A Texas middle school teacher was placed on leave when she allegedly forced her middle school cheerleading team to crawl around on a blazing hot track as a sick form of punishment, leaving the teens with first and second-degree burns.
Thirteen eighth-grade girls on the Evans Middle School cheer squad say they were punished because they performed a cheer that the coach didn’t want them to do at a football game, according to KAMC.
The girls claim the coach found it “disrespectful” and told the squad at a 2 p.m. practice on Oct. 9.
The unnamed coach ordered the young teens to do “bear crawls” and “crab walks” for a mile on the school’s track, which was over 125 degrees, the outlet reported, citing one parent who measured the surface.
The “bear claw” and “crab walk” exercise forces an individual to crawl on all fours, which is meant to improve core strength and mobility.
“I had asked [my daughter], ‘Are you okay? How was school?’ She put our stuff down in the car, went to sit down and said, ‘Mom, you want to know how my day was in cheer?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ She told me that they got a punishment, and shows me her hands,” Angel Thompson, one of the outraged mothers told KAMC.
Temperatures reached 95 degrees Wednesday in Lubbock, 330 miles west of Dallas.
Some spirit members became sick while others couldn’t complete the mandated crawl over the intense pain.
Despite complaints from the cheerleaders, the ruthless coach allegedly threatened their future in cheer if they didn’t finish the punishment.
“We told her our hands are burning, and she said she didn’t care, and she made us go back down on the track,” another cheerleader said.
By the time the middle schoolers returned home, first and second-degree burns had already formed on their hands.
Some of the teens were seen by the school nurse and one was brought to the Texas Tech University Medical Center burn unit.
Parents say the school never informed them of their daughter’s visit with the nurse.
“It was malicious. It was intentional,” one mother said.
The coach, who is a teacher in the Lubbock ISD, was placed on administrative leave as police opened an investigation into the painful practice, the outlet reported.
Lubbock ISD was “heartbroken” over the “disciplinary method” from the teacher as student safety is their top priority, and the punishment didn’t
“We are addressing this matter with utmost urgency, and are fully committed to investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident,” the school district said. The teacher involved has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of this investigation.”
“We want to express our deep concern and regret for the pain and distress this has caused the students and their families. No child should ever be subjected to harm in a learning environment, and we are fully committed to ensuring that incidents like this do not happen again.”
In 2022, another Texas public school came under fire when several students reported burn injuries following exercises their coach made them do as punishment.
The physical education teacher reportedly forced four students to do bear crawls when the students tried getting out of running laps as temperatures soared to 90 degrees.
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