SALINAS, Calif. - A Central Coast teacher accused of abusing several students. The teacher is from Creekside Elementary School in Salinas.
The school sent out a letter to parents. It says there's a new fourth grade teacher. What it doesn't say is the teacher's name or what he's accused of doing. But, parents say, it's because the teacher hurt their children in the classroom.
"My teacher took off my shoe and threw it across the room and it almost hit my friend in the face," says Student Josiah Manriquez.
Nine-year-old Josiah Manriquez claims that's what his teacher did to him after Josiah was caught talking to a classmate this week. He says, it gets worse and it's been going on for a year and a half.
"On a test if we look around and he sees us. He will move our heads around,' says Manriquez. "He pretends to slap us and he gets a book and it will make a sound. He calls our mistakes dumb."
His parents said they knew something was wrong when Josiah didn't want to go to school. They even filed a police report. Since charges aren't filed, Central Coast News isn't saying his name.
"He needs to pay for what he did," says Josiah's father Richard Manriquez. "Not to our son but any other children. He doesn't deserve to be here. He deserves to be somewhere else in jail."
Salinas Police said, they investigated and sent it to the District Attorney's Office to see if there's enough evidence to press battery charges.
The Superintendent of the Alisal Union School District said it's investigating complaints from several families about this teacher, but wouldn't say anything else "calling" it a personnel issue. But Josiah has a call of his own.
"I just want a better teacher," says Josiah Manriquez.
If the District Attorney's office presses battery charges, the teacher could face jail time. Central Coast News will let you know when the D.A.'s office investigation is done as well as the school districts.
Submitted by Azenith Smith, Central Coast News
