A Great Falls mother is raising concerns about accountability in schools after she says her first-grade son was assaulted by a teacher’s aide at West Elementary School.
Marcy Chapman says she got a call on March 6th from the school’s principal, informing her that her son had behaved inappropriately by hitting another student with a pen.
Quentin Shores reports - watch the video here:
But when she arrived to pick him up, Chapman says her son showed her his arm and told her that a teacher’s aide confronted him about the incident.
Chapman said, “This aide at the school approached him roughly 13 minutes after the altercation and jabbed the pen into his arm and said, 'How do you like that?'”
She says her family is frustrated by what they see as a lack of accountability and transparency. “I don't know if this aide has done this before,” she added.
Chapman says the family has seen video footage of the incident shown by the school but has not received a copy, and more than a month later they still haven’t received a full update.
The aide, according to Chapman, has since resigned.
Great Falls Public Schools superintendent Heather Hoyer confirmed, “That person is no longer employed with Great Falls Public Schools. We did our due diligence of turning the information over to both law enforcement and to DPHHS.”
The district says the investigation continues, and both police and the Montana Department of Public Health & Human Services are now involved.
Chapman says she simply wants accountability: “I strictly would just like an individual to be held accountable. Like my son has been for that type of behavior.”
The name of the aide has not been released; as of April 8th, no criminal charges have been filed.
MTN News has tried to contact DPHHS and the Great Falls Police Department, but have not yet received a response.
