Teacher Locks Asthmatic 5-Yr Old in Closet, Then Goes Home Sick Leaving Her There

Girl, 5, tells of her terror after teacher locked her in a CLOSET ... and then went home without telling anyone she was there


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...l-without-telling-girl-was.html#ixzz2qZar50nX

5-year-old Akeelah Joseph was locked in the closet as punishment because she was 'playing too much'

Children at the school say that this is not the first time that their teacher Kristin Ohsfeldt, has locked a child in the closet

'I almost peed on myself if I didn’t make it the bathroom,' said Akeelah who was found trembling in the closet an hour later by a substitute teacher

Ohsfeldt has been suspended but no charges have been filed

Akeelah is asthmatic and potentially could have had a life threatening asthma attack in the closet where no one would have been able to save her

Omg this teacher was only suspended? No charges? Ugh

Suspension is probably only the first step while this is investigated by the school. The teacher should also be referred for abuse, esp. since she has done this before.

dh109977 said:

Omg this teacher was only suspended? No charges? Ugh

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As teacher (though not verfied) suspension would be the first step while everything was being investigated.

I've seen teachers be fired for less than this, I've also seen teachers suspended for the remainder of the year and required to go to a treatment plan then transferred to another school. (in that case the behavior started again and the teacher was also fired.)

What people say about teachers getting away with things isn't true. Sometimes if it appears that they did, it's because the parent is embellishing the facts. Like we have discussed in other threads about medical privacy laws, there are also school privacy laws. That is why there is suspension with an investigation.

Hope she's fired. JMO

This teacher needs to NEVER be allowed to be in charge of children again!

If someone did that to one of mine they better not come back. I'd go to jail for assault.

txsvicki said:

If someone did that to one of mine they better not come back. I'd go to jail for assault.

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I had the same thought.

I can see how this could have been something totally taken out of context. From what it sounds like, it wasn't being locked in a dark closet, but a place where the kids can play quietly until they can focus again. (based on the comment from the other parent) It is likely that it's not actually locked, but this child was well behaved and was waiting to be let out. (yes, even well behaved kids occasionally get time outs)

Also, we don't know why the teacher left sick- I've actually suddenly had to leave twice to the ER in my 15 years of teaching. Both times I ended up okay, and I've never had a non-visible time out location in my classroom. But it was scary at the time, as well as making sure to not scare the kids because I was waiting for somebody to come so I could go.

I think we need to wait for the investigation, and as has been said before, schools are under similar privacy laws to medical facilities. They can't tell us just what happened. Only the parents can give one side.