WASHINGTON — Prince George’s County parents are speaking out about alleged abuse at the hands of a kindergarten teacher at an award-winning school.
As first reported by The Washington Post, a teacher is accused of spanking students in the classroom and parents say it took a year for the school system to address the problem.
Last year, Xander Faber’s 5-year-old twins entered kindergarten at the Dora Kennedy French Immersion School in Greenbelt, a National Blue Ribbon school that is part of the county school system.
Just weeks later, his daughter said their teacher spanked their son for misbehaving.
“My daughter reported that my son had been struck by his teacher until he cried,” he told the Prince George’s County Schools Board of Education this October. “Our children also named three others in their class who had been struck by the teacher.”
Corporal punishment in public schools is illegal in Maryland. The state banned corporal punishment in schools in 1993, according to data from the National Child Protection Training Center.
There are 19 states that have not banned corporal punishment.
WTOP is not using the teacher’s name because she has not been charged with a crime.
In a blog detailing the incident, Alana Cole-Faber says her son was disciplined for “jumping up and down while the class was singing.”
The next day, the Fabers reported the incident to the school principal. They say other children and parents came forward to report instances of spanking by the same teacher.
“We were assured that the teacher would be removed from the classroom and would not be alone with children until an investigation had been completed. Even so, we requested that our children be moved to new classrooms so that they might have a fresh start after this horrible experience,” Xander Faber says. “The principal called me later to apologize and said the teacher had admitted to the spankings.”
But Faber says the teacher continued to instruct children alone, including his twins, and other children reported the teacher threatened to “beat” them.
Later, administrators with the county schools’ security services told the Fabers their initial report to the principal went nowhere.
“The principal did nothing with our report,” Faber says. “A full year later, we still have not received adequate response from the school system. The only information we have been given is that the principal was unaware he was supposed to take action to stop the abuse.”
The couple transferred their children out of the school and in October 2015, a year after the incident, the school system sent a letter to parents saying they are conducting an investigation. County officials tell The Washington Post the teacher is no longer working for Prince George’s County Public Schools.
In an email to WTOP, Cole-Faber says they and other parents have repeatedly asked for a face-to-face meeting with school officials about the alleged abuse, but that has not happened.
The teacher tells The Washington Post she never spanked a student. She now teaches in Montgomery County.
WTOP reached out to the Dora Kennedy French Immersion School for comment but they deferred to the school system, pending the investigation. County schools officials were not immediately available for comment Monday.
