LAKESIDE, Calif. — Parents are calling on the Lakeside Union School District to take action after they say children with special needs were physically abused by a teacher's aide.
"His one-on-one walked into the bathroom and saw the male staff on his knees with his hands over my son's hands forcing my son to hit himself in the head," said concerned parent, Cynthia Raymond.
Raymond’s 9-year-old son has nonverbal autism. She says she was told by his one-on-one (paraprofessional) at school that her son and a handful of other children have been physically abused on several occasions by a school aide.
What’s worse she’s says, the incident was reported to the school’s principal and the district, but no action has been taken.
"It just makes me so mad, because how can you just let somebody get away with hurting a child. They didn't reach out to me. Nobody notified me that, you know, this is happening at school, your son might be involved. Nobody told me anything," said Raymond.
"Dealing with special needs is hard and if you don't have that patience, you shouldn't be working with them," said upset parent, Brittany McLaughlin.
McLaughlin says her special needs daughter was also injured while at school.
"Our kids cannot speak up for themselves. Our daughter cannot come home and say what happened. She's just been demonstrating for weeks how he hit her and how it hurt," she said.
Both parents reported the incidents to the San Diego County Sheriff’s office, which says:
"We're aware of the allegations and are in communication with the school district. Any allegations of abuse will be investigated by the Sheriff's Department. We are unable to share further details at this time."
In this letter shared by parents, staff members were instructed not to talk to other school members or parents.
CBS 8 reached out to the district about the complaints. Superintendent Dr. Rhonda Taylor says:
"This allegation is currently under investigation by the district. We have not concluded the investigation, so we cannot comment at this time. We take student safety very seriously and are giving the utmost attention to this matter."
Parents CBS 8 spoke to said they’re calling on the district to be more transparent, saying they fear more children could be at risk.
Parents told CBS 8 that the teacher’s aid was recently moved to another school. The district however, has not confirmed or denied if he was transfer.