From Local 3 News: Two teachers at Pikeville Elementary School in Bledsoe County, Tennessee, have lost their jobs and are facing criminal charges
From Local 3 News: Two teachers at Pikeville Elementary School in Bledsoe County, Tennessee, have lost their jobs and are facing criminal charges after a physical altercation in a classroom.
Chloe Frizzell and Shelia Schmidt are facing child abuse charges.
They are accused of throwing something at a student, pulling a student by her hair and putting her in a chair, and shoving a student to the ground.
Police said the whole thing was caught on camera.
“I’m probably going to have to pick him up early cause its been giving me anxiety all day,” said Carole Standiford, whose five-year-old son is in the class. “I initially started crying. I got very frustrated and angry that it took until Saturday after the newspaper wrote it that it was told to me.”
Four other employees were fired after the incident, according to a statement posted to the school’s Facebook page by the Director of Schools, Selina Sparkman.
It’s not clear how those four employees were involved.
“I just feel bad for those kids,” said Standiford. “People need to stand up for people who can’t stand up for themselves.”
Frizzell is listed on the school’s website as a special education assistant, but Schmidt is not listed on the school’s website at all.
Standiford told us her son is non-verbal but said she has noticed he’s been acting differently since she sent him back to school after Christmas break.
“He did show up with different types of cues like different types of attitudes and aggressions that he doesn’t normally have,” she said. “But I thought he was learning from the other kids, and now I’m starting to think maybe he was learning it from the aids.”
Local 3 News requested the personnel files for all the employees involved.
Sparkman’s post says the district won’t release more information about the incident because of the ongoing legal investigation.
“This is in no way indicative of the care that is demonstrated for our students on a daily basis,” she wrote. “A plan has been prepared to ensure our students are safe and secure.”
Schmidt and Frizzell are due in court on March 6. They were released from prison on a $7,500 bond.
“None of them should be in a teaching environment,” said Standiford. “If you can’t handle the kids, don’t do it. That’s it.”
