A special needs child is attacked at Aldine ISD’s Jones Middle School. The assault was caught on camera and the sixth graders Grandmother says she is horrified that adults in the video seem to let it happen.
“I’m angry,” says Veda Cavitt who wants several people at Jones Middle School fired after her 11-year-old, who functions on the level of a 4-year-old was brutally assaulted at school. The video of the sixth grader in an unprovoked attack by another special needs child is hard to watch.
“Those adults in that video stood there. They did not attempt to help my child,” Cavitt says.
“It is a disgrace what’s on that video but it’s an even further disgrace the actions of the professionals who are hired and paid by the taxpayers of Aldine ISD,” adds community activist Quanell X.
“What we saw in this video was deplorable. It was horrid. It was unacceptable and inhumane,” says Dr. Candace Matthews with the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
Area activists are standing with Cavitt because they say they don’t want this to happen to any other children. Cavitt says she was initially told “My baby had been involved in an incident where a student punched him and pushed him down”.
“When I watched that video. I was beyond horrified and shocked. This is what you call a minor incident?” says Quanell X.
The 11-year-old is non-verbal and on the autistic spectrum. Cavitt says she was told by school officials the three adults in the video are special needs para-professionals, but she says the district wouldn’t tell her if they would be disciplined and how they planned to keep her grandson safe in the future.
“Who’s responsible for protecting my child? I still don’t know,” says Cavitt.
“In the video you see these weak, weak sorry (expletive) para-professionals stand there and look and then he wants to step in with a little arm to try to help him to his feet. The boy falls back down and the big boy comes back and kicks him again. This little boy was three times smaller than this big kid that was allowed to punch, hit, kick and stomp him. The man who’s a para-professional in the video he needs to be kicked in his behind,” says Quanell.
“Every child deserves the right to have a safe learning environment and effective support from the school district that serves them. Aldine ISD you dropped the ball,” says Matthews.
“They (the para-professionals) are trained in how to restrain the kid to stop the kid from harming himself and others. It’s called PMAB a proper restraint. They didn’t do it,” adds Quanell.
The grandmother and the activists want the principal and para-professionals fired because they don’t believe the attack was handled properly.
Aldine ISD released a statement saying it’s aware of the incident that occurred in January 2022 and that, “an investigation was conducted immediately, and appropriate administrative action has been taken regarding the employees. Aldine ISD takes these situations seriously as the safety and security of our students and staff will always be our top priority.”
The district did not specify what action was taken regarding the employees.
