KATY, Texas — Trerosilyn Carston is hoping criminal charges will be brought against a Cypress-Fairbanks ISD substitute teacher who she said pushed her 10-year-old son with special needs to the ground.
The incident happened on Feb. 6 at Duryea Elementary School, and it was all caught on school surveillance cameras, but the recording of the video is not fluid. The surveillance camera appears to only capture images every few seconds.
"My son was tapping a pencil. The teacher asked him to stop, said you better stop tapping that pencil" Carston explained. "Well, he didn’t stop. He said you want to get pushed out of the chair? My son said no and that’s when he proceeded to push my child out of the chair."
In another angle of the video, the teacher appears to reach towards Carston's son before standing and pointing a finger at him.
"Any other parent would be concerned about the same thing too," said Desmond Dural, the 10-year-old's father.
The incident led to an investigation by the Cy-Fair ISD's Police Department, but according to Carston, the police department is not pressing any criminal charges.
"... because he doesn’t see a push," said Carston.
On Wednesday, community activists called for accountability and charges for not just the substitute teacher but three other school employees they said witnessed the incident.
"We’re going to put a spotlight on any form of corruption or anything that is egregious that is being done to our children," said community activist Dr. Candice Matthews.
Cy-Fair ISD released the following statement on Wednesday:
"After learning about the incident, the substitute teacher was immediately removed from working with the student, the campus began investigating, and the parents were notified. The individual is no longer a substitute teacher in the district. Additionally, the district has just been made aware of the allegations regarding the three teachers, and is investigating."
"My child shouldn’t have to be worried about coming somewhere he is supposed to be learning at," said Carston.
The family has hired an attorney. On Tuesday, they filed two grievances, one against the district and the other against the Cy-Fair Police Department. Both entities have 10 days to provide a written response.