A special education teacher in Cobb County, Georgia is in a world of trouble after police say she victimized an autistic boy by putting him in a trash can–supposedly to calm him down.
During an after-school program at Mt. Bethel Elementary School near Marietta on Monday, special education teacher Mary Katherine Pursley was having a hard time getting a second-grade boy to calm down. According to her arrest warrant, Pursley thought the boy was acting like Oscar the Grouch from “Sesame Street.” She told the boy, “If you have trashy behavior like Oscar, you’ll go to the trash can.”
Several witnesses–including other students, two paraprofessionals and the director of Mt. Bethel’s after-school program–saw Pursley grab the boy by his legs, turn him upside down, and put him face-first into a trash can. The boy reacted like any other child would while being victimized in this way–he started screaming, crying, and yelling “stop!” while Pursley held him. She then pulled the boy out and set him on the floor.
Pursley was arrested later that night and charged with first-degree cruelty to children. She was released on $5,000 bond. If convicted, she faces a minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of 20 years.
Ross Cavitt of WSB-TV in Atlanta spoke with Scott Semrau, an attorney who has represented teachers and students in the past. Semrau was a bit surprised by the decision to charge Pursley with such a severe felony. Watch here.
Semrau said that special-needs teachers have far greater latitude to be physical than other teachers. Even allowing for that, though, putting a child in a trash can is completely inexcusable. Georgia law defines first-degree cruelty to children as any act that “maliciously causes a child under the age of 18 cruel or excessive physical or mental pain.” If putting a child head-first into a trash can isn’t cruel or excessive mental pain, I don’t know what is.
Pursley is currently on administrative leave with pay while the school district conducts its own investigation. However, school officials are going to have a lot of explaining to do if Pursley keeps her job. Even if it’s found that her actions weren’t criminal, they raise a lot of questions about whether she has the temperament to be a special education teacher. I certainly wouldn’t be comfortable having her back in the classroom after this.
