A charter school teacher pushed a 6-year-old so hard his tooth was knocked out, mom says

A physical education teacher at a New York charter school has been suspended after being accused of pushing a 6-year-old student so hard that one of the child’s teeth was knocked out, and another had to be removed.

Marlon K’Harii Williams, a 6-year-old student at Rochester Exploration Elementary Charter School for Science & Technology, has a tough time verbally expressing himself, his mother, Kia Thompson-White, told WHAM.

Thompson-White said she made the charter school aware of her son’s difficulties.

“In dealing with him, you have to understand more of body language, behaviors, things like that,” she told WHAM.

On the day of the incident last week, Williams was alone in a classroom with the gym teacher for unclear reasons.

“I got in trouble,” Williams told WHAM. “And he slammed me down on the floor and my tooth got knocked out.”

Williams also reportedly flipped chairs and began yelling, prompting teachers and administrators to try and restrain him. He was then sent to the office, according to WHAM. It’s also unclear if Williams’ actions were in response to the teacher pushing him or a separate incident. A school nurse discovered Williams had a cut on his upper lip and one of his front teeth were missing.

Thompson-White later explained in a Facebook post that Williams’ other front tooth had to be removed. She also said the school didn’t provide her with an explanation, but instead blamed the injuries on her son’s behavior.

“The school seems to be searching every avenue to protect this man. However I will not tolerate for this man to be around ANYBODY'S child especially after what he's done to mine. My son doesn't want to go to school and who can blame him as a 6 year old child,” Thompson-White wrote on Facebook.

School CEO Lisa Clark told the Democrat & Chronicle in a statement that she was troubled by the incident.

“I’m deeply concerned about the student who was in our care and was injured ... We take any matter involving the safety and security of our children very seriously and intend to understand what happened so that we can prevent it from happening again,” Clark said.

Thompson-White filed a criminal complaint against the teacher, but the Rochester Police haven’t released the teacher’s name, the Democrat & Chronicle reported.

Thompson-White also pulled her son from the school and re-enrolled her son in the Rochester City School District. She told the Democrat & Chronicle that she wanted to make sure the teacher doesn’t harm any other children.

“He doesn’t need to be around anyone else’s kids if that’s the best way he can handle himself,” she said. “I understand if (my son) was having a bad day — you can call me about that, and I’m going to talk to him about that. But why is his tooth knocked out? ... One call to me, and the whole day would have gone differently.”

This story was originally published October 6, 2017 at 3:18 PM with the headline "A charter school teacher pushed a 6-year-old so hard his tooth was knocked out, mom says."