Members of the community in Hanford, California, are calling for more answers from their school district after a grade school teacher says she was assaulted several times by the same student.
Teachers and parents berated members of the Pioneer Union School District on Wednesday evening after teacher Madeline Cardoza posted photos of a black eye and bruises on her legs from an alleged student assault.
‘You guys have done nothing for this staff. Teachers should not be assaulted.’
Cardoza claimed that it was only the latest assault from the same student at Frontier Elementary and that there had been three other incidents from which she suffered a black eye. She also said she suffered a concussion from the last alleged incident.
“It’s incredibly sad that it took a bruised and battered face to bring attention to what teachers in our county have been dealing with quietly for years,” said Monica Cano, a teacher with the district.
“They need to protect themselves. You guys have done nothing for this staff. Teachers should not be assaulted,” said Amalia Phillips, a mother of children in the district.
Another parent said she also suffered from assault when she subbed in her daughter’s class.
“I was choked by my lanyard and punched in the stomach by a student. I had an immediate understanding of what was going on, and it wasn’t learning,” said Holly Pereira.
One father told the school board that his son had told him about the alleged threat but that he didn’t believe him and believed he was exaggerating.
Another parent, Anna Marie Johnson, said she had a difficult conversation with her son about the student who was allegedly committing the assaults.
“I had to ask him if he feels safe in the classroom, if he knows who the child is. And he said the child is still in class, that the child sits in the back of the classroom and that the child is not allowed at recess,” Johnson said.
The school board only said it had no response to the frustration from parents and teachers.
Liberal legislators in California in recent years have dismantled mandatory consequences for misbehavior in schools in an attempt to end what they call the “school-to-prison pipeline,” especially as it pertains to minority students. Critics have blamed the policies for a rise in crime in schools.
Images of the teacher’s injuries can be viewed on the news video from KMPH-TV about the incident can be viewed on YouTube.
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Crime in school, First grader assault, Frontier elementary assault, Madeline cardoza assault, Politics