VIRGINIA TEACHER CHARGED WITH ASSAULT: GIRLS HAND CUT IN FORCED ISLAMIC HAND SIGN DRILL (UPDATED) An elementary school teacher in Chesapeake, Va. has been charged with simple assault after a parent claimed her daughters hand was cut open as a result of the teacher yanking her arm aggressively while trying to teach students an Islamic hand sign. Officer Leo Kosinski, a spokesman for the Chesapeake Police Department, told TheBlaze that Tara Harris was criminally charged with a misdemeanor on Oct. 11 and released on a summons. The case is currently under investigation. Its still a criminal charge. It happened at the school and it involved a student, Kosinski said. The police department could not release any additional information. Stephanie Bennett, the mother of the 10-year-old girl who was allegedly assaulted at Butts Road Intermediate School, told TheBlaze in an emotional phone interview that Harris has a disturbing trend of indoctrinating students with Islamic teachings. She also said the teacher openly campaigns for President Barack Obama in the classroom. The incident of alleged assault occurred on October 2, according to Bennett. The teacher was going over Islamic hand signs with the children she stayed on this issue for two days straight during their reading and math class, she said. Bennetts daughter suffers from a processing disorder, making it difficult for her to quickly grasp things like hand signs. Not that shes uneducated or anything. Its just a processing problem, the mother said. When Bennetts daughter was unable to do the Islamic hand sign correctly after two days of instruction, Harris became frustrated and attempted to twist the girls fingers to make the Islamic gesture meaning power and strength. The way Bennett described it, it sounds like an upside A-OK hand gesture. It is unclear exactly which Islamic hand sign was being promoted as the source information comes from children. When she didnt get it right, [Harris] went over and yanked her hand out of her desk and my daughters hand got hung up on the metal wire on her file folder and the skin got caught on it, the mother explained, her voice cracking with emotion. The other children saw my daughters hand dripping with blood after the teacher had gotten so mad that she went to twist my daughters hand into an Islamic sign. After her child came home with the cut on her hand and she learned what had happened, Bennett immediately filed a police report. She claims to have pictures of her daughters injuries. She has agreed to share the pictures with TheBlaze, however, they were unable to be sent digitally late Wednesday night. She says the day after the incident school officials informed her that Harris had been placed on administrative leave. On Tuesday, she was then informed that the teacher had been terminated from the Chesapeake Public School system all together. Her termination can not be independently confirmed as the messages left with multiple officials with the school system have not been returned. Attempts to contact Harris were also unsuccessful. The mother said her daughter told her that Harris prays to Allah in Arabic around five times a day in front of students and teaches them about Islam and how it is superior to other religions. Bennett claims other parents have confirmed her suspicions after talking with their kids. One of those parents, Nita Redditt, told TheBlaze that her young son confirmed Bennetts story. The boy said he was scared to go back to school the next day after she found out, she added. I think he was intimidated, Redditt said. I couldnt believe what was going on in the classroom in regards to this teacher praying to Allah and having them pray with her. Bennett said she wants the Chesapeake Police Department to conduct a full investigation into Harriss actions. She also wants to know why she wasnt notified immediately when another parent complained to Butts Road Intermediate School officials about Harris campaigning for Obama in the classroom and bashing Republican GOP nominee Mitt Romney. Bennett said a school resource officer intially told her that speaking in Arabic wasnt against school policy. Kids cant stand up and fight for themselves. Someones got to fight for them, Bennett said. Why didnt someone call me? Why werent any of the parents notified? What is strange is that no local news outlets appear to be reporting on the incident not even the fact that a public school teacher was charged with assault. Chesapeake Public Schools is still reeling from fresh allegations of criminal activity against one of its teachers. WAVY reports that Bryan Carter, an assistant principal at Indian River High School, was arrested earlier this month and charged with abduction, burglary, attempted robbery and assault and battery. PilotOnline.com, which serves the Chesapeake area, also reported on Wednesday that a Virginia Beach piano teacher had been charged with sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy. So why are local media not covering the story involving Harris, who has been with the school since September, allegedly assaulting a 10-year-old student and forcing her class to learn Islamic hand signs? What makes this story different? TheBlaze will continue to follow up with Chesapeake Public Schools for additional information on this developing story. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/vir...s-hand-cut-in-forced-islamic-hand-sign-drill/ A Muslim teacher teaching Islam, and promoting Obama in class...gets physical with a 10yr old! What the hell? I wonder where else this is happening? Muslim teachers should be watched at all times.
