A superintendent at a North Texas school district resigned amid a student abuse investigation. NBC 5’s Larry Collins has the latest developments out of Millsap ISD.
Two educators and a superintendent are facing charges after investigators look into allegations of abuse from a parent of a student with autism. The district says they no longer employ the teachers, and the superintendent chose to resign during a meeting on Monday.
Carissa Cornelius has been the voice of her 10-year-old son throughout his life.
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"He has autism and he's nonverbal,” said Cornelius.
But there’s never been a time that she needed the persistence or volume used since she said she first saw a video of what law enforcement is calling an assault in his special education classroom at Millsap Elementary School back in February.
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"I just couldn't believe it was my son. It was heartbreaking. I was angry, very angry. I didn't really know how to process it,” she said.
"The people that we had trusted to do to take care of our grandkids, and to watch out for them and to teach them and literally destroyed his emotional state and assaulted him,” said Cornelius’ father, Mark Allen.
The family said they waited three weeks to get a meeting with the district after learning about the incident. Meanwhile, they reported it to the Parker County Sheriff’s Office and Child Protective Services.
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Thursday, the sheriff’s office said two Millsap Elementary educators were arrested along with the district’s superintendent.
Life skills educators Jennifer Dale and Paxton Bean are charged with official oppression and superintendent Edie Martin has been charged with failure to report/intent to conceal.
An affidavit said multiple paraprofessionals who work in the same classroom came forward reporting multiple acts of verbal and mental abuse beginning in December “that appeared to increase as time went on,” including “referring to children’s genitals, using profanity toward the children and making threats of harm toward the children.”
It references a moment recorded by one of those paraprofessionals when Dale is seen swinging at Cornelius' son. Though he flinches, her hand doesn't make contact. Bean is seen in the video throwing an object at the boy.
She's also charged with injury to a child after deputies said another student with autism told his mother “he was punched in the nose by Ms. Bean” after the school advised her that “he ran into a wall causing injury and bleeding from his nose,” according to an affidavit.
Those documents also say that the superintendent asked those who reported the abuse to sign non-disclosure agreements and to delete videos.
Parker County officials charged Martin with failure to report/intent to conceal, saying the investigation showed she did not report the suspected abuse to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services or the Parker County Sheriff’s Office as required by state law.
"I recognize that she did not physically abuse my child, but she failed my son. She should've reported it, she did not. She completely failed my child,” said Cornelius.
Cornelius said her son won't return to school unless Martin is terminated. Martin chose to resign during a school board meeting on Monday.
Martin previously confirmed to NBC 5 that the district no longer employs Dale and Bean.
