SPRING, Texas — A Spring ISD staff member has been removed from campus and placed on administrative leave after being accused of giving second graders melatonin gummies.
Last week, the district said they conducted an investigation into the allegations and "found no evidence of misconduct." Then on Tuesday, KHOU 11 received a new statement from the district that reads:
"Spring ISD is aware of allegations that a staff member at The International School at Salyers allegedly administered melatonin gummies to several students on Dec. 6. The staff member has been removed from the classroom and placed on administrative leave, pending ongoing investigation from campus administration. The district takes every allegation of educator misconduct seriously, and will take all measures necessary to ensure that our students are educated in a safe and nurturing environment."
Last week, three Spring ISD mothers claimed a teacher gave their kids melatonin gummies, a supplement that helps induce sleep, without their consent.
“(The teacher) gave it to her, and she said, ‘Here, take this and be quiet,’” Stormie Young recalled, of her conversation with her daughter. “(My daughter) said right after that she got sleepy. I said, ‘Well, what did it look like?’ She said it was a purple gummy, like with the little dots on the top, and she said 'I went to sleep.'”
Young said her daughter reported taking the gummy after lunch and recess and sleeping until the end of the school day. She was woken up by a loudspeaker announcement.
“You can’t tell me where on the face of this green earth that is okay,” said Young. “That isn’t okay. You did not have my permission to give my child anything.”
Young said she used a school app to ask other parents whose kids had been sent to that teacher’s class -- due to their usual teacher being out -- to contact her.
Cheryl Ziegler was one of them. She says her 7-year-old daughter also told her the teacher gave her a purple gummy.
“What would have happened if she would have had an allergic reaction?" Ziegler said.
An investigation into these allegations is ongoing.