'Physically assaulted by a teacher': 6-year-old boy's family demands answers
A 6-year-old child was allegedly grabbed by the neck and thrown to the floor by his own teacher in the middle of the day at school and now his family is demanding answers.
Monique Alexander says that her son, 6-year-old Chance Hill, can be a handful to take care of sometimes but that what allegedly happened to him at Butterfield Ranch Elementary School in Chino Hills, California, at the hands of his own teacher is unacceptable.
"The principal called me, around 2:30 (p.m.), and said your son was physically assaulted by a teacher, and another one of the teacher's peers witnessed it," Alexander told ABC News’ Los Angeles station KABC during an interview.
"Academically, he's fine, but behavior-wise, he has some needs," she continued. "Basically, the teacher gave up on my son. Gave up on him emotionally, gave up on him academically."
The incident allegedly happened on Thursday afternoon and Chance was given the opportunity to tell his side of the story.
"She just came up to me, grabbed my shirt, and then threw me," he said. “She throws strong … then she called the principal and blamed it all on me. She said I hit her but I didn’t."
Another teacher, however, witnessed the incident between Chance and his teacher and reported it to school officials.
Alexander later received a call from the human resources director of the Chino Valley Unified School District saying that he couldn’t go into specifics but that her son would be kept away from the teacher involved in the alleged assault.
"He said, 'I can't tell you specifics, but if you can read between the lines, your son won't have any direct contact with his teacher again,'" Alexander said.
Alexander has filed a police report with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. They are currently investigating the incident.
In a written statement obtained by KABC, the school district said: "Yesterday afternoon, Chino Valley Unified School District was made aware of an incident involving a teacher and a kindergarten student ... While details of active personnel investigations are confidential, as a matter of procedure the teacher has been placed on administrative leave during the investigation."
All Alexander wants now is for the school district to take responsibility for what happened to Chance.
Said Alexander: "I want to ensure that my son, he understands that he is safe."
