Roma ISD father shares audio he says depicts his autistic son being mistreated by teachers
A Roma ISD parent is speaking out after he said his child was mistreated by teachers.
One of those teachers is now on administrative leave while the district investigates, the district announced.
“It's supposed to be a school where my child goes to be protected,” Javier Reyna said.
Javier’s 8-year-old son — Javier Adrian Reyna — has autism and attends Veterans Memorial Elementary School in Roma.
“He started telling us that the teachers were mean,” Javier said, adding that the teachers would often call him during school hours.
“His teachers would tell me that my son was misbehaving and that I had to pick him up,” Javier said.
Javier said his son began telling him the teachers were mistreating him last year. At one point, his son told him that the teachers squeezed him and threw their milk at him.
Last month, Javier sent his son to school with a recording a device. He shared some of the recorded audio with Channel 5 News.
In one clip, screaming can be heard. Javier said he believes that’s his son screaming.
During the recording, Javier said he heard what sounded like another student being mistreated.
“I contacted the special education department and I told them what was happening,” Javier said, adding that he reported the incident to the Roma ISD Police Department.
Channel 5 News reached out to the school district. A spokesperson declined an on-camera interview and said because of privacy laws, the district is not able to discuss school records.
The district referred all questions to a statement posted on their Facebook page on Friday. The statement said the district is investigating allegations of misconduct involving a staff member and a student.
The statement added that the staff member was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
Javier said his son is still enrolled at the same school, and he's hired an attorney.
“I want to make sure the district doesn't toss this case to the side,” Javier said.
Watch the video above for the full story.
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