A school principal was terminated from the Walter Hill Elementary School in Tennessee after allegedly dragging a special education student through the school grounds. The Rutherford County Board of Education announced on Thursday that Helen Campbell has been fired from her position at the school for unprofessional conduct.
According to Fox News, Campbell allegedly dragged the special needs student through the school at the length of approximately two football fields in 2019. In a statement from Director of Schools Bill Spurlock, the student reportedly failed to comply with a request from Campbell which triggered the principal to ask another teacher, Bonnie Marlar, to assist in implementing disciplinary action. They both dragged the student through the school’s hallways and brought him to the administration office. The boy was dragged a total of 570 feet, with his shirt riding up his back as he skidded through the hallway with his bare skin dragging up against the floor.
The coordinator of special education at the school, Kate Kasuboski said she did not see any behavior that would put the incident as an emergency situation that would require them to restrain the boy. Dragging the student for that length cannot be considered a proper restraint, Kasuboski said.
Child abuse charges were filed against Campbell and Marlar after the student sustained minor injuries. The boy reportedly had autism. However, the charges were dismissed by a judge and both Marlar and Campbell were suspended. On Thursday, Campbell was finally fired from her job bearing offenses for unprofessional conduct, conduct unbecoming, insubordination and neglect of duty.
On top of her termination, she has also been accused of attempting to destroy evidence and deleting security video footage from the school’s camera containing the events that took place during the incident. Campbell entered a guilty plea and was ordered to be placed on probation for the misdemeanor.
Despite the incident, a board member of the Rutherford County Schools, Tammy Sharp, described Campbell as a “phenomenal principal” and felt that the vote to terminate her was a “disgusting” decision and the result of the court of public opinion. Sharp went on to say that nobody from the board made the effort to speak to Campbell or question the boy’s history and his background. Sharp has called for a motion to reverse Campbell’s dismissal.
