Mother says teacher threw daughter to ground at St. Rita School for Deaf; Police investigating

A Montgomery County mother no longer wants her daughter’s teacher anywhere near her.

It’s because of a video the mom shared with News Center 7. She said the video shows the teacher threw her daughter to the ground at Saint Rita School for Deaf in Evandale, Northern Cincinnati.

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News Center 7′s Brandon Lewis spoke with the mother Friday night and told Lewis her daughter is deaf and has special needs. The mother believes the teacher in that video should no longer be around disabled students.

“I just want the teacher to have some type of repercussion for not following protocol for assaulting my child,” said Alexys Wells, parent of Saint Rita School for the Deaf student.

She recorded the video Friday on her phone and sent it to News Center 7.

The video glitches but it shows a woman, her daughter’s teacher, picking her up and carrying her down the hallway, Wells said. Her daughter ended up on the ground.

“I think that it looks like she threw her,” she told Lewis. “I mean she is literally seen making the hand motion like I’m done.”

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But because the video is glitched, it was unclear to News Center 7 exactly what the teach did earlier in the week.

“My daughter came home from school on Tuesday and told me her teacher had thrown her,” Wells said. “She obviously does ASL, so she demonstrated it and she put her arms up under he and acted like she was picking herself up and then she threw herself to the ground.”

She told Lewis the school did not notify her until Wednesday. Friday, she went to the school to look at the surveillance video and the school described this as an incident between her nine-year-old and her teacher.

“I mean I was outraged,” said Wells. “I couldn’t even speak at first because I didn’t want to say the wrong thing.”

She also sent News Center 7 a video from a different angle and it showed the teacher picking her daughter up and carrying her down the hallway. It’s hard to tell what happens at the end of the hallway but the teacher ultimately came back down the hallway without the girl in her arms.

The director of media relations for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati told News Center 7 Friday in a statement:

• An incident involving a teacher occurred this week at St. Rita School. The incident was reported to local law enforcement. At this time, the matter continues to be investigated. The teacher involved was placed on administrative leave. Any actions by a St. Rita School staff member that do not exemplify respect and dignity for the children entrusted to our care are addressed promptly. The safety of students and staff at St. Rita school is of paramount importance.

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Wells thinks the school should have notified her as soon as this happened. While she wants to see this investigated, she does not want to see anything bad happen to school.

“I mean St. Rita’s is pretty big deal,” she said. “The school definitely does mean a lot to the deaf community and southern Ohio in general.”

She told Lewis her daughter will be back to school next week and working with another teacher.

Evandale Police, where Saint Rita’s School for the Deaf is located, confirmed to News Center 7 an investigation has been opened. The village’s police chief was not available for comment.

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