Texas school board ignores mother’s complaints about abusive gym teacher

A Texas school district is defending an educator who allegedly physically and verbally abused a young student.

At Tuesday’s Edgewood Independent School District school board meeting, Carolann Reyes accused a middle school gym teacher of mocking her 11-year-old daughter over her appearance.  

“There were a couple of times where she [the teacher] said, ‘Oh, your mom can’t afford to buy you new clothes?’” said Reyes. “As adults and teachers, they don’t know what these kids go through at home, so taunting a child about what they are wearing has a big effect on them.”  

The issues reportedly stemmed from the student wearing a t-shirt instead of a gym uniform. 

Reyes said the same teacher physically assaulted her daughter on Oct. 2. 

“Because her jacket was zipped all the way up,” Reyes recalled, “[the teacher] wanted to see what she was wearing, so she grabbed her, jerked her, and turned her around to see what she was wearing [under the jacket].”  

Reyes’ daughter hasn’t returned to school since that day and the mother says the district, which is about one hour east of Dallas, has given them “zero” communication. 

“I want the board to know what is going on behind school doors; the neglect, mental and verbal abuse,” Reyes said at Tuesday’s meeting. “There are other kids going through this too. This gives other kids a voice and lets them know it is okay to come forward. They say it takes a village to raise a child; that village has our kids during the day, so we expect them to be protected.” 

According to local media, about two dozen other parents came to the meeting in support of Reyes and her daughter. 

However, the school district claimed there was no such problem. 

“The safety and security of all students, staff and faculty is a top priority of Edgewood ISD,” read a statement from the district. “Edgewood ISD is aware of claims made against an employee at Brentwood STEAM School of Innovation. Campus police and school administrators investigated the claims and determined they were unfounded.” 

But Reyes says she won’t feel better until the teacher is suspended.