The mother of a Dunnellon second-grader met with a school resource officer Tuesday after her son told her he was hit by a substitute teacher in a classroom full of students.
The 7-year-old’s mother told the resource officer, who is a Marion County sheriff’s deputy, that her son came home from Romeo Elementary School angry, claiming a teacher had hit him three or four times on the top of his head with her knuckles after telling him that his schoolwork was incorrect, a sheriff’s office report states.
The boy’s mother said he didn’t have any visible marks but he was extremely upset. She said he is “not known to lie on a regular basis, nor does he embellish any of his stories he tells.” And she said she didn’t want any charges filed against the substitute teacher, just documentation of the incident and the school board to be made aware of it.
The boy told the deputy the class had been doing spelling work and the teacher told him he had done some of it incorrectly. He claimed she hit him three of four times on top of his head with her knuckles “in front of everyone.” And shortly after the incident, she slapped the top of his head with an open palm, the report says, adding that the boy said he wasn’t hurt and didn’t cry.
The deputy then asked the boy to demonstrate what the teacher did to him. He tapped and lightly slapped the deputy on the head, prompting him to note that he “did not feel it was tapping or slapping to any severe manner,” the report says.
The deputy then spoke with another second-grade student at the school, located at 19550 SW 36th St., who confirmed the teacher lightly tapped the boy on the head and then demonstrated on herself how hard it would have been. The deputy also talked with a 9-year-old student who said he didn’t see anything happen in the classroom that day, the report says.
The deputy and the school’s principal called the Department of Children and Families and were told a report wouldn’t be taken. The case was then closed “by exception” because the family didn’t want to press charges, the report says.