Mother of student at St. Rita’s says teacher “threw” her, shares videos
On Friday, a mother of a 9-year-old student at St. Rita School for the Deaf in Cincinnati posted two video clips on Facebook of a teacher picking up her daughter in a hallway, carrying her down the corridor, and seemingly dropping her on the floor when a male staffer approaches. The girl is left lying on the floor. The teacher makes a “wipes hands” gesture and walks away back to her classroom and seems to sign, “I’m done!” The male staffer looks on with apparent confusion. A third staffer, a woman, emerges from an office and appears to sign that the girl was destroying things.
The videos were posted under the mother’s profile name, Lexyy Lovee. The videos were shared almost a thousand times. I will show you the clips and I have to warn you that it is disturbing. The videos seem to skip every two seconds so it is not clear whether the teacher dropped the girl or if the girl fell. Look at the clips here.
[Video clips] Credit: Facebook/Lexyy Lovee
Local news outlet News Center 7 covered the incident in an article on Saturday and interviewed the mother, Alexys Wells. She said she believes the teacher “threw her” and should have “some type of repercussion for not following protocol for assaulting my child.”
Alexys said her daughter came home from school on Tuesday and told her that her teacher had thrown her. She said the school did not notify her until Wednesday and that she saw the surveillance videos on Friday.
News Center 7 said the local police department, Evandale Police, confirmed that they have opened an investigation.
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News Center 7 said they got a statement from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, which oversees the school, about the incident. The statement is here:
“An incident involving a teacher occurred this week at St. Rita School. The incident was reported to local law enforcement. At this time, the matter continues to be investigated. The teacher involved was placed on administrative leave. Any actions by a St. Rita School staff member that do not exemplify respect and dignity for the children entrusted to our care are addressed promptly. The safety of students and staff at St. Rita school is of paramount importance.”
- Archdiocese of Cincinnati, via News Center 7
I reached out to the mother and to the St. Rita school about the incident but did not get immediate responses from either.
The mother posted on Facebook in a comment that the teacher’s name is Katie Girard.
Alexys told News Center 7 that she doesn’t want to see anything bad happen to the school but that the teacher should no longer be around disabled students.