A Georgia special-needs teacher has raised concern among parents after she was accused of physically abusing a student.
The principal of Kinchafoonee Primary School in Leesburg, about 80 miles from Columbus, opened an investigation into 39-year-old Ashton Long Cleveland following a complaint from a counselor who witnessed an interaction between the teacher and a student, WALB and WSB-TV reported. The incident was captured on security footage and happened on Friday, April 12.
According to a police report obtained by the outlets, Cleveland was seen mishandling a student — dragging her by the legs across the floor, pushing her, and putting foot on the child’s body.
“Mrs. Cleveland grabbed [the student] from the back and pushed her where [the student] fell onto the floor,” the documents reportedly said. “Minutes later you can see [the student] laying on the floor and Mrs. Cleveland walks up from behind [the student] and placed her right foot on the center back of [the student] then lift upward on her back with her foot putting her weight on the back of [the student].”
Cleveland was arrested but later let out on bond. She was charged with three felony counts of child cruelty and placed on administrative leave. Parents spoke out against the treatment of the students.
“These babies need help, and you betray their help by abusing them?” a parent told WALB. “You don’t expect your child to go to school to get abused, you expect them to go to school to learn. How many times did this happen, how often did this happen?”
The person continued, “The kids don’t want to go to school because of this, and you think they just don’t want to go to school because they just don’t want to go to school but this whole time it’s something happening in their class that they can’t verbally tell us and those people that abuse these children are sick because they know that they can’t say anything.”
In a separate incident that same week, Cleveland is accused of kicking a different child while sitting down, according to the reports. The Lee County School district released a statement emphasizing the importance of the safety of their students.
“The district takes these types of offenses very seriously. As always, we are fully cooperating with law enforcement,” the statement said, per WSB-TV. The safety and well-being of our students is our highest priority, and the school system will continue to follow all safety policies and procedures. No further information can be shared at this time as this is an active investigation.”
