A teacher at a Primary school, has sparked outrage, after snatching a microphone off an autistic boy, just as he was about to speak during his school play.
The Daily Mail, have reported that the six-year-old burst into tears after the teacher denied him his opportunity to say his line in their Thanksgiving play.
Oh dear, poor guy.
The video shows the heartbreaking moment little Caleb, who was meant to be playing the part of the Turkey at Nutter Fort Primary, had his time to shine taken away from him.
The poor kid was about to say his line, ‘gobble, gobble,’ on stage in front of adoring parents, when the teacher grabbed the microphone, leaving him distraught.
Instead of being able to speak, Caleb ended up shouting ‘Oh no,’ as his mic was cruelly taken away from him.
His dad posted the upsetting video to Facebook, saying:
This is my little boy in his Thanksgiving play. He is the last kid and has level one high functioning autism. He has the biggest heart and [is] always happy. Now watch it and see what a teacher of kids does to him.
He has [come] home from school and said he gets to say ‘gobble gobble’ cause he was playing the turkey.
The six-year-old’s mum took to Facebook to share her fury and sadness at the teacher in question’s actions, attracting a lot of attention from angry parents.
One wrote:
As a parent of children in Harrison County schools, I am horrified by that woman’s behaviour.
Not only did she crunch that sweet child’s heart by doing that, but she is showing the other students that kind of behaviour is OK. It isn’t OK at all.
They continued:
While I do not know the child or his family, I am part of his community. I cannot stand to think that people can treat our children that way.
I have already emailed the superintendent. I hope something can be done.
Even other teachers were shocked by the incident, with one writing:
I am a teacher, and I have every authority to say that people like this have no business in any classroom.
It is extremely hard to fire teachers because of the unions, but I hope the principal and board go through every hurdle to get this woman fired and away from all children.
While another mother of an autistic child showed her support, saying: “This breaks my heart! From one autism mommy to another we are all here behind you!’
At this stage, it is not clear whether the teacher took the microphone deliberately, didn’t realise the child was about to speak, or perhaps the line wasn’t rehearsed and Caleb had other chances to speak later.
It was also suggested that the play had ended at the time of the distressing incident.
The Superintendent of Harrison County Schools and Board of Education said they were investigating – although it’s not clear whether the teacher has or will face disciplinary action.
He said:
It’s a mistake that was made. There was no malice.
This teacher, as all of our teachers, truly care about these young boys and girls. The program was over, at least as I understand, and the teacher had taken the microphone.
Let’s just hope everyone can move on from this unfortunate incident – especially poor Caleb!
