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Teacher accused of whipping student with extension cord

ALABAMA (WKRG) – A day before Collins-Rhodes Elementary lets out for Summer vacation, one father is facing a nightmare no parent ever wants to go through.

Troy Forister said when his 3rd grade son came home from school claiming his teacher whipped him with an extension cord, he didn’t believe it.

“I let him down,” Forister said. “We trust that our teachers are doing what they need to do for our children.”

Forister said it wasn’t until the teacher was placed on administrative leave and his son was interviewed by a human resource counselor that he received any information at all.

“I want to know why we weren’t notified and why this teacher was already on suspension before they let us know. Why should we be kept in the dark as parents?”

Superintendent Martha Peek couldn’t comment on the details because it’s a personnel matter, but said the school system has a strict ” no corporal punishment” policy.

“There were reports and certainly we’re investigating the situation. As is usual with any personnel item, we don’t make any comments, but we do check everything out very carefully and we’re investigating it,” Peek said.

Forister said his son has ADHD and the teacher, Alice Nelson, has sent home multiple pictures showing his desk isolated from the rest of the class when he was misbehaving.

“We would see this here and then he would get in trouble when he got home,” Forister said as he looked at a stack of pictures. “This picture here particularly upsets me because he told me that once she put him on this crate, that’s where he had to keep his feet the rest of the class.”

Forister said he wants to make sure no other parent has to go through what he’s going through and has filed a police report with the Prichard Police Department to pursue criminal charges.

“We were trusting in the teacher, and there’s nothing more that breaks my heart than to see we trusted in a teacher and the teacher let us down.”

According to the Alabama Department of Education, Nelson doesn’t have any disciplinary marks against her license.