Law enforcement officials now believe that there could be as many as three more Odem Junior High School students who may have had run-ins with a substitute teacher at the center of a recent controversy.
That teacher has since been fired by the Odem-Edroy Independent School District after a student accused the teacher of stuffing paper in his mouth. The district's superintendent called it horseplay during an interview, but on Thursday another student came forward and said he was hurt by the same substitute.
"He grabbed me by my ear. He pulled my ear and drug me back to the desk, and then after that he said 'Do you want to see a cool pressure point?' And I said 'not really,'" a 13-year old sixth grader said. "He put his hand like right here and pressed down, and I told him it hurt, to stop, and he didn't. So then I just shoved him away."
The student has not been to school since he was allegedly warned not to tell anyone what happened in the classroom that day. At the Justice of the Peace office Thursday, 3News spoke with his parents, who said they had just learned about the incident.
"It happened over a month a go and he just now came out to me with it. I just found out about it yesterday, and it happened over a month ago, and nothing's been done about it," father Richard Burnaman said. "Yeah, the guy got fired. Yeah he got fired, but I mean, you put your hands on someone else's child? You don't do that."
Law enforcement sources believe there could be as many as three additional complaints filed against the former substitute teacher, including two instances that allegedly involved shoving paper in students' mouths.
One of the boys allegedly lost a tooth in the process. Another case involved pressure point touching, and in the third instance, the substitute allegedly pulled a female student's hair.
In documentation concerning the first case, released Thursday by San Patricio County Justice of the Peace Daniel Garza, the mother of the young boy was told by the principal that the substitute teacher tried to shove paper into her child's mouth while other students held him down.
Richard Burnaman said this just should not have happened.
"It's not the teacher's spot to discipline a child," Burnaman said. "That's what the superintendent is for. The principal. The assistant principal. That's what they're for."
Charges against the substitute could be filed soon. Police said he also worked for the Sinton Independent School District and could face additional charges there after an investigation. If found guilty of the charge of simple assault, he could be fined up to $500.
