Witnesses: School Nurse Yells Profanity, Racial Slur at 6th Grader
2015/5/20-Students are accusing a school nurse of using profanity and a racial slur against a sixth-grader in the cafeteria.
In witness statements, six children and three adults described what happened after 11-year-old Jason Ezzard and another boy threw a bag of chips back and forth at Mundy’s Mill Middle School.
Citing privacy concerns, Clayton County will not release the surveillance video to Ezzard or 11Alive, but the witness statements paint the picture of a violent confrontation.
“Degrading. Very degrading,” said Jason’s mother, Tormeka Ezzard. “‘I’m going to [expletive] you up’ — you’re talking to an 11-year-old. ‘I’m going to your [expletive] lights out.’ You’re talking to an 11-year-old!”
According to the statements, school nurse Beverly Barnes approached Jason and started yelling. Written reports by the principal of the school say Barnes yelled expletives at him and used a racial slur before another teacher intervened.
Ezzard held her breath watching video of the confrontation between the school nurse and her young son.
“My heart, I swear, was going 100 miles per hour, and I had to remind myself to breathe,” she said.
After an investigation, Barnes was suspended for two days, but Jason’s mother said that’s not enough.
“She’s abused my child physically, mentally, and verbally, and no one will help me,” Tormeka Ezzard said.
Ezzard is calling on the school to reopen the investigation and hold the nurse accountable.
“If it would’ve been the other way around, Jason would have been locked up, on the spot,” she said. “I would have been going to pick my child up at the Clayton County Juvenile Detention Center. What makes her any different from Jason?”
The school said the punishment was appropriate because Barnes did not have any previous complaints against her. School officials said they will provide 11Alive a copy of the internal investigation into the incident.
Source: Salon
