BURLESON, Texas — Three-year-old Sutton was always smiling. His mother, Cheyenne Oakley, described the boy with cerebral palsy as a happy child.
“It hurts my heart,” said Oakley.
WFAA obtained a letter that the school’s principal, Candice Cook, sent to parents in early October. In the letter provided by Burleson ISD, Cook told parents that in late September she learned two former educators allegedly mishandled students inside a classroom for special needs students at Norwood Environmental Science Academy, an elementary school.
The alleged improper restraints violated the CPI techniques that the former educators were trained to use.
Oakley said the principal told her that Sutton was one of the students who was allegedly mishandled.
“They were covering Sutton’s mouth when he would cry,” Oakley said.
She said it was an attempt to silence her child’s cries, at times, making it difficult for him to breathe. Sutton is non-verbal and uses a wheelchair. His mother believes he was targeted because his former educators knew he was unable to use his voice.
“It hurts my heart,” Oakley said.
Another parent, Gloria Vigil, also noticed a change in her non-verbal son Noah’s behavior after he began attending the same classroom.
“I noticed him having scratches and bruises almost every day,” said Vigil.
“Every time we’d pick him up, he’d cry. When we’d go to the school, he would see the street we turn on and he would start to cry,” said Virgil.
Burleson ISD removed both teachers. Last week, Burleson police arrested teacher Jeanna Mangus and her teaching aid, Holly Monroe. Police charged both of them with three charges for assault against an elderly or disabled individual.
The alleged assaults led to growing calls to install cameras inside of special-education classrooms. The parents told WFAA that the classroom in which the alleged abuse happened did not have cameras.
A third parent, Giulia Herndon, told WFAA that the school principal informed her that she learned Monroe would pinch underneath students’ arms in an attempt to make them behave a certain way. Herndon believes her 3-year-old son, Archer, suffered at the hands of the former educators.
“He had claw mark indentations near the back of his armpit, and that is where I broke down in tears and realized there’s a possibility she [Monroe] had done it to him,” said Herndon.
In one of the letters sent to parents, Principal Cook said the alleged assault is “unacceptable” and that she “will always act swiftly to ensure children enjoy the best learning environment possible.”
Oakley told WFAA that her son, Sutton, hasn’t returned to school. She is giving him more time to heal from the trauma she said he suffered.
The other two children, Noah and Archer, are back in the same school with new teachers and a classroom with cameras. Their mothers said the boys seem much happier now, and no longer come home with cuts and bruises.
Both Mangus and Monroe have bonded out of jail, according to Burleson police.
WFAA requested an arrest warrant from Burleson police, but has not received it.