5-Year-Old Claims Teachers Taped Mouth Shut, Threw Out Lunch
DEARBORN HEIGHTS, MI (CBS Local) - A Michigan family is demanding answers after their five-year-old son claims two teachers repeatedly taped his mouth shut and threw out his lunch at school.
"She put the scotch tape on my mouth," Abdul Dannaoui said, via WNEM. "They said don't tell your mom or dad, or no one." The Highview Elementary School student reportedly told his parents on March 26 that he had been prevented from eating his lunch as many as 10 times by the two educators. The child has not returned to the school since the latest incident.
"I'm emotionally heartbroken. Disappointed. That's his second home. That's how they treat a child with asthma?" Abdul's mother Hoda Dannaoui told reporters. The boy's parents have filed a police report over the alleged abuse and are reportedly planning to sue the school district for failing to stop the teachers.
"It's outrageous. It's absurd. You think you send your kid to a place or school, where he would be safe," attorney Nabih Ayad added. According to the family's lawyer, only one of the two teachers has been removed from Highview Elementary.
The substitute teaching assistant was reported on the same day of the last incident and removed from the school. "That's not the type of person we want working for us," Crestwood School District superintendent Laurine VanValkenburg said, via The Detroit News. "This is not our standard of care. This should not have happened."
Crestwood School District disputed that the five-year-old had been abused by the teachers prior to March 26. VanValkenburg said that the school has "no knowledge of" other times Dannaoui's mouth was taped shut, however Dearborn Heights Police are now investigating the boy's claims.
Dannaoui's mother said her son won't return to the school until the other teacher accused of assaulting Abdul is fired.
