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Northside ISD special education instructor accused of hurting children

A longtime special education assistant has been resigned after Northside ISD leaders said she was accused of hurting autistic students in her care.

A longtime Northside ISD employee is out of work, facing accusations of abuse.

The special education assistant at Boone Elementary resigned after a teacher reported they witnessed the woman hurting a child.

Oscar Mohedano and his wife have two children with autism who attend Boone Elementary in the Northside ISD.

Mohedano says that he'll never forget the phone call he got a few days ago from the school's principal.

"She starts off, 'Mr. Mohedano, I want to speak with you. Don't worry, the kids are ok.' That's exactly the words she told me, 'But I have bad news,'" Mohedano recalled.

The principal said that they believe Mohedano's children may have suffered months of abuse by an instructional aide.

"My kids are low verbal, they can't express to you, you know, 'I've been hit,'" Mohedano explained.

Mohedano said that his daughter has been grabbing her ear a lot. An incident seen by another employee last week may explain why.

"The allegation was that the individual has seen this instructional assistant flicking the ear of a student in a classroom. That is unacceptable behavior," Northside ISD spokesman Barry Perez said.

"To keep them in line, this lady would hit my kids in the ears. I'm a veteran. I've seen and heard a lot of things. But when it comes down to your kid or your child, you're just in shock," Mohedano said.

Northside ISD isn't releasing the woman's name.

Perez said that the 25-year instructor resigned after being placed on leave.

"If we suspect an employee of this district has engaged in behavior that is inappropriate, unacceptable, and certainly a violation of the law, we are going to take swift action to make sure we get to the bottom of it," Perez said.

Northside ISD believes that the brother and sister were the only ones affected. But Mohedano can't help but wonder if there were other incidents.

"We don't know. We don't know what they went through," Mohedano said.

Even though the instructional aide is no longer with the district, Northside ISD says that CPS and police investigations continue.

It's too soon to know if criminal charges will follow.

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