A special education teacher and a teacher’s aide at a Texas elementary school have been charged with abusing two young children with autism.
Britnee Vaughn, 35, who until recently taught first grade at Raymond Elementary School in Aldine, and her assistant, 22-year-old Maria Gonzalez-Valencia, have been arrested on felony counts of injury to a child under 15, news station KPRC reported.
Vaughn is suspected of kicking and roughly grabbing a 6-year-old non-verbal boy, and lifting a 9-year-old child off the floor by his ear, according to court documents.
Gonzalez-Valencia is accused of hitting the same 6-year-old student, identified by his family as Pablo Reyna Jr., with an unknown object in class.
In a statement issued Tuesday, an Aldine Independent School District spokesperson announced that both women no longer work for the district.
The alleged abuse came to light when Pablo Reyna and Angelica Frias, the parents of the 6-year-old victim, alerted the school after noticing that their son would often return home covered in scratches, bruises and bumps, ABC13 reported.
Pablo Jr.’s parents would often notice he’d come home from school with scratches and bumps. ABC13“It’s heartbreaking because he isn’t able to talk,” Frias told the station. “He has autism, and he doesn’t talk, and he was not able to let me know what was going on.”
The parents’ inquires eventually prompted the school principal to pull video from Vaughn’s classroom, which uncovered the alleged abuse.
Witnesses who reviewed the video, which has not been released to the public, claim that it shows Gonzalez-Valencia hitting Pablo Jr. in the head with an object from her desk after he tried to touch it.
A recording from March 25 allegedly shows Vaughn kicking Pablo Jr. as he is spinning on the floor, causing him to slide across the room.
Pablo Reyna Jr. lives with autism and is non-verbal. ABC13
Surveillance video allegedly captured Britnee Vaughn physically abusing Pablo Reyna Jr. ABC13On April 4, surveillance video allegedly captured Vaughn grabbing Pablo Jr. by the back of his shirt, yanking him up and then pushing him and causing him to fall.
The special education teacher then allegedly gets hold of a 9-year-old’s ear and lifts him off the ground, causing the child to cry out. In response, Vaughn allegedly threatens to take away the boy’s tablet.
Vaughn was released from jail after posting $100,000 bond. Valencia-Gonzalez remains behind bars on $35,000 bond.
