Mother ‘Outraged’ After Teacher Allegedly Sprayed Autistic Son with Lysol

 

An Atlanta mother is demanding action after she claims a teacher sprayed her autistic son in the face with Lysol several times but was never reprimanded by school officials.

Parent Kimberly Risby told station WSB-TV she was sickened when she found out a teacher at L.O. Kimberly Elementary School had sprayed her 8-year-old son, J.R., with the chemical disinfectant earlier this year. She said her son became clingy and didn’t want to go back to school. However, she couldn’t figure out why.

“He said, ‘It hurts, Mommy,” Risby explained. “It hurts my eyes. It hurts my nose. It hurts my throat and I can’t breathe.’ ”

Little J.R. eventually told his mother what had happened and alleged that former teacher Dorcas Noland had sprayed him in class. When Risby confronted a school leader about the incident, she was shocked at the response she got.

“He said, ‘I’m so sorry. I thought it stopped,'” Risby told the news station.

Noland, who resigned from the local elementary school, denied that she ever spayed any of her students. She said she only sprayed Lysol in the air, or on herself after J.R. sneezed in her face. However, Atlanta Public Schools confirmed to WSB-TV that “Ms. Noland resigned in lieu of termination as the result of an investigation that confirmed she sprayed Lysol on students.”

For Risby, the teacher’s resignation wasn’t enough.

“Why is she able to go to another school system?” she asked, pointing out that resignation simply allows teachers like Noland to start over in another school district. “Why is she able to continuously teach without being reprimanded for anything that she did?”

Noland was hired at the school in June but resigned in September. County records show that she may already be back in another school in Fulton County, according to the news station.

“It’s a huge concern and one of the things I was wary about sending [my son] to school,” Risby said. “I’m hurt, I’m bothered, I’m outraged.”

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