Did 4-year-old sexually harass teacher? Outraged dad: ‘When I got that letter, my world flipped’

Tribune-Herald

When a Bellmead father received a letter from his son’s school district saying the 4-year-old had inappropriately touched a teacher’s aide, he said he couldn’t believe what he was reading. “When I got that letter, my world flipped,” DaMarcus Blackwell said.

The Nov. 13 letter from La Vega Independent School District stated his son, who was 4 years old at the time, was involved in “inappropriate physical behavior interpreted as sexual contact and/or sexual harassment” after the boy hugged a teacher’s aide and “rubbed his face in the chest of (the) female employee” on Nov. 10.

The letter also stated Blackwell’s son, who Blackwell requested not be named in this story for privacy reasons, spent the day in in-school suspension (ISS) as punishment for the incident.

Blackwell has since filed a complaint with the district.

In turn, the district changed the offense to “inappropriate physical contact” and removed references of sexual contact or sexual harassment from the boy’s file, according to a subsequent letter from the district.

Still, Blackwell said the change isn’t enough.

Putting out six bananas on the table, he asks, “What do you see? You say you see six bananas, but I say no, it’s half a dozen. That’s the same thing with this. Call it what you want, it’s the same thing.”

Blackwell and his wife, Patricia, say their son does not know why he was sent to ISS.

Blackwell said school officials may have told him the reason for the punishment, but they say as parents, they should have been there when the punishment was explained…

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