A Texas elementary school suspended two teachers for allegedly giving students special “stickers” to induce sleep.
The Spring Independent School District reported the incident on September 24 and “immediately removed the involved instructors from the classroom,” pending a police investigation.
“Northgate Elementary administration was notified by a parent that their child was given a sleeping aid patch in the classroom by their teacher,” a statement shared with The Independent stated.
The district immediately removed and placed the teachers in that classroom on administrative leave upon learning of the allegation. As a precautionary measure, the district also placed two paraprofessionals in the classroom on administrative leave.
“The safety of our students is our highest priority, and we take every allegation of misconduct seriously,” according to a statement.
However, the school’s outraged parents feel they only received a formal alert about the investigation two weeks after the alleged incident.
Lisa Luviano told ABC Houston that her daughter came home from school and showed her a “sticker” with images of the moon, stars, and clouds on it.
“She said, ‘It is a sleeping sticker,'” she explained to the magazine. “I asked, ‘Where did you get this?'” And she explained, “My teacher gives it to me for sleeping time.” The next day, we went to school. We hauled the evidence up there and filed a report. We stated that if this is true, we intend to press criminal proceedings.
Luviano stated that she had texted other parents at the school about the event. Najla Abdullah asked her four-year-old son if he had also received a sticker.
” He replied, ‘Yes, Mommy. Abdullah told ABC, “I get a special sticker.” “I said, ‘What does it look like?'” “I have it right here on my hand, and it has the storms with the clouds, the star, and the moon,” he responded.
Both parents reported that their children had difficulty sleeping after returning home from school.
The SISD has not identified the teachers involved but has stated that the suspected activity violates its Board Policy FFAC.
According to the regulation, “no employee shall give any student prescription medication, nonprescription medication, herbal substances, anabolic steroids, or dietary supplements of any type, except as authorized by this or other District policy.”
Parents are now asking how long the purported distribution of sleeping stickers lasted and whether their children received anything else.
“This teacher broke my trust. “We opened our hearts,” Luviano told ABC.
Leave a Reply