Teacher Fired for Dragging a Preschooler Down a Hallway

An Ohio teacher responsible for preschoolers was recently caught dragging a small child down a hallway by his arm by a coworker at her school, who recognized the action as grossly inappropriate and abusive and promptly took a cell phone picture. The school district says that as soon as the photo was shared with administrators, the teacher was immediately fired and a public apology was made.

 According to CNN, the teacher worked with the Alta Care Group, which is a nonprofit that services the early education program for Youngstown, Ohio. The student was part of the Head Start program, which means he was between the ages of three and five years old.

Three to five is a tough age group. Kids that age can frustrate a grown-up to their core. But they’re also very small children who are delightful and cute and creative and deeply impressionable, and they need love and care and attention and positive reinforcement. No matter what was happening in that situation, there’s no reason it would be OK for a teacher to drag a child down the hall like that.

Fortunately, as soon as the photo was shared with administrators, the teacher in question was immediately fired. Because a person who would ever do something like this to a kid that small deserves to be fired.

“We took this matter very seriously,” said Alta Care Group chief executive Joe Shorokey. “We took action immediately. We apologized to the parents, as well as to the community.”

The identities of the teacher and the student have not been disclosed, but Shorokey was adamant that the terrible actions of that one teacher not diminish the reputations of other Youngstown teachers. The person who photographed the incident and reported it so the woman could be terminated was also a teacher in the same school, who was working in an administrative capacity at the time.

“I want to make sure it is clear that the individual who was terminated does not reflect the values of the dedicated and skilled professionals at Alta Head Start,” Shorokey said. “These fine teachers and aides should not be unfairly portrayed as anything less because of the person who was terminated.”