School employee in Ohio forced girl, 9, to eat waffles from trash can, lawsuit claims
image source: The Charleston Press
The school worker was placed on administrative leave after being accused of humiliating and forcing the 4th-grade student to eat food the student previously discarded in the trash can because she didn’t like it. As soon as the parents learned about the incident, they filed a lawsuit against the school worker and the school district.
“It literally flipped my whole family upside down,” L. Williams, the mother of the 4th-grade student said. “She doesn’t act the same. She doesn’t even wanna go to school.”
The story surfaced online a few days ago when Williams decided to speak publicly in order to warn other parents about the incident. According to her, she and her whole family were completely devastated when they initially heard about the incident that took place last month in Ohio.
Understandably, the mother hired an attorney who filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the school district and the school worker on her behalf. The attorney filed the lawsuit last Wednesday, December 8, and he claims that the girl’s rights were violated. The lawsuit also says the girl suffered physical and emotional trauma as a result of the incident, Kansas City reported.
In an interview with Local 12, the mother explained the incident claiming that her daughter was eating waffles in the school cafeteria and decided to throw them because she didn’t like them. That’s the moment when the school lunchroom employee allegedly went to the girl and told her that she would be required to take them out of the garbage with a paper towel and then eat the waffles.
The complaint says the employee sat next to her, crossed her arms, and stared at the student. She allegedly made the girl finish eating the waffles in front of her classmates, who were said to be laughing at her.
“It’s terrible to think a child goes to school and feels safe may now never feel safe again at school,” said Williams’ attorney. “It’s humiliating, it’s disgraceful and it’s unacceptable,” he added.
The little girl was deeply disturbed by the incident, especially taking into consideration the fact that the school worker humiliated her by letting all the other students watch and laugh at her. Additionally, the mother claims her daughter became ill because of consuming the food which resulted in losing her job because she had to watch over her daughter for an extended period of time.
The school district said in a statement that it is “investigating [the] allegations” and placed “any staff member who could potentially be involved in incidents of this serious nature on immediate paid administrative leave” as an investigation continues.
The lawsuit asks for an undetermined amount of money and an admission of wrongdoing. And the mother of three is hoping somehow, her family can move on.
The identity of the girl was not revealed because of her age, while the identity of the school work was not revealed because of the ongoing investigation. Once more details about the case are available, we will update the story.
