A staff member at a Philadelphia charter school was fired for hitting a seventh grader so hard that he knocked one of the boy’s teeth out.
Montrena Bennett said that the confrontation last month happened between a KIPP Philadelphia Preparatory Academy staff member and her 12-year-old son, Peyton Outlaw.
“My son wanted to use the bathroom, and apparently, he wouldn’t allow him to use the bathroom on his lunch break. So, my son tried to go around,” Bennett told WPVI. “He put my son in a headlock. My son got away, and then my son swung on him. So then (the staff member) swung back. They say my son flew across the room and his tooth fell out his mouth.”
Now, her son has a missing tooth, bruising, and a swollen lip. His injuries required stitches, and he had to undergo a root canal to treat another tooth that came loose.
“He didn’t fall. He didn’t hurt himself. He got punched by a man twice his size,” Bennett said.
Bennett said what added insult to injury was the fact that school administrators never contacted her, Outlaw’s father, or the boy’s other emergency contacts about the incident.
Instead, they learned about the altercation through a parent of another student.
“He said when it first happened, he was crying out for his dad. And he asked several times for them, you know, to call his dad. And they just ignored him,” Bennett said.
She recalled the school’s actions after the incident.
“The cops should have been called, my son should have went to the ambulance instead of to the nurse’s office,” she said. “They had his tooth in a little box and a note that the nurse sent home. Couple of abrasions, tooth missing.”
Bennett said her son was diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), a childhood behavioral disorder that includes an ongoing pattern of angry, irritable, and argumentative behavior towards adults and authority figures. Outlaw’s mother said he has an individualized education plan to refine his educational experience and address needs and services for his condition.
“They don’t process information like we do, and it makes them irate, I will say. But if you just leave him alone, he’ll calm down,” Bennett said. “And they’re aware of that. So I don’t know how this escalated so far.”
School administrators sent a message to families, calling the incident “deeply concerning,” and stating that they contacted Outlaw’s family immediately and “took swift action to remove the staff member from campus.”
In a separate statement, a school spokesperson confirmed the staff member was terminated following an internal investigation.
“We continue to fully cooperate with the Philadelphia Police Department and the appropriate authorities to ensure transparency and accountability at every step,” the statement read.
Still, Outlaw’s mother is demanding more action.
“That’s not enough for me,” Bennett said of the firing. “He lost a job. My son is gonna have to have therapy. I don’t think it’s fair, I don’t think it’s fair at all. That man went home, my son went to the hospital.”
The family has filed a police report and hired a lawyer.
“I’m not saying, oh, my son was right for punching, you know, swinging at a teacher. But what I’m saying is teachers or deans or anybody in that school system is supposed to be able to handle themselves when it comes to a situation like that,” she said. “We as parents trust these people in these positions to make sure that our kids are safe.”
