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On June 10, 2024, the Office of Childhood (OOC) received a complaint alleging that on June 5, 2024, Child A had fingernail marks on their arm from a teacher grabbing Child A. Compliance Inspector (CI) Heather Radney conducted an investigation and found the allegation to be substantiated based on the following information:
5 CSR 25-500.182(1)(C)3. - Only constructive, age-appropriate methods of discipline shall be used to help children develop self-control and assume responsibility for their own actions.
AND
5 CSR 25-500.182(1)(C)7. - Physical punishment including, but not limited to, spanking, slapping, shaking, biting, or pulling hair shall be prohibited.
On June 11, 2024, CI Radney conducted interviews with Parent A and Child A. Parent A reported she was notified of a scratch injury to Child A. When she saw the injury that night, it didn't look like an accidental scratch; it looked like fingernail marks and one was still kind of oozing but not actively bleeding. She asked to review the video footage and observed Child A running around the classroom. The teacher (Hannah) was sitting in a chair and the teacher reaches behind her with her right arm and grabs the inner bicep of Child A's left arm. The teacher spins around and crouches down to scold Child A. The teacher then led Child A to the side of the classroom which is off camera. Child A did not provide any relevant information to this complaint.
On June 12, 2024, CI Radney conducted interviews with Anna Messick, Amanda Akin, Ariaha McIllwian, Parent C and Child B. Anna reported Parent A notified her of Child A's injury and the next day she reviewed the video footage. They pulled Hannah in the office and suspended her then the following day they terminated Hannah because they did not like how she grabbed Child A by the arm. Amanda reported she was in the classroom with Hannah and Child A. She knows Child A was running and hitting Hannah in the back. She saw Hannah turn and grab Child A by the arm and Child A started crying. She asked Hannah if Child A was hurt and Hannah said "yes, I scratched her or she got scratched." The next day Anna asked if she'd seen the marks on Child A's arm and she said no, so Anna unwrapped the bandage. She saw the marks and knew it was more significant than just a scratch.
On June 14, 2024, CI Radney conducted an interview with Hannah Childress. Hannah reported they were having the children sit and play quietly. Child A and two others were running back and forth around the room instead of sitting at the table. Child A was saying "punch you in the head" for about ten minutes. She reached her arm out to stop Child A from running by and hitting her in the head. Child A slipped so she grabbed her and took her to the safe area to calm down. Child A began crying and said "you scratched me." Child A showed her where she'd scratched her. She told Child A "Oh crap! I am sorry, I didn't mean to." She saw two nail marks from her pointer finger and one a couple centimeters long from her middle finger. It had started to bleed and she dabbed it with a tissue. Child A asked for a band aid and she brought one and put it on the scratch. She wasn't doing it to try to dig her nails into her; she was just trying to stop Child A from running in the classroom. Emily and Anna brought her in to watch the video of what happened and they told her they were firing her.
On June 12, 2024, CI Radney received and reviewed video footage from June 5, 2024. The video from June 5, 2024 begins at 10:09 a.m. Hannah is sitting at a child's table with five children. Child A is running past the table, behind Hannah. Amanda is holding another child on her hip, facing Hannah and Child A. 10:09:07 Child A uses her right arm to hit Hannah on the right upper arm area as she runs by. 10:09:11 Child A runs to the corner of the room, waits a few seconds and runs toward Hannah again. 10:09:15 Hannah reaches around to the right with her right arm to grab Child A. 10:09:16 Hannah uses her right hand to grab on to Child A's left elbow area. 10:09:17 Hannah stands and bends over in front of Child A, they are face to face, and Hannah is still grabbing Child A's arm. 10:09:18 Hannah and Child A begin to move toward the corner of the room, Hannah still grabbing Child A's arm and Child A's face looks as though she is in pain. 10:09:20 Hannah and Child A continue moving toward the corner of the room, Child A appears to be crying. Hannah is still grabbing Child A's arm. 10:09:21 Hannah and Child A pass Amanda, who is facing them and appears to be looking at another student. 10:09:22 Hannah and Child A cannot be seen in the camera view. Hannah and Child A don't appear again in the video.
On July 30, 2024, CI Radney conducted an interview with Emily O'Connell. She reported on June 5, 2024, Hannah mentioned to her that Child A will have an incident report because her nail scratched her and she put a bandage on it and wrote up the report. Parent A messaged them later asking what happened and said it looked like more of a grab. She realized then it looked a lot worse than what Hannah had described to her earlier. She saw the marks on Child A's arm the next day and it did looked like a grab rather than a scratch. They met with Hannah that same day. Hannah said she did grab her because Child A had been running around her. Hannah was terminated at that time for that incident.
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