special-needs 9-year-old student was hit by his teacher, that's how. KSPR-TV out of Springfield reports that the teacher assaulted the boy before taking him to get help. From the station:
"He told her [it's unclear from the story who this is] that the teacher hit him in the head with a taco. He said she had to take the lettuce out of his ear before they went to the school nurse," his grandmother said.
After the alleged assault, the boy's grandma, Pat Simmons, says his behavior changed, and he didn't want to return to school.
"He would not come out of his bedroom. He would not come out under the covers. He wouldn't talk to anyone. He cried off and on for most of the night. Refused supper," Simmons said. "He refused the next day to go back to school. Cried 'Mommy, please don't make me go back. Mommy, I can't go back. Mommy, I'm not going back.' We had to carry him into school. He refused to go in," the station reports.
The grandmother then discovered that the fourth-grader's ear was red. "There's no doubt that he was hit with something," she told the station. After discovering this, the family says it went to the school district to have them look into the situation, but the grandmother says the teacher escaped without any disciplinary action. The family even tried to get the Greene County Prosecutor to investigate, but said there was no corroborating evidence.
Republic School District Superintendent Vern Minor told the station that he had "no recollection" of the alleged assault.
The family has since moved out of the district, and the boy, who wasn't expected to make it out of the third grade, attends school in Fair Grove.
