SAN ANTONIO – A Northeast Independent School District parent is taking legal action after her child said his teacher slammed him to the ground.
“The nurse didn’t call me,” Tenice Corbin said. “Nobody called me, and this is what happened. They’re like, ‘Do you want to press charges?’ I said, ‘Absolutely.’”
Corbin’s son is a 9-year-old student at Roan Forest Elementary. Corbin said she feels scared for his safety and for hers for speaking out.
Corbin said her son is autistic and attends a specialized classroom for students with special needs.
On Oct. 28, Corbin said her son texted her something out of the ordinary.
“He said, ‘Mom, Mr. Triolo slammed me, and my back feels like it’s broken,’” Corbin said.
A former NEISD teacher, Luke Triolo, was mentioned in the NEISD police incident report about a classroom fight between two students.
The district sent KSAT the following statement:
“On Oct. 28, a student reported that a teacher had been rough with him. That same day, we began an immediate investigation. The teacher was removed from the classroom at that time. It was determined the teacher used excessive physical force while breaking up a fight and was recommended for termination. The teacher resigned before the termination process was complete. We have reported the teacher to the State Board of Education for possible sanction against the teacher’s certification.”
KSAT requested clarification on the date the teacher was removed from the classroom. The district confirmed that he was put on leave once the investigation began and that his last day at the school was on Oct. 28.
However, Corbin said she received an email from Triolo about how her son’s day went on Oct. 28 and Oct. 29.
Triolo resigned from his position with NEISD on Nov. 7.
In an email to Corbin on Nov. 12, the special education director said, “The recording documents abuse or neglect as defined in the Texas Family Code of a student by a staff member.” The email instructed Corbin to set up a time to view the recording.
On Nov. 18, Corbin watched a video recording of the incident captured on school cameras in the special education classroom. She said there was no fight shown in the recording, despite what is listed in the statement from the school district and a police report listing Triolo’s name.
“There was my son and another young man,” Corbin said. “My son sat next to the young man. The young man indicated that my son had touched his Chromebook.”
Corbin said the video was blurred to remove another student’s face, so it wasn’t clear, but her son said he didn’t touch the student’s Chromebook.
“At which point the teacher said, ‘You’re lying. Nobody believes you, nobody believes you, nobody’s going to believe you,’“ Corbin recalled. ”So, my son then stood up at the table and was like, ‘I’m not lying,’" Corbin said. “At which point the teacher walked over to my son, wrapped his arms around my son, and then body slammed my son on the ground."
Corbin said she tried to file a police report with San Antonio police, and the department informed her that the process had to be with the NEISD police. Since then, she’s retained an attorney and gotten assistance from Civil Rights Activist Candice Matthews.
“It’s unacceptable because we don’t send our children to get assaulted by teachers,” Matthews said. “The expectations is that the superintendent needs to remove everybody that’s in leadership at this school. Clearly, they did not follow the correct processes; when you have a child that has made an outcry, then on top of that, you have video to show the alleged abuse.”
KSAT has requested the classroom footage of the incident and is awaiting a ruling from the attorney general on whether the school is required to release this video.
“Right now, my trust and integrity in the system is not there," Corbin said.
The family and Matthews plan to hold a press conference on Dec. 3 regarding the legal steps they’ll take moving forward.