HOUSTON, Texas – A mother from the Houston Independent School District is pursuing legal action against the district, alleging that a teacher at Fleming Middle School assaulted her daughter.
Attorney Tanika Solomon contacted KPRC 2 news on Tuesday, stating her intention to file a lawsuit against HISD and Fleming Middle School on behalf of the mother and her eighth-grade daughter.
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According to Solomon, the student claimed she was physically assaulted by her dance teacher while on campus.
“She walked up to my client, the young girl, and put her arms around her throat. Put her in a chokehold and took her down to the ground,” Solomon said.
The mother, who also spoke to KPRC 2, said her daughter informed her of the incident after school on Thursday. The following morning, she went to the campus to speak with officials.
“I spoke with the dance teacher, and she said to me, ‘Well, I’m not going to apologize for what I did because I didn’t hurt her. I asked her was she hurt physically. She said she wasn’t hurt.’ And I said, ‘Well, what would possess you to put your arms around her neck and put her to the floor? And she said, ‘I felt like she wasn’t taking this seriously because she was laughing at the situation.’ And I said, that still doesn’t warrant you putting your hands on my child,” the mother, LaNita Milligan, said.
Milligan said one of the deans at the campus assured her the incident would be “taken care of.”
“I spoke to the principal and the police officer, I showed them a video and told them what happened, and they had my daughter write a statement,” Milligan said.
Despite reporting the incident, Solomon stated that the teacher remained on campus and was even taunting the student.
“The teacher notified the other kids saying, ‘Someone’s pissing me off, someone’s going to get me in trouble and it is going to be...’ And she pointed the finger and named my client’s daughter by name, effectively setting the stage for the entire dance team and all of her classmates to ostracize her,” Solomon said.
After speaking with Milligan, the attorney said that now, more students have come forward with complaints about the teacher.
“We don’t know who else is involved. Who else had knowledge? More parents and children are coming forward. One of the sad parts of this is that there are individuals who were similarly assaulted, attacked by this teacher, but they’re afraid to come forward because of their concerns for their own immigration status,” Solomon said.
Solomon added that she plans to complete the filing of the lawsuit by the end of the day Wednesday.
The attorney also noted that she was informed the teacher had been removed from the campus as of Wednesday, and a district investigator visited the campus and spoke to several students regarding the incident.
An HISD spokesperson confirmed to KPRC 2’s Rilwan Balogun they are aware of the allegations against the teacher and placed her on leave pending investigation.
“Student safety is HISD’s number one priority. The district is aware of the allegation and is investigating,” the spokesperson said. “The teacher has been placed on leave pending the outcome of the investigation.”
