An Ohio kindergarten teacher has been placed on unpaid leave for 10 days after surveillance cameras caught her grabbing a 6-year-old student by the face, and now, the young boy’s family is demanding that she be fired.
Barb Williams, who’s been teaching at Riverdale Schools in Hancock County for 10 years, can be seen in the video grabbing the 6-year-old’s face as he is walking down the hallway to use the bathroom. She then proceeds to grab him by the shirt, lift him up in the air, and push him up against the wall.
“I would consider what would happen to myself, if I were to do that to her,” said Anthony Nelson, father of 6-year-old Ian. “If I were to do that to her, I would go to jail.”
The video, dated May 7, was just recently obtained by Ian’s parents, and according to them, the school made it out to be much less than it actually was prior to their viewing the footage.
“We thought it was just a little incident that happened, and that’s what the school made it out to sound like,” said Anthony Nelson. “And then all of a sudden we get this video today and this is just outrageous.”
Anthony and his wife Autumn say their son Ian has a bruise on the back of his head due to being pushed up against the wall by the teacher, and even though the school placed her on unpaid leave for 10 days, they feel she should be fired altogether.
“He’s scared of her,” said Autumn Nelson. “Even going to the school next year or the year after, he will still have to see her if she is present in the building. That’s probably going to scare him.”
Anthony adds that they tried to get Ian moved to a different class following the incident, but school officials refused.
“The principal told at that time that she’s a highly recommended teacher and they are unwilling to transfer him to a different class,” claimed Anthony.
District superintendent Eric Hoffman reportedly reached out to apologize to the Nelsons for what happened, and according to the latest updates, the school has filed reports with the local police department, Child Protective Services, and the Department of Education.