A Connecticut schools administrator said Friday that a video showing a principal dragging two young students down a hallway should have led to the principal's firing.
The videos, made public this week, show Tisdale School principal Carmen Perez Dickson dragging two kindergartners through the halls on different occasions, according to Sandra Kase, chief administrative officer for Bridgeport schools.
Both were in the spring of 2012.
The Board of Education investigated the incidents, and in October 2013 it voted to suspend Dickson for six months, rather than fire her, something Kase had recommended.
"The board did not exactly agree with us, so the action that was taken was not what we recommended. If I saw the same evidence and saw the same video today, we'd support the same recommendation we made at the time," Kase said.
Video of the children being dragged was provided to NBC Connecticut by the mothers of the students involved.
Board members were divided on the punishment for Dickson. Leticia Colon voted to have her fired.
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"Children go to school to learn and to be respected and we are an example. And if we start to bully, then we can't expect much from these children. They will learn to bully others," Colon said.
Dickson's attorney said her client's actions were within Board of Education policy guidelines in using reasonable force.
Dickson will return from her six-month suspension next month, but she will not return as principal at Tisdale School, according to Kase.
