Texas substitute teacher is fired for washing girl with Down syndrome's mouth out using SOAP after accusing 13 year-old of cursing at her

Daily Mail UK ^ | January 26, 2024 | Dolores Chang

[Morgana]

A substitute teacher has been fired for washing out the mouth of a girl with Down syndrome, accusing the 13-year-old of cursing at her.

The incident occurred on Tuesday at the Cambridge School in Texas, a school that caters to students with special needs.

LaShae Celestine, the mother of the 13-year-old Harmony, who has Down syndrome and a speech impediment, said that the teacher demanded Harmoney to wash her mouth and placed a paper towel full of soap into her mouth.

The heartbroken mother, who reviewed surveillance camera footage capturing the incident, has filed reports with child protective services and Humble Independent School District Police.

As of Friday morning, the teacher has not been identified or charged. DailyMail.com has reached out to the Humble ISD police for further information.

You can't unsee that video. Like, you really assaulted my baby by putting soap in her mouth,' Celestine told ABC13, recalling the traumatic incident that happened to her child.

Celestine said she received an email from the Cambridge School Director Leslie Johnson on Tuesday afternoon.

Harmoney was working with the substitute teacher shortly before 10am that day, according to the email.

'While doing her work, Harmoney cursed at the substitute.' the director wrote.

But Celestine said her daughter's speaking ability is limited and was simply asking a question.

'[Harmony] said, 'What you doing?' And she has a speech impediment because she (has) Down syndrome.

[Dr. Sivana]

You can usually recognize a Down’s child by features. In any even, the teacher should have been given a heads up.

I have an adult Down’s brother-in-law, and if he cursed, he likely wouldn’t even know what he was saying. Down’s people have different levels of functioning. The teacher goofed, but sub teaching is a TOUGH job, and I think the teacher should be given an opportunity somewhere else. Many Down’s children are poor candidates to be mainstreamed in regular classrooms.

[Jim W N]

Teacher. Figures.

Black are harder on other blacks than anyone else.

It's because of dysfunctional black culture which includes a strong element of self-loathing.

[Twotone]

If I thought a student was being belligerent, I’d send them to the principle’s office. In these litigious days, physically accosting a student can be very bad for one’s career.

[ClearCase_guy]

A great many special needs children say all sorts of things they shouldn’t say. They don’t know. They can’t stop. Anyone working with them should know that they have limitations. This is along the lines of yelling at a muscular dystrophy kid in a wheelchair and just demanding that he walk dammit! You can’t be upset if he doesn’t do as you would like.

[LowOiL]

Not enough information to comment one way or the other....

What was said? How functioning was the child? Where did the girl learn the potential string of profanity? Do you value having a classroom subjected to one student getting their way in cursing?

[albie]

Most kids could use the soap treatment, and the wood shed treatment.

[PIF]

Brown lye soap is the worst. She likely got mild tasting Camay.

[Dr. Sivana]

If I thought a student was being belligerent, I’d send them to the principle’s office. In these litigious days, physically accosting a student can be very bad for one’s career.

When I was in elementary school, the physical punishment had JUST been ending, but the memory existed, and the teachers did nothing to tamp down the stories. Back when you had real men teaching 5th grade, Mr. Paul was known for picking up a disagreeable student by his hair. The stories bought him an extra few years of authority. Starting in 6th grade, I was i n prep school, and physical treatment was tolerated. Mr. Kelly, the English teacher would give noogies for repeated infractions. Seventh grader Martha Mendlovitz received numerous earned noogies. No one had any issue at the time, not even Martha. Today? Brrrr...

[MeganC]

Doing this to a DS child is just plain cruelty.

[Tellurian]

It doesn’t help that there’s a movie out (Champions, Woody Harrelson) that has a young teen Down’s girl using gross & gratuitous profanity. This girl probably saw it.

[Twotone]

Ha! Yes, my fourth grade teacher was a very petite Japanese man. When the boys would act up he’d whack them with a yard stick. HARD! I doubt anyone ever complained, even to their parents. They knew they were being brats.

[Dr. Franklin]

Well, that’s old school discipline which gets the teacher in trouble today. It used to be standard. Today, students disrespect teachers and learn to disrespect authority figures. When they do this to the cops they get arrested, charged, tased, or shot.

[Fresh Wind]

I got the soap treatment at a boy’s summer camp once by a counselor for saying a single bad word, but that wasn’t the worst thing that happened. What some counselors did would probably get them arrested today.

[DSH]

In these litigious days, physically accosting a student can be very bad for one’s career.

Back in my day, any teacher "physically accosting" my daughter for any reason would have found it "very bad" for their continued good health.

[econjack]

I'm not sure that substitute teachers are fully trained to handle such situations. Can you imagine what the situation would be like if the teacher were white? The mild response seems like a situation of Black Privilege to me.

[No name given]

Yep, no need to look.

[dfwgator]

[econjack]

Back in my day, if I swore at a teacher, the real punishment started when I got home. Parents today are quick to blame the teacher when the cause is often poor, or no, parenting.

[Smellin Salt]

The child must have “disrespected” her.