DETROIT – A Michigan elementary school teacher's assistant is off the job after parents accused her of taping a 5-year-old boy's mouth shut.
"I'm missing my friends," Abdul Dannaoui says.
Abdul hasn't seen his classmates since March, when his parents found out a teacher at the Crestwood School District in Dearborn Heights crossed the line. His mother is determined to get an answer.
"What happened inside the class, they won't tell me," Hoda Dannaoui said.
She said she trusted the preschool to educate her son and keep him safe, but she said that trust was betrayed.
"My child wasn't safe," Dannaoui said. "This was a lie."
The superintendent acknowledges the incident happened, saying, "A substitute teacher assistant placed a piece of Scotch tape over the mouth for a very brief period of time."
The district's statement also says the teacher and other students witnessed the act. The teacher was immediately removed from employment, the district said. Abdul's parents want a second assistant fired.
"It's not one teacher," Dannaoui said. "It was two teachers doing this."
The family's attorney said the school's principal is a close friend of the second teacher, and they asked police to investigate further.