'Teacher Hit Him Hard' Kindergarten Student Says

GREENBELT, MD — Four families in Prince George’s County say their children either saw students being spanked by a kindergarten teacher, or were themselves struck, an apparent violation of state law.

The incidents took place a year ago at the county’s prestigious Dora Kennedy French Immersion School in Greenbelt, a National Blue Ribbon school, reports WTOP. But parents have now spoken out about the incidents because they say school administrators have taken no action on their complaints. The teacher cited in several complaints told The Washington Post she has never struck a student.

Maryland banned spanking and other forms of corporal punishment in schools in 1993.

Xander Faber and his wife, Alana Cole-Faber, say that in October 2014, their daughter told them that her twin brother had been spanked in front of their kindergarten class for jumping up and down while singing with the class.

The unidentified teacher has not been charged with a crime, and school officials have not commented on the case.

On the Prince George’s County Advocates for Better Schools website, Cole-Faber described the experience.

“We were stunned. … He was called to the front of the class and struck until he cried,” Cole-Faber wrote. “I asked my daughter if she thought our son had been hit hard, and my daughter said, ‘The teacher hit him hard, but she hits another boy even harder’.”

She says the children gave them the names of three other children who had been struck by the teacher at school. Following a complaint by the Faber’s, the school principal reportedly confirmed that the teacher had admitted to the spankings. They were told the teacher would not be left alone with students while authorities investigated the claims, and the Faber children transferred to new classrooms.

But, the parents say they were alarmed to learn this spring that the former teacher who reportedly hit their son came into their daughter’s new classroom and threatened to “beat” the children there. No other adult was in the classroom at the time. Another parent told the Fabers her daughter saw spankings as recently as April of 2015.

Three other families at the school have told that their children saw a teacher strike a student; in one case, their child reported being hit in class. Most of the allegations involve one teacher, the original teacher for the Faber children, who now teaches in Montgomery County as a long-term substitute.

The teacher at the center of the corporal punishment allegations told The Washington Post that she had never spanked a child at school and that the parents’ claims are upsetting.

“It is totally wrong what they are doing,” the teacher told the Post. “It is just hurtful not only to the teaching community, but to the children and a very, very beautiful program.”

School principal Nasser Abi is on administrative leave and told the Post he could not discuss the issue while the county investigates.

The Post spoke to three other families about physical punishment in the Greenbelt classroom. Read the full report here.