Teachers' alleged child cruelty acts caught on livestream
A mother’s intuition has landed two preschool teachers in jail for alleged child cruelty.
Gloria Barghi was watching a live surveillance video from the classroom of a US preschool in Georgia when she spotted that something wasn’t right.
“I just told my husband, I said, ‘I’ve got a weird feeling I’ve got to check on our son',” she told WXIA-TV.
“So I picked up the phone, I pulled up the app [and] picked it up right when the lead teacher was assaulting the first victim,” she told WXIA-TV.
Ms Barghi and her husband immediately raced to the preschool to check on their son, and demanded to see the entire video.
“It was intentional, it was thought out, it was malicious,” she said.
“These are defenceless little kids.”
The incident allegedly took place at Parker-Chase Preschool’s Pre-Primary B classroom on Thursday, June 2.
In the video, children aged two and three can be seen sitting on a rug when a teacher kneels before one of them and puts her face close to the child.
From the left hand side of the frame, a second teacher is then shown to step on the same preschooler's hand, before kicking another student in the back using her knee and shin.
The footage then shows the first teacher pointing her finger in the first child’s face before pushing their forehead away.
Both teachers, Zeina Alostwani and Soriana Briceno were arrested and charged on Monday with first-degree child cruelty.
The teachers in the video have since been dismissed, according to a statement from Endeavor Schools, the company that oversees the preschool.
“We were shocked and disappointed to learn that teachers used inappropriate disciplinary actions with children.
“The teachers in question were immediately removed from the classroom and have been dismissed.
“While we are extremely grateful that the children are well, we take this matter seriously, and our investigation is ongoing.
“We expect our staff to adhere to the highest standards of care, and any failure to do so will not be tolerated.”
Police are now reviewing hours of classroom video to see if the accused, or any other teachers at the preschool, assaulted additional students.
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