FORREST CITY, Ark. — A Forrest City first grader is claiming his teacher choked him and hit him with a ruler Wednesday afternoon at Central Elementary.
Kayden Berry told WREG his teacher was angry with him for laughing at another student’s joke during class.
“I laughed out real loud,” he said.
According to a police report, the teacher allegedly pulled him out of his seat by his neck and dragged him across the room. He claims she also slammed him against a wall.
“It was embarrassing ‘cause I didn’t expect that to happen. Even if I laugh, I don’t expect that.”
The boy’s mother said she learned about the allegations when she picked up her son from school and immediately reported it to police.
“He said she was grinding her teeth, you know how you want to make somebody know you mean business,” Dannielle Berry said.
WREG isn’t naming the teacher since no criminal charges have been filed.
The Forrest City School District confirmed Monday that she remains on the job and provided this statement:
“We are aware of the situation and the allegations and became aware of them on the day they were initially made.
The District took immediate action and undertook an internal investigation and immediately contacted law enforcement and the Department of Human Services directly. Since that time the district has based its actions on the recommendations and preliminary findings of the investigations of law enforcement and DHS.
The district (as confirmed by our own investigation) will continue to take the appropriate action as the investigations are completed.
As the matters involve both employee and student privacy the district cannot comment further.”
“I’m definitely angry, I’m definitely pissed out and I definitely want something done about it,” said Kayden’s mother.
Since the alleged attack, Berry said her son has been placed in in-school suspension.
“He ends up getting punished because of what she did and she’s still around these kids at work.”
