Photo: Hendrick County Prosecutor’s Office
Five people have been charged in connection with the alleged abuse of a seven-year-old boy with special needs at Brown Elementary School in Indiana.
The Hendrick County Prosecutor's Office announced that Brown Elementary Life Skills Teacher Sara Seymour, 27, and Brown Elementary Life Skills Instructional Aide Debra Kanipe, 63, were each charged with a felony count of neglect of a dependent and a misdemeanor count of failure to report.
Brown Elementary Life Skills Teacher Julie Taylor, 48, Brown Elementary Life Skills Instructional Aide Kristen Mitchell, 38, and Kids Count Registered Behavioral Technician Megan King, 24, were each charged with failure to report.
Prosecutors said that Seymour and Kanipe made the boy, who was enrolled in the school's Life Skills program, eat his own vomit during lunch as Mitchell, Taylor, and King watched.
Seymour handed him a spoon and watched as he struggled to eat the vomit. Then, they made him clean up the mess with paper towels.
School officials said they have started the process to terminate all four employees involved in the incident.
"This horrendous action is not in line with the character of staff and teachers at Brownsburg Schools," the school district said in a statement. "The shocking actions of a few does not define the care and concern that Brownsburg teachers and staff show every day."
The student involved in the incident has since returned to school and resumed classes.