Protect your kids from bullies, drugs and... Teachers?
It's a question a mother doesn't expect to get from her 13-year-old son after school: What happens to a teacher who beats up a student?
But Isaiah Reagins, a sixth-grader at Jamie's House Charter School in north Harris County, had good reason to ask. According to his mom and a cell phone video that apparently captured the incident, a female science teacher dragged him by the legs across the floor, slapped his face repeatedly, kicked his back at least twice and slammed his head against a wall.
“He said, ‘Mama, a teacher jumped on me,' ” the boy's mom, Alesha Johnson, recalled in a phone interview Tuesday. “He said, ‘I have a knot on my head.' ” Johnson said her son also had a faint black eye and bruises on his sides.
School officials said Tuesday that they fired 40-year-old Sheri Lynn Davis. She had worked at the school, which serves about 100 at-risk students, for three years and never had any complaints against her, according to a Jamie's House spokeswoman. “The kids loved her,” said spokeswoman Sue Davis, who is not related to the teacher.
The teacher could not be reached for comment.
School officials said they first saw the video Monday evening when it aired on a Fox-Channel 26 news show. Johnson said the beating of her son took place April 29. She reported it to the school a few days later, though she did not bring the video with her.
Spokeswoman Davis said the teacher apologized and was put on administrative duty. After seeing the video on TV several days later, principal David Jones moved to fire the teacher.
“There is no excuse for a teacher to behave in this way with a child,” Jones said in a written statement.
Johnson said that, before the incident, her son and several other students were in a classroom dancing to music after taking a high-stakes Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills exam.
“There was this little girl, she was shaking her butt and dancing around with all the other kids,” Johnson said. “My son was laughing. Everybody was laughing. They were having fun.
“The little girl got mad and said, ‘Stop laughing at me before I punch you in the face.' My son was like, ‘Come on, come on.' He never jumped the little girl.”
According to the video, Isaiah was standing against a wall behind a desk when the teacher approached him. She threw the desk to her left, kicked a book on the floor and lunged into a punching position. Isaiah then crouched in a corner, and the teacher grabbed him by the legs.
School officials said the boy did not have any visible bruises or a black eye.
The Crimes Against Children unit of the Harris County Sheriff's Office has taken an initial report and plans to launch an investigation, according to spokeswoman Christina Garza.
But Isaiah Reagins, a sixth-grader at Jamie's House Charter School in north Harris County, had good reason to ask. According to his mom and a cell phone video that apparently captured the incident, a female science teacher dragged him by the legs across the floor, slapped his face repeatedly, kicked his back at least twice and slammed his head against a wall.
“He said, ‘Mama, a teacher jumped on me,' ” the boy's mom, Alesha Johnson, recalled in a phone interview Tuesday. “He said, ‘I have a knot on my head.' ” Johnson said her son also had a faint black eye and bruises on his sides.
School officials said Tuesday that they fired 40-year-old Sheri Lynn Davis. She had worked at the school, which serves about 100 at-risk students, for three years and never had any complaints against her, according to a Jamie's House spokeswoman. “The kids loved her,” said spokeswoman Sue Davis, who is not related to the teacher.
The teacher could not be reached for comment.
School officials said they first saw the video Monday evening when it aired on a Fox-Channel 26 news show. Johnson said the beating of her son took place April 29. She reported it to the school a few days later, though she did not bring the video with her.
Spokeswoman Davis said the teacher apologized and was put on administrative duty. After seeing the video on TV several days later, principal David Jones moved to fire the teacher.
“There is no excuse for a teacher to behave in this way with a child,” Jones said in a written statement.
Johnson said that, before the incident, her son and several other students were in a classroom dancing to music after taking a high-stakes Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills exam.
“There was this little girl, she was shaking her butt and dancing around with all the other kids,” Johnson said. “My son was laughing. Everybody was laughing. They were having fun.
“The little girl got mad and said, ‘Stop laughing at me before I punch you in the face.' My son was like, ‘Come on, come on.' He never jumped the little girl.”
According to the video, Isaiah was standing against a wall behind a desk when the teacher approached him. She threw the desk to her left, kicked a book on the floor and lunged into a punching position. Isaiah then crouched in a corner, and the teacher grabbed him by the legs.
School officials said the boy did not have any visible bruises or a black eye.
The Crimes Against Children unit of the Harris County Sheriff's Office has taken an initial report and plans to launch an investigation, according to spokeswoman Christina Garza.
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