Page 18 - IAV Digital Magazine #487

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Teacher Suspended After Pouring Pencil Shavings In Student’s Mouth
By Arezow Doost
ARLINGTON (CBS 11 NEWS) – Marquis Jay pulls out a pencil sharpener and shows the amount of shav- ings inside, “She poured the pencil shavings in my mouth.”
The 8th grader at Boles Jr. High School in Arlington says it was a teacher who poured the pencil shavings in his mouth in January.
“I was sitting in class with my head tilted back and opening my mouth,” says Jay. “Teacher came over and poured the pencil shav- ings in my mouth.”
The 13-year-old says he immedi- ately spit it out and was taken to the nurse’s office where he washed
out his mouth.
His mother Deidre Brown was called and she is still furious.
“I wanted to cry because it was like how could she do that,” says Brown. “What kind of message is it sending to the kids? She is
supposed to be the teacher – the adult.”
Marquis says the teacher responsi- ble wasn’t assigned to his class and she had stopped by to help his teacher.
Friday morning,
almost a month later, Brown says she was told the teacher was sus- pended. She says she wanted her fired.
“This incident is unacceptable and was immediately and fully investi- gated by the AISD when it occurred almost a
month ago. The district took appropriate disci- plinary action,” says Amy Casas, Director of Communications with Arlington ISD. “The school has been in con- stant communica- tion with the stu- dent’s mother about this inci- dent and other
matters. At no time has mom expressed any concerns about the manner in which this situa- tion was handled to the school or the district.”
The family says they are talking now because they want to make sure what happened to Jay doesn’t happen to any other stu- dents.
“I don’t even think she should be teaching if she can’t have the patience to not know that’s not something she is not supposed to do,” says Brown.
Marquis says the teacher is back at school and has apologized, “She said sorry for what happened. She wasn’t think- ing right.”
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine