HOUSTON – A Houston-area mother is calling for two dance teachers in the Pasadena Independent School District to be fired. The teachers are accused of locking her daughter and other students in a locker room at South Houston High School.
“It’s like they are inmates or something. They are not inmates. They are not in prison,” Casey Chappel said.
The mother said she is taking the district to court and calling for the state to investigate.
READ MORE: Pasadena ISD dance teacher accused of locking students inside dressing room for more than 40 minutes
Although the district released a statement Monday night, KPRC 2’s Re’Chelle Turner reached out again asking why the teachers locked the students in the room and if they were still employed with the school.
Chappel said she tried filing criminal charges and her daughter is still shaken up.
“I just felt shocked,” said Chappel’s daughter Horizon Jones.
Jones added that she can’t get over the thought of being locked in the dance locker room for 45 minutes with several other students.
Jones recorded a short video of the incident and said she pulled on the door.
“We were getting dressed and the teacher, she usually counts down like always, it’s a normal thing. She counted down, but this time she counted a little bit faster than she usually does and I guess we were taking too long to get dressed. Me and a couple of others were walking towards the door. She was literally in front of us and she turned around and locked us out. I thought she was going to come back and unlock it but she didn’t,” Jones said.
Chappel said her daughter has had minor problems with the teacher before, but nothing ever this extreme.
“Hopefully, the teachers are fired and they will never be a teacher again or be around kids again because, just like it happened to my child, who’s to say it’s going to happen to somebody else child?” she said.
Community activist Candice Matthews said something bad could have happened to the students.
“Someone could have had a seizure; someone could have fallen out; someone could have used the restroom on themselves. That is not the proper way to discipline kids,” she said. “You can write them up or send them to detention but don’t lock them up.”
Chappel and Matthews plan to meet with school officials later this week about the incident.