Madison Metropolitan School District in Madison, Wis. reportedly put one of their teachers on leave after he allegedly pushed and ripped three braids out of an 11-year-old student’s head.
According to the child’s mother Mikiea Price, the incident started after her daughter and another student “sprayed too much perfume” in their classroom at Whitehorse Middle School. The school’s acting principal Rob Mueller-Owens was called in to handle the situation. According to WISC-TV in Wisconsin, surveillance video reportedly shows what happens next. Since the investigation is still ongoing, the footage will not be released to the public.
“A big tall man and an 11-year-old girl being pushed from one classroom to the other side of the hallway and then falling on top of her,” Pastor Marcus Allen said of the video in question. “It’s a very disturbing sight to see.”
“Just the whole experience is just traumatic and devastating and just confusing,” Price said. “I’m just disgusted at this whole incident. You know I send my kid to school to learn, and that’s a place where mothers send their kids to be comfortable in. I just feel violated in so many ways that … this even happened to her.”
The school district is reportedly waiting for the investigation to end to determine the next steps for Mueller-Owens, who reportedly serves as a positive behavior support coach. He also traveled to the White House in 2015 to “become an expert on restorative discipline practices.”
Per Madison 365, “Mueller-Owens is the seventh educator to be caught up in racial incidents at Madison schools since November 1. Four teachers and two substitutes have been terminated or forced to resign after using racial slurs in class over the last three and a half months. Additionally, in Middleton, a school bus driver was terminated last fall for striking a black child and a high school teacher resigned after using a racial slur in class.”
Our team proudly represented MMSD at the White House convening on school discipline today. #RethinkDiscipline pic.twitter.com/NBYwrGr554
— Jen Cheatham (@SuptJenCheatham) July 22, 2015
