Texas teacher accused by mother of abusing special needs child still working for the district

A Texas teacher who is accused of slamming a special needs child into a wall and other abuses caught on camera is still employed by his San Antonio school district, according to the victim’s mother.

Corey DeAngelis, a school choice advocate who often posts about problems in public schools on X, shared interviews with the 8-year-old autistic boy’s mother describing the abuse from videos she watched Monday at the Northside Independent School District offices.

The woman says her non-verbal son, who also has cerebral palsy and uses a walker for mobility, was dragged across the classroom at Kallison Elementary School, shoved into corners, slammed into the wall repeatedly and had his head pushed to the ground by a teacher named Jonathan Farmer.

“Not one of the staff who was in the class stepped in to help my son,” she said. “They sat and watched as he was physically assaulted for 45+ minutes. Now whatever you’re thinking, multiply that by 10,000. It was bad.” 

Upon visiting the district to watch the video, the mother was shown additional footage where a teacher “allowed my son to crawl naked around this classroom with his peers for 45 minutes.” 

She reported the abuse to Child Protective Services and police immediately upon leaving, according to a text thread posted by DeAngelis. But the principal and district officials had watched the video on Dec. 11, five days before the mother, but didn’t report it to police until after she did. 

“They are all mandated reporters. They continued to have him in the class after they watched the video, continuing to put other kids at harm,” she wrote in text messages posted by DeAngelis. 

But Farmer is still working for the district, the mom said, although in a different role. 

The district called it a “teaching moment,” the mom said. “They said that they don’t think he has the temperament for sped ed, or ALE, the self-contained class, but they’re still going to keep him on.” 

“This teacher should never teach again,” she said in one of her videos. 

The district of 102,000 students, 7,200 teachers and 125 schools has had its share of bad reports. 

Another district special education teacher was arrested earlier this month after he dropped a bag of methamphetamine in the hallway of Mary Hull Elementary School, according to local media. 

Daniel Anthony Gonzalez, 38, was charged with felony drug possession and child endangerment, KSAT reported. He was booked and released on bond.  

Gonzalez submitted his resignation from the school on Friday after working for the district since 2012. 

Parents of students in Gonzalez’ class questioned why the district did not immediately notify them of the arrest. Instead, parents learned of it from local media, KSAT reported.  

“Special needs children need extra care, so if he’s drugged out trying to take care of my kid, how is that safe for my kid?” one parent said. “They just need to notify parents as soon as that happens, not weeks later like this now, what just happened.” 

Kallison school was also in the news last year when a 5th grader brought in unloaded handgun. 

“The safety and well-being of the students is a high priority at Kallison Elementary,” Principal Billy Navin said in a letter sent to parents about the gun incident. “Appropriate disciplinary measures will be taken including the arrest of the student.”