CHICAGO _ A federal lawsuit accuses a Chicago Public Schools teacher of helping her friend beat a fourth-grade student with thick belts in a West Side school bathroom last fall.
Asia Gaines, the mother of the 9-year-old boy, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court on Thursday morning, alleging his homeroom teacher at Tilton Elementary School helped her friend attack the child on Sept. 20.
The attack began before the start of first period when the student entered the classroom. "They physically grabbed him and dragged him down the hallway to the boys' bathroom," the lawsuit states.
The teacher left the child alone with her friend _ a distant relative of the boy whom he had never met _ and returned to the classroom, the lawsuit said. Before leaving, the teacher gave the woman two large belts that she kept stored in the closet of her classroom, the lawsuit said.
In the bathroom, the woman beat the child "over his clothing with both belts, landing blows on his back, buttocks and legs, breaking the skin and leaving abrasions on his body," according to the lawsuit.
The teacher, identified in the lawsuit as Kristen Haynes, was removed from her position as the school district investigated the "deeply concerning allegations," CPS spokeswoman Emily Bolton said in a release. "Every student deserves a safe learning environment and the district will not tolerate actions that place students in the way of harm."
Bolton said the district is working with the school to ensure support is available for the student and the family, but Gaines' attorney said officials are not doing enough.
"Despite the serious risk of re-traumatization, (the boy) has returned to Tilton because CPS refuses to pay for transportation to a new school, a cost his mother cannot afford," attorney Al Hofeld Jr. said in a news release. "Since his return, (the boy) continues to feel unsafe, students have bullied him while a teacher laughed, and his new homeroom teacher treats him with impatience."
