CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW)- Jessica F. Dates was at work in Nashville on Thursday, Nov. 14 when she received a phone call from the principal at Hazelwood Elementary school reporting her son, Montayne “Monty” Dates, had possibly been assaulted.
What created a great deal of pain for Jessica Dates was the person accused of assaulting Monty was a custodian who works at the school.
Dates said the principal at Hazelwood reported an incident in which her son put his styrofoam tray in the trash can and some of the contents spilled on the custodian who was standing nearby. The custodian allegedly took a soiled styrofoam tray out of the trash can and threw it at Monty in retaliation, hitting him.
Elise Shelton, Chief Communications Officer for the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System said Monday that an investigation is on-going and during the course of the investigation, the custodian resigned.
“The custodian at Hazelwood Elementary School has been placed on leave pending the conclusion of an investigation focused on an incident that occurred in the school cafeteria at lunch on Thursday,” Shelton said in a statement. “Under review is school lead custodian Nadja Jackson’s reaction to a fourth-grader when he emptied his Styrofoam tray into the trash can where she was monitoring students exiting the lunchroom. The school principal contacted the student’s mother about the incident an hour and a half after it occurred. The student’s mother was given the opportunity to view the video of the incident on Friday.”
Shelton sent a follow-up statement on Tuesday saying the custodian resigned during the course of the investigation.
“A custodian at Hazelwood Elementary School is no longer an employee with the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System. During the course of the investigation, Nadja Jackson tendered her resignation,” Shelton said. ” She had been on leave since last Thursday following an incident in the school cafeteria.”
ClarksvilleNow requested a copy of the surveillance video, but CMCSS replied that the policy prohibits them from the release of the video due to FERPA regulations.
Monty, a 9-year-old, fourth-grader at Hazelwood Elementary is classified as having special needs due to having a high IQ and being a certified intellectual genius with an IQ of 145, she said.
Jessica Dates said her son did not purposefully get the contents on the custodian, apologized and went to get in line and wait for his teacher.
When Monty’s teacher arrived, the custodian told his teacher that she’d been disrespected and had trash thrown on her, Dates said.
Before Monty could explain, he was made to run six laps. After running the laps, he explained what happened and that he’d been hit with the styrofoam tray out of the trash can. The teacher reported the incident to the principal.
“I don’t’ know what happened maybe she was having a bad day, but she is an adult and she shouldn’t have touched my child,” Jessica Dates said. “She took it her own hands and handled it like corporal punishment. I’m taking this issue to the highest extent. My son is shaken. He thought he was safe around these adults and I did too, but apparently not. …I’m devastated, but I’m going to get justice first.”
Dates said she later reviewed the surveillance video of the incident with the officials at Hazelwood Elementary.
“In the video, I saw the custodian standing at the trash can and saw my son place his trash in the trash can,” Dates said. “The custodian gave a mean expression, yelled at my son and said, ‘Why would you do that!?,’ and my son said, “I am sorry.”
Dates said she watched on the video as her son walked away and got in line.
“The custodian walked over to my son, pulled a totally different tray from the trash can and threw it at him. He tried to catch it and it fumbled and hit him in his chest.”
The school officials were apologetic and told the mother action had been taken.
“They told me they handled the custodian and couldn’t’ tell her what they did specifically,” she said.
The thought that her son purposefully hit the custodian is out of his character.
“Anyone dealing with Monty knows that’s a lie,” Dates said. “Monty doesn’t fight. He’s not aggressive and he tried to apologize for making a mistake. Monty is respectful, kind and caring. He’s a great kid and I don’t have any issues with him whatsoever. For him to be done like this, I feel the custodian needs to be held accountable.”
Dates plans to continue to ask questions and look for answers from CMCSS, Department of Children’s Services and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office school resource officer.
The Department of Children Services said there was no open case about the incident. Dates filed her own DCS report which is currently pending.
She plans to continue to pursue this incident and get justice for her son who she said is “not trash” and should’ve been treated fairly and not “assaulted” for what he said was an accident and apologized for.
“My son is very upset, he’s scared and feels he’s been let down by his school,” Dates said. “What the custodian did was unfair and he didn’t’ get to express his side of the story before he was punished. My daughter and son don’t want to go back to school. They’ve been going there for three years and we’d reported bullying from an incident that happened. … I’m looking into homeschooling them.”
Jackson has not been charged with a crime at this time.
