Teaching is a difficult profession that comes with few accolades, even for the best educators in the world. Most of the time, these men and women have a passion for helping children: Simply being in a classroom setting fills their cups. Teaching is most definitely a calling, and teachers who work with students with special needs must have a very specific skill set. One of the most important qualities in a special education setting is to have patience and love for each student.
Recently, video footage from a Virginia elementary school went viral for all the wrong reasons. A special education staffer appears to be biting a crying student, and the community wants to know what the heck happened.
The video is truly disturbing.
In a viral video posted to social media by a woman named Jas Jas, the unidentified adult appears to be working with autistic children at Fairfield Court Elementary School in Richmond, Virginia. She holds the hands of two young girls, one of whom was crying. As the three walk into the building, the woman appears to bite the young child on the hand.
“While I was there, I saw a staff member who works with autistic children take a little girl behind the school sign. The child was already crying and didn’t want to leave the bowling truck. From what I saw, it looked like the staff member may have handled her roughly or possibly hurt her,” Jas Jas shared on Facebook. “I’m not 100% sure exactly what happened, but it didn’t sit right with me at all. Please share this so the child’s parents can be aware and look into it.”
People could not believe what they saw.
It’s no surprise the video went viral and was reposted on several social media pages catering to Richmond residents. In one part of Jas Jas’ video, the woman and children disappear from the frame behind a large school sign.
“Yea she did something to her behind that sign because look how she holding her arm once they come back from behind the sign,” someone commented.
“wtf she bit her oh he’ll naw,” another person wrote.
Others didn’t think the woman bit the child.
“It look like she roughed her up behind the sign then when she got back in front ppl she kissed the little girl hand after she started crying harder to look like she not the reason the baby crying,” a viewer commented.
The video caught the attention of administrators.
Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras issued a statement about the alleged incident, posting a lengthy response to the video on social media. Kamras said he intends to get to the bottom of the situation and hold the responsible parties accountable.
“I am aware of a disturbing video circulating on social media that shows an RPS employee apparently biting a child in their care. I am absolutely horrified by this, as superintendent and as a parent,” he wrote in the post. “While I cannot comment on personnel actions, I want to assure our families and the public that I simply will not tolerate any such behavior at RPS, and I’ve taken every necessary step accordingly.”
The child’s mother wants justice.
According to The Richmonder, the unidentified mother said she filed a police report after seeing the video during a Facebook live post.
“She has an IEP in place. She has issues with transitioning from one place to another, especially when she’s fixated on one thing,” the mother shared.
The distraught mother added that having a nonverbal child makes life even more challenging when situations like these arise.
“I’m so grateful that this was caught on camera,” the mother added, per The Richmonder. “I don’t even post my kids online or none of that stuff, but I’m glad that this has been captured because this could be happening to somebody else’s child.”
This one is wild. Even though we can’t say exactly what happened, something isn’t adding up here with the girls’ behavior. The district needs to get this handled quickly.