What's the Islamic hand sign? A Finger across the throat? The simulated pulling of a bomb vets detonation cord?
Absolutely- just like we know Catholics hate children because a priest has molested them. On a more serious note- assuming everything is exactly as it went down, prosecute the guy and if he isn't criminally guilty, toss him out of school. He shouldn't have been pushing his religious dogma on children and certainly shouldn't have assaulted a girl like that. It isn't a matter of Islam- its a matter of a bad teacher doing bad things.
No, they shouldn't. If the government can start watching on one group of people for no reason, it can start watching anyone, at any time, for any reason.
No reason? Well I agree about not watching any group but all teachers need to be watched for the same reasons.
I didn't bother reading the whole story..but, WTF is a teacher doing teaching ISLAMIC culture in our PUBLIC SCHOOLS?? That's MY tax dollars!
They can teach anything but that EVIL Jesus faith. Never mind that Jesus was not a killer or rapist or war monger or wife beater or child molester or...
She's a black female. It's cool, yo. If an elderly white male taught them the sign of the cross, the Earth would slow in its rotation as liberals stomped up and down collectively.
Sounds like discrimination toward white folks and christians to me. Someone should start throwing lawsuits all over the god (*)(*)(*)(*)ed place for the obvious discrimination.
But Christianity is the faith of hate an evil and Islam is love! Whites (All of them) are racist and are getting what they deserve. This woman can in no way be racist because she is black.
What makes this story different? Probably that there is no story, unless of course you're "The blaze", or "jihadwatch" or some other moronic 'news'-site. Islamic hand-signs, my ass!
If only regressives would shut up their constant puling and whining about how badly done by they are, then normal people might give them time.
Actually I was talking about the parents. But, perhaps colleagues as well....you think the other teachers didn't know what was going on? I do. Are there no honorable teachers at that school?
We are, just as any employer watches his employees, but it's not at all times, and it's not because of our religious and/or political beliefs. I think you'd be hard pressed to find good teachers willing to work under conditions where they'd be watched at all times. I worked briefly at a private school that had cameras in every classroom. I was told they would never observe me on camera without notification ahead of time. Then a couple of months later, I was called in for a meeting with the administrators. Without any notice, they had a report for my first observation ready for me to sign. After that, I was determined to leave ASAP, and I didn't stay even a full school year there. That said, it's right that the teacher was terminated for this, and the parents should press charges. People need to know, without any ambiguity, that this kind of behavior by a teacher in the classroom is completely unacceptable.
Copy of summons: http://media2.wavy.com/html/PDFs/CriminalComplaint.pdf Local news report: http://www.fox43tv.com/dpps/news/local/chesapeake/butts-road-teacher-charged_4809079
My my my...Margot, I thought you were all things Islamic?! [video=youtube;r7L0MywWGIY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7L0MywWGIY[/video]
Oh yes, I forgot to include fox in my list of dubious media-outlets that will report anything without bothering to research what was really going on as long as the given spin fits their agenda. Islamic handsigns? Sure!
Harris’ next-door neighbor, William Moore, told PilotOnline.com that Harris is not a Muslim. “They’re the nicest people you ever wanted to meet,” he said. “Ahmed Noor, a trustee at the Mosque and Islamic Center of Hampton Roads in Hampton, said there are no hand gestures in the religion of Islam; however as different cultures practice the religion, there could be a culture that both practices Islam and uses some sort of hand gesture,” PilotOnline.com reports. Additional attempts to contact Harris were unsuccessful. The teacher’s side of the story is the one big piece still missing in this incident. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/see-the-images-of-virginia-teachers-alleged-assault-on-10-year-old-student-during-islamic-hand-sign-lesson/