A Georgia elementary school employee has been placed on administrative leave after being accused of hitting several students and leaving "welts" on the back of at least one child, according to NBC’s Atlanta affiliate WXIA-TV.
Britney Walker said she received a call last week from the principal at Henry County Dutchtown Elementary School, who reported that her daughter, 10-year-old Naveah, had been physically assaulted at school. He said the incident involved a staff member and was being investigated by Human Resources.
Walker immediately went to the school to pick Naveah up.
“She said, 'Mom, my back hurts. It's burning and it's stinging,'" the mother told the station. "I looked at her back and when I pulled her shirt up, she had welts on her back.”
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Naveah said she was at the library and realized she didn't have a charger for her laptop, which allegedly angered the staff member. According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the employee lined up Naveah and four other students who also forgot their chargers, and hit each child as they left the room.
“She literally hit us in our backs and we had two people that saw what happened," Naveah said. "Another teacher came to take us to the quiet room where we could write a statement of what happened.”
Walker said she took Naveah to the Henry County Police Department and filed a report before taking her to the hospital.
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Walker is now asking that the employee be barred from ever working in any school system.
Naveah did not return to school for the rest of the week because the incident has been extremely upsetting, the AJC reports. Her mother is not sure if she will let her return to the school at all, because she feels the administration did not handle the situation well.
The Henry County School System said in a statement that HR is investigating what they described as a "staff member having an inappropriate interaction with students" at Dutchtown Elementary. The employee will remain on leave during the investigation.
