A Texas teacher and two assistants allegedly isolated a 5-year-old special needs boy for so long that he started eating his own feces and drinking his own urine after being deprived of food and water.
Melody LaPointe, 47, and teaching assistants Tarah Tinney, 33, and Augusta Costlow, 27, were charged earlier this week with abandoning or endangering a child over the April 2021 incident.
The three are accused of putting the boy into an isolation room within a Liberty Independent School District facility, ABC 13 reported.
They allegedly deprived him of food, forcing him to ingest his own feces and urine, authorities said.
Tinney and Costlow have resigned and LaPointe, the main teacher in the classroom, works for another school district, which has placed her on leave as well, the report said.
A spokesperson for Liberty ISD stated that the two assistants were placed on administrative leave and later resigned after the investigation was completed last year, ABC 13 reported.
LaPointe, the main teacher, was able to secure a teaching position at Bonnie P. Hopper Primary School in Goose Creek CISD.
“We immediately reported the matter to law enforcement and CPS (Child Protective Services), removed the educators who continued to work for us from the classroom, and conducted a comprehensive investigation,” a Liberty ISD spokesperson said.
“Based upon our investigation, we reported the educators to the State Board for Educator Certification and shared our results with law enforcement officials,” the spokesperson added.
On November 17th, an email was sent to the parents of Hopper Primary School, informing them that a teacher had been arrested during dismissal.
Read the email below:
In an effort of full transparency, we want to inform our families of an incident that occurred yesterday during dismissal. A teacher at Bonnie P. Hopper Primary School was arrested yesterday by Liberty County constables. The cause for arrest occurred in Liberty County and is not affiliated with Goose Creek CISD in any way. The teacher is currently placed on administrative leave with pay, pending the outcome of an investigation, after which the District will take appropriate disciplinary action. As this is a pending legal matter, Goose Creek CISD will allow the legal process to proceed and refrain from further comment.We want to ensure our families that the safety and security of your children is our #1 concern. We thank you for your continuous support of our campus and our district.
From ABC 13:
Parents with students at Hopper Primary received an email on Nov. 17 that a teacher was arrested during dismissal:
“In an effort of full transparency, we want to inform our families of an incident that occurred yesterday during dismissal. A teacher at Bonnie P. Hopper Primary School was arrested yesterday by Liberty County constables. The cause for arrest occurred in Liberty County and is not affiliated with Goose Creek CISD in any way. The teacher is currently placed on administrative leave with pay, pending the outcome of an investigation, after which the District will take appropriate disciplinary action. As this is a pending legal matter, Goose Creek CISD will allow the legal process to proceed and refrain from further comment.We want to ensure our families that the safety and security of your children is our #1 concern. We thank you for your continuous support of our campus and our district.”
However, some parents with students want answers as to why LaPointe was hired given the investigation and disturbing accusations at her former school district.
“I am scared to send my daughter to school,” Amanda Henry, who has a 6-year-old daughter at Hopper Primary, said. “You are supposed to send them there to be protected, and they hire this lady who apparently they did not do an extensive background check on and hurt a child, left this child locked up in a room, having to eat his own feces and drink his own urine. It’s disturbing.”
LaPointe has an investigatory flag on her Texas Educator Certificate, according to the Texas Education Agency.
“This happened a year ago,” Henry said. “What process did they even go through? Obviously, it’s not an extensive one, so that concerns me for anyone hired in the future.”
ABC13 has reached out for more information as to whether the school was aware of the investigation and why they chose to employ LaPointe. A spokesperson referred us to the email sent to parents and said the district takes the matter seriously, but they are closed for the week for the Thanksgiving holiday and return Nov 28.
