One Florida mom is demanding accountability after her daughter was injured by a high school teacher while playing musical chairs. The adult evidently got far too competitive during a school pep rally, slamming the girl to the ground. Now, the teen is dealing with injuries that are forcing her to miss school, and her mom understandably wants answers. It appears that the school is committed to holding the teacher accountable for his actions. And officials are assuring something like this won’t happen again.
Joanna Millikin shared a video of the moment the Westside High School teacher threw her daughter Nyla to the ground. The male teacher, who has not been identified, got “a little bit too competitive” during the game. Although he may have won the game, the 16-year-old girl ended up with a concussion and bruised ribs.
“He was a little too close to me from the beginning, from behind. So when the music stopped, you know how somebody pulls the chair and runs? I did that, sat down, then he ran after me, picked me up, and then slammed me,” Nyla Millikin told News4Jax.
At the end of the video, the teacher can be seen running in victory. Meanwhile, the teen is being helped up off the ground.
@jojofine95 #GodsavedmefromgoingtojailToday ♬ original sound – Jojo2fine
Millikin admitted it was hard to know her daughter had been physically harmed by a full-grown man.
“To see her cry, it made me feel, I want to cry inside, because my daughter, she’s real tough, she’s competitive, like a sports player, and she never cries like that. But I know she was hurt when she came in that car and started crying to me,” she told the news outlet.
As for Nyla, all she wants to do is get back to school. “I really don’t want to miss no things at school. Like, it’s just so crazy to me. I have to because of the situation,” she said.
The mother revealed that she has already contacted the school and spoken with the principal about what could be done.
“He was a very nice principal,” Millikin said, per News4Jax. “He sat down and talked to me, and he said that measures are being taken, but he did say he watched a video himself, and he said he did not expect that out of that young man.”
She added that the principal “didn’t know what [the teacher] was thinking.”
“I want justice to be done, because ain’t no teacher should be that close to a student they didn’t know,” the mom continued. “Nobody should even have to come or even have to deal with their kid going to the emergency room just for a teacher tackling their student over on the ground over musical chairs.”
People in the comments section of the mom’s video largely agreed with her.
“Everyone saying he’s a good guy. or he didn’t mean too. how you unintentionally pick a person up & slam them to the ground. OVER A GAMEEEEE ! he shouldn’t never even touched her to begin with,” one commenter wrote.
News4Jax reached out to Duval County Public Schools and the high school to see what actions were going to be taken. The district said the high school teacher “has been reassigned to duties without student contact while the district’s Office of Professional Standards investigates.”
School officials couldn’t provide any additional information because it’s an active investigation.
