Humble, Texas — The grandmother of an 11-year-old special needs child who was attacked at school wants the school’s principal and three teacher aides fired after video shows staff watching the attack for several seconds before intervening.
Veda Cavitt said the three aides stood and watched for several seconds as her grandson Sekai was beaten by another student.
“I need them removed,” Cavitt said. “I need them removed. They serve no purpose here. They serve no purpose here. They cannot do their job.”
The incident happened on Jan 25 at Aldine ISD’s Jones Middle School. Video of the attack shows Sekai accidentally bumping into a much larger student who was standing in line. The student turns around, pushes Sekai to the ground and starts kicking him. When Sekai gets up, the aggressive student punches him several times until he falls to the ground again. As Sekai crawls on the ground, the student kicks him several more times. All while teacher aides stood by and did nothing.
Sekai has autism, is non-verbal and has an intellectual disability. The district said he and other students seen in the video were leaving P.E. when the incident happened.
“Those adults in that video stood there. They did not attempt to help my child,” Cavitt says.
Aldine ISD didn’t say why things got physical between the students but said it’s aware of an incident and that, “an investigation was conducted immediately, and appropriate administrative action has been taken regarding the employees.”
“Because SLC students deal with serious cognitive issues, behavioral interventions have been put in place in lieu of traditional disciplinary action,” the school district said in the statement. “In addition, the three aides who did not intervene were disciplined according to district protocol. Aldine ISD takes these situations seriously as the safety and security of our students and staff are our top priority.”
The district did not specify what disciplinary action was taken against the employees.
