Santana Clark and Dwight Douglas are experiencing a pain they don’t wish on anyone – after accusations that Melanie Harris, a former teacher’s aide at Cayce Elementary School, hit their 9-year-old son Legend Douglas, who is autistic, with an iPad, and tied him to a chair with shoe strings last Friday.
“He said teacher hurt, mommy teacher hurt. My son tells me that,” said Clark, Legend’s mother. “I haven’t been able to sleep. I’m hurting for my child because I don’t know how he’s feeling. How this is going to affect him.”
“My son, even though he’s autistic, is a loving child, and he always loved school,” said Douglas, Legend’s father. “There is no excuse for what happened to our child.”
Harris faces several charges in the case including second-degree assault, kidnapping, and unlawful conduct toward a minor. A judge set her bond at $120,000 Wednesday.
Harris was a teacher’s aide since last August and is no longer employed by the Lexington Two School District. The South Carolina Education Association is advocating for change.
“We’ve asked for mental health support, we’ve asked for more teacher’s aides, and we’ve asked for them to earn a living wage so we can deal with those extreme behaviors we’re seeing in our classrooms right now,” said East, who serves as the president of the South Carolina Education Association.
For Legend’s parents, there are pleas for justice and answers, after learning about the alleged assault against Legend four days later, when a student resource officer alerted police.
“My son deserves justice and he will get justice,” Clark also said.
Harris is expected to appear in circuit court July 7th.
Tell us your thoughts...