After eing informed by students, Police and Child Protective Services has opened an investigation on two substitute teachers in a middle school. They are under suspicion of children’s physical abuse.
Seeing plenty of blisters and bruises on children’s hands, parent of about twelve sixth grade students at Florence Middle School in Florence are asking for the answers from the authorities.
One parent says during a Thursday afternoon physical education class, the substitute teachers ordered the students to do “bear crawls” as punishment for one student not following the rules the day before.
Students were forced to go on all fours while keeping the torso rigid around the football field. That is the reason for those burns and injuries.
(Picture from Wikipedia)
One parent says that she did not know anything about her son’s injuries until she saw it by herself.
Student Michelle Gonzales, 11, says she is still in pain.
“I started to feel that things were stabbing into them [my hands], and then I stopped and checked them. They were filled with bruises and were bleeding,” Michelle said.
Michelle says one of the substitute teachers yelled at them, “This will show your respect.” The 11-year-old says she felt like they were training in the military.
Michelle was very scared of the punishment so that her mother brought her out of school before the physical education class on Friday.
In a statement, Superintendent Paul Michalewicz said school district officials have acknowledged the allegations.
“We are extremely concerned, and we are conducting a thorough investigation into what happened and how it happened so that we can determine the very best way to respond,” the statement read in part.
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