Seattle Public Schools has completed its investigation into claims that a teacher grabbed a child in her special education class at Rising Star Elementary in Seattle’s Beacon Hill neighborhood.
Ibijoke Idowu, a special education teacher, is alleged to have grabbed a student by the arm last December, according to the report obtained by KIRO. His parents say this left small bruises on his arm.
The report also alleges that she took other actions towards students, including throwing a book or marker and pulling hair. Idowu has denied many of the allegations in the report, and some were not pursued by the school for lack of evidence.
The report included images of small bruises on the 8-year-old boy’s arm. According to the report, the photos were taken by his parents, Olla Ibrahim and Tyson Marsh.
The parents told KIRO their son said his teacher “hurt” him.
“We asked him, and he was able to communicate with us that it was an adult, that it was a teacher, and it was, in fact, her and not anybody else in that classroom,” Ibrahim said.
Ibrahim and Marsh’s son, whom KIRO chose not to name due to his age, is on the autism spectrum according to his parents. He and many of the kids in the class Idowu taught need extra support learning or are diagnosed with intellectual disabilities that entitle them to a modified curriculum.
Idowu, who has been on administrative leave, according to the school, since December, has been removed from the elementary school staff directory on the school’s website.
Ibrahim and Marsh say that changes in their son’s behavior since December made sense when they found the bruises and learned what might have happened.
They told KIRO that shortly after he told his parents his teacher hurt him, their son started having trouble sleeping at night. Then, they said, he started not wanting to go to school.
“He loves riding the school bus. He loves being in the classroom with other kids and - up until this point - loved his teachers,” Marsh said.
Later, Ibrahim told KIRO she had noticed what she now believes were faint bruises on her son’s arms as early as October last year.
The report also alleges that Idowu threw a marker at the 8-year-old. According to school investigators, Idowu acknowledged this incident but said she had ‘tossed’ the marker at the student.
Two other students also made complaints about the teacher, according to the report. Investigators alleged in the conclusion of their report that Idowu would yell at her students and that they would “flinch” when she walked by them.
In the report, two witnesses indicated that several students cried when they were informed Idowu might return to the classroom.
In the report, Idowu repeatedly denied the abuse allegations. When KIRO 7 requested an interview with Idowu through the Seattle Education Association, a teacher’s union for the district of which she is the recently elected president, the Washington Education Association, the union’s statewide office, sent a reply stating that the union does not comment on individual cases.
In a statement to KIRO, Seattle Public Schools said it “takes allegations involving harm to a student very seriously,” adding, “The employee is entitled to due process, and we are still in the early stages of that process. Additional facts, context, and analysis may be considered. Therefore, we are not commenting on the specifics of the case.”
Marsh and Ibrahim told KIRO they are concerned about Idowu serving in the union
“I really question the agenda of the union under current leadership, particularly around how much they really do care about children as opposed to their own special interests,” Marsh told KIRO.
Marsh told KIRO he planned to continue asking questions about what may have happened to his son.
“Somebody needs to stand up for these kids, quite frankly, many of whom aren’t able to express their experiences verbally and represent their own experiences,” Marsh said.
According to evidence used in the report obtained by KITRO, Marsh and Ibrahim filed a police report with the Seattle Police Department the day after their son said he was hurt by his teacher.
The King County Prosecutor has not charged Idow with any crimes, citing insufficient evidence. However, the prosecutor’s office told KIRO in an email that if police came forward with more evidence, they would consider reopening the case.
Parents tell KIRO they have worried that due to their son’s disabilities and the challenges facing his classmates, their experiences are counted as less factual.
The Office of Professional Practices at the State Superintendent’s Office told KIRO it has not opened an investigation into the case but that it has reached out to the school district for more information.