A US teacher has been fired after she told the parents of a non-verbal autistic boy that he was ignored whilst he repeatedly banged his head on the floor and covered himself in blood.
Amanda Delzell, 29, had her position at Webster Elementary School in Iowa, terminated by the school board of Urbandale in a 4-1 vote on Monday night. Amanda, who has been on leave since last year, claims she has been let go after she spoke out against a staff colleague who let seven-year-old Keaton Petek continue to hurt himself as he banged his head on the floor.
In addition to questioning the staff member's hands-off approach, Amanda also told his parents and was shocked to find they had not been informed about the incident which had seen Keaton draw blood as he hurt himself.
READ MORE: 'School confiscated my daughter's phone overnight - I called the police'
Keaton Petek is non verbal and autistic and injured himself during an incident at school by banging his head on the floor and drawing blood (WHO13)
Inside WW1 military hospital abandoned for decades before new lease of life
Amanda, who claimed there was blood in her classroom from the incident, says she was met with resistance after she questioned the care towards Keatin and said she was told the child's self-harm was confidential and being investigated. The school had kept the incident so quiet and confidential that his parents, Paige and Cody Petek, were not informed until Amanda told them herself. The Peteks are now filing a civil rights complaint against the school.
After watching a video of the incident where Keaton can be seen banging his head and hurting himself, Keaton's parents said they were horrified at what they saw. Mother Paige Petek told WHO13: "The Special Ed teacher is standing over him with her arms crossed across her chest or with her hands on her hips, not showing any type of empathy or getting down on his level."
In November last year, Amanda revealed she watched the video back and was concerned over the lack of action from her colleagues. Speaking to the broadcast outlet she explained what led her to call out her colleague and report the behaviour. She said: "One of my students who is autistic and nonverbal was harmed by another educator to the point that there was blood in my classroom. The next day I went in and watched the cameras and what I saw was my student's IEP and Behaviour Plan not being followed and the result was serious injury to him."
She added that she witnessed another staff member also not helping Keaton as she added: "I saw his teacher standing over him allowing him to self-harm, and using her foot to push him down the hall. He was crying out while in the fetal position."
Revealing that the teacher's stand-off behaviour was in contradiction to Keaton's behavioural plan, Paige explained: "They did nothing to help him and at one point you see the special ed teacher scooting him down the hallway with her foot as he's screaming and crying. [Keaton's] behavioural plan states that any type of situation that Keaton is triggered and is banging his head on any object or the ground, an adult will immediately intervene and block his head with the safety cushions. And that's supposed to be followed up with a nurse evaluating him."
Keaton's parents Paige and Cody have filed a civil rights complaint against the teacher in the video, administrators, and the Urbandale school district and its board (WHO13)Following the incident a school nurse contacted Paige yet claimed that the teacher had tended to Keaton's injury. However the next day she was then told by email that the teacher involved was going to be "out for a few days" with no further explanation. Five days after this Paige says she was fully told about the incident by "another employee", and was told that staff "were told not to say anything or speak about it to parents."
Keaton's father Cody called it "terrifying" that staff would fail to help a child with special needs as he commented: "These kids can't talk and I feel like there's nobody there looking out for the best interests of the kids." The family have filed a civil rights complaint against the teacher in the video, administrators, and the Urbandale school district and its board as Cody added: "Leadership starts at the top. hey have to be held accountable for what they have done and the way they've handled it. If they've done this to our kid, they'll do it to others. And that's what we're after is making sure that never happens again."
Amanda says she feels she was then punished by the school for speaking to Keaton's parents and questioning the action taken, as 10 days after the incident she was "reprimanded". "I'm on the leadership team, a model teacher, a mentor teacher and then right after parents found out I got a letter of reprimand saying I wasn't meeting standards," she said. From the middle of November last year, Amanda was then placed on administrative leave by the school until the decision to terminate her position this month.
Following a school board meeting in December where 40 people stated their support for Amanda and her actions to report the behaviour, she was ultimately fired from her position as a teacher at Webster Elementary School. A Change.org petition to have Amanda reinstated has already garnered more than 700 signatures.
The Urbandale School Board has refused to comment on the decision, citing confidentiality laws. Lori Bullock, an attorney for Amanda, spoke out following her termination: "We are deeply disappointed by the superintendent's recommendation and the board's decision. We are not done with this fight. We will continue to work to hold the district accountable for the way it has retaliated against Ms. Delzell for doing the right thing."
UK's first non-binary priest says God guided them to come out after an epiphany
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
