Robert J. Hansen | OBSERVER Staff Writer
A parent educator at Arlene Hein Elementary School, part of the Elk Grove Unified School District, was charged Wednesday with assaulting a child after allegedly grabbing a 9-year-old boy by the neck.
The teacher’s aide, David Carroll, was cited and released, according to Sgt. Amar Gandhi with the Sacramento Sheriff’s Office.
The third-grade student, whose name is being withheld, got into an argument with another student while playing soccer at recess, the boy’s mother, Sameerah Chandler, told The OBSERVER.
After a verbal argument ensued, Carroll allegedly grabbed the 9-year-old but not the other student.
Chandler said that even though both students were arguing, only her son was sent to the principal’s office.
“That’s what had me enraged,” Chandler said.
She then went to the school after receiving a call from the vice principal. That’s when she saw the marks on her son’s neck and called the police at the district office.
Chandler said her son has been harassed for the entire six months he has attended Arlene Hein.
Earlier in the school year, she said a student rudely told her son to turn off the light in class and when he refused, the student said, “You turn off the light you Black slave.”
Chandler talked about that incident with her son’s teacher, who told her they didn’t hear any student say that to her son.
Arlene Hein and the school district were contacted but did not respond to requests for comment.
Lorreen Pryor, president and CEO of the Black Youth Leadership Project, said that among the region’s districts, Elk Grove Unified has the highest number of complaints from Black parents since 2018.
Since 2018, Black Youth Leadership Project has received nearly 200 complaints from Black families from schools throughout the Sacramento region. Elk Grove makes up about 70% of those complaints, according to Pryor.
“It’s pretty regular with the complaints that we get but with Elk Grove … they continue to lead on the amount of students and families that are having problems that need to be addressed,” Pryor said.
Black Youth Leadership Project provides a safe space for families and students to be authentically themselves and support them through these “hostile educational environments,” Pryor said.
Pryor added that problems similar to the incident involving Ivory continue because of the district’s unwillingness to change.
“I don’t think that there is ever a reason for any adult to put their hands on a child in an aggressive manner unless that child is being aggressive and could harm themselves or others, which I don’t see is that case in this particular incident,” Pryor said.
The mother said she is pleased an arrest was made but doesn’t think the school is doing enough to keep Black students safe.
“The school needs to start paying attention and do better than what they are doing,” Chandler said.