HOUSTON – Being thrown to the ground, beaten and having her head smashed into the ground by children with no adult supervision -- those are the conditions Janice McAdams said her 12-year-old granddaughter, Angel, is enduring at her middle school in South Houston.
Angel, who is autistic and is enrolled in the school's life skills program for special needs students, described one of several incidents in which other children at Attucks Middle School have forced her to fight fellow classmates.
"She said, 'Y'all fight. Fight,'" Angel said. "And that's how (we) end up fighting in the gym."
McAdams said her granddaughter has been beaten and has had her hair pulled out. What troubles her the most is her claim that Angel and the other students aren't being properly supervised.
"Where is their teacher? Their teacher, nobody's there," McAdams said. "Somebody's supposed to be there to stop it. Somebody's supposed to be there at all times with these life skills kids and nobody's doing it."
In a statement to KPRC 2, Houston Independent School District officials said, "The situation was investigated ... School officials are also working with the parents of the students in question and strengthening supervision practices."
McAdams said she's been encouraged to transfer Angel to another school but doesn't believe that's the proper solution.
"Transferring her is not fixing the problem," McAdams said. "That's just fixing it for Angel. But what about the other life skills kids that's there? You're not fixing it for all of them."