Elementary school teacher fired after video shows her kicking and pushing 11-year-old student out of her classroom
An elementary school in South Carolina is down one teacher, as Tierra Walker has been fired for allegedly ejecting an 11-year-old boy from her class.
In a surveillance video taken from the hallway in Goose Creek Elementary School in Goose Creek, S.C., the child can be seen being physically kicked out of the classroom. A leg is clearly visible coming through the door at the boy in the camera shot. Then the door closes on him as he tries to reenter.
Students who witnessed the incident told police the boy had gotten in trouble for “not listening and making animal noises,” but when Walker told him to leave, he refused, according to local Charlotte, N.C., news station WSOC-TV. So the teacher then dumped him out of his chair, the students reported, and dragged him across the classroom and through the doorway.
A representative for Goose Creek Elementary School, Katie Tanner, told ABC News that Walker has since been fired from her job. But firing is not enough for the boy’s mother, Taneisha Johnson, who told the news station that she wanted to press charges against the teacher for assaulting her son. That said, Maj. John Grainger of the Goose Creek Police Department told the station that no assault charges would be filed.
Other parents from the Berkeley County School District were divided in their reactions to the incident. Tina DiStefano, a mother whose son attends another Berkeley County school, told ABC News, “I saw the video and I was like, ‘Oh my God. No.’ It’s a kid. Even if the kid was wrong, I don’t accept, as a mother, that the teacher would kick a kid. I would’ve been mad.”
Chris Capers, whose son is also in the school district, told ABC News that he questions whether the district even has a policy for teachers to handle situations like this. “Have a desk or something like that set up outside the classroom where they can cool off,” he said. “Do whatever they need to do. Homework or whatever like that.” But he added, “I can’t blame anybody. I can’t blame the teacher. And I really don’t know what’s going on with the student.”
Yahoo Lifestyle has reached out to the Berkeley County School District for more information on its handling of the incident and will update this story when we hear back.
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