A recent incident has shaken a community in Collin County after allegations of a pre-K teacher assaulting a 4-year-old student have surfaced.
Gregory and Salam Thomas, the parents of the young victim, Aaron Thomas, have taken legal action against Princeton ISD, alleging negligence and failure to report an assault promptly to the authorities.
The school district said in a statement, “Princeton ISD is aware of the incident and is cooperating with the Princeton Police Department as officers investigate the case. The teacher has been placed on administrative leave.”
Aaron’s parents told the news outlet about the traumatic ordeal their son purportedly endured at Canup Early Childhood Center in Princeton. According to the Thomas family, a surveillance video shows Linda Dueer, a 73-year-old pre-K teacher, scolding Aaron before physically assaulting the child. The incident has reportedly caused Aaron continued distress and made him fearful of returning to school.
Princeton police were unaware of the incident when the parents contacted the department weeks later. The police pushed the case to a grand jury that indicted Dueer on a 3rd-degree felony for injury to a child with bodily injury, reported CBS News Texas. Dueer has since been arrested.
Disturbingly, Aaron’s parents discovered that Dueer continued teaching months after the incident, according to CBS News Texas.
The Thomas family has also filed a civil lawsuit against Princeton ISD, seeking restitution for their son’s pain and suffering.
“I do believe in the U.S. they need to do more to protect their children,” Gregory Thomas told CBS News Texas.
This recent incident comes just over a month after police announced an investigation into the alleged assault of a second grader at a different school in the north Texas area.
In April, Saginaw police investigated an incident where a second-grade student reported being grabbed by the neck and shoved into a wall by a teacher at International Leadership of Texas Saginaw School, per CBS News Texas.
Dallas ISD saw one of its own employees make headlines when Marcel Brooks, a hall monitor and coach formerly employed at Justin F. Kimball High School, was seen on surveillance video punching a high school student in the face. Brook was arrested, but the charges against him were dropped in February of this year, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.