An Arkansas kindergarten teacher is on administrative leave pending an investigation after she allegedly made a 5-year-old student dig feces out of a toilet last week.
Ashley Murry, mother of the child, who attends Crystal Hill Elementary School in Little Rock, is calling for the teacher to be terminated and seeking legal action.
“It’s degrading for a child, so I don’t feel like any child should have to go through this,” Murry told KARK-TV. “They basically made him go in the toilet and get his feces and the dirty tissue out of the toilet.”
The alleged incident took place on March 5. Murry said the teacher explained to the principal that she forced the boy to touch the feces to teach him “how not to stop up the toilet,” as the teacher believed he had “used too much toilet paper.”
Murry was shocked when her son told her what had happened. “He just came to me and said, ‘She made me get my boo boo out with my bare hands in the toilet.’ I’m like, ‘are you serious?’ He kept saying it and telling everybody, and I know when he’s lying,” Murry said.
The Pulaski County Special School District said it is investigating the situation and that the teacher has been placed on leave.
“District administrators are aware of an alleged situation that occurred at Crystal Hill Elementary on Friday, March 5. We are actively investigating this alleged action in the classroom. As with district policy we cannot disclose information in regard to disciplinary personnel matters,” the statement said.
A man named Mark Cannon, who has organized a GoFundMe page for the family designating Murry’s mother Tami Murry as the beneficiary, identifies the child as Ashton and says he has been “traumatized” by the situation and will need counseling.
“I don’t ever want another kid to have to experience this. It’s disturbing. It’s disgusting. It’s degrading. It’s belittling. I don’t want any kid to have to go through what my son’s been through,” Ashley Murry told THV11.
Murry said the teacher called her to apologize after Murry brought her concerns to the principal earlier in the week, saying she was “deeply sorry” for what happened but couldn’t offer an explanation.
“She just knew she was wrong,” Murry said.
Murry and her mother met with lawyers Wednesday morning and plan to take legal action. Murry also said the teacher should be terminated.
“She needs to be terminated. She does not need to be teaching in any school district. She does not need to be around kids. Her license needs to be taken,” Murry told THV11.
