PASADENA, Texas – A Pasadena mother is frustrated after she said a dance teacher locked her daughter and several other girls inside a locker room for over 40 minutes.
The teacher’s reason?
The mother said she told her that she didn’t feel like the girls were changing fast enough.
Casey Chappel said her daughter, a 9th grader at South Houston High School, suffers from anxiety; and being locked in a room for 45 minutes made it worse.
“I was shocked and kind of hurt. As soon as she sent me that text, I rushed over there,” Chappel said.
Horizon Jones said she was changing when her dance instructor started counting down.
“She always counts down like we have a timer. It’s like the amount of time to get ready,” Jones said.
She said the time must have gone out because the teacher decided to lock them inside the dressing room.
“She stood in the locker room for a couple of seconds and saw us. She saw us physically walking towards the door, she physically walked out the door and locked it,” Jones said.
Chappel said her daughter recorded a video showing her and the other girls trying to get out of the locker room.
“We thought she was going to come back and open the door but she didn’t,” Jones said.
Chappel said she immediately dropped what she was doing and responded to her daughter once she realized what was happening.
“As soon as she sent me that text, I rushed over there and they didn’t even know what was going on. They had to go back and find out what was going on and one of the assistant principals unlocked the door,” Chappel said.
The mother said she plans to file a civil suit against the teacher.
Pasadena ISD sent in the following statement regarding the incident:
“I regret to inform you that earlier today we had an incident where a small number of students were locked in an athletic dressing room by one of their teachers. This incident was brought to our attention by a parent. Campus administration immediately took action by unlocking the door to the dressing room.
Appropriate administrative action has been taken at this time. The teacher in question was removed from the classroom. We later learned another teacher was aware of the incident and was also removed from classroom responsibilities.
Pasadena ISD takes these matters very seriously and does not tolerate mistreatment of students. The district has fully cooperated with the authorities and is committed to supporting a thorough investigation.
The district is unable to comment further regarding this specific case in accordance with state and federal privacy laws.”
