A mother said on Tuesday it took 20 days for her to find out a teacher was under investigation for allegedly abusing her 4-year-old son.
The special needs, pre-kindergarten student at Forest Hills Elementary School in Coral Springs, Florida, returned home with cuts and bruises that he couldn’t explain, according to Local 10 News. His mother said she received a call from a detective, who was investigating the report on her son’s teacher.
“I had no idea what was going on, up until now,” the mother told the outlet. She explained the Coral Springs detective told her on Monday that a witness reported the teacher had grabbed the boy’s “pressure points” during school hours on Sept. 20.
An empty classroom at the Utopia Independent School on May 26, 2022, in Utopia, Texas. (Photo by ALLISON DINNER/AFP via Getty Images)
Two days after the incident, the school notified her, with no explanation, that the teacher was no longer working at the school, the outlet reported. (RELATED: Arrest Warrant Issued For Teacher Accused Of Inappropriately Touching 4-Year-Old Students).
“The teacher you are referencing is no longer with the District (resigned as of September 22, 2023),” Broward County Public Schools said in a statement, according to the outlet.
“The school is aware of allegations made last month and immediately reported them to law enforcement, which is now investigating. Due to the open investigation, we are unable to provide additional information.”
This is not the first incident of teacher misconduct in the Broward County Public Schools. In October 2022, a first-grade teacher was arrested for misconduct with a 6-year-old, and charged with lewd and lascivious conduct while being held on a $65,000 bail, according to Local 10 News.
The teacher had multiple allegations and was previously removed from his class and the school due to a different student’s report. He taught at Endeavour Primary Learning Center in Lauderhill, about 10 miles from Forest Hills Elementary School.