Texas Middle School Students Suffer From Severe Hand Burns Due To Gym Teacher's Inhumane Punishment

Kids make mistakes and it is upon the adults to flip them into teachable moments so that they can learn something from them.

However, when a group of five students hid behind the bleachers to avoid running on track during their P.E class, their physical education (P.E.) teacher at Anthony Aguirre Junior High in Channelview, Texas decided to reprimand the students for essentially skipping class.

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However, instead of sending the kids to the principal's office or cutting their points for the final score, the teacher came up with an out-of-the-box idea for the punishment.

The teacher proceeded to instruct the five students to bear crawl around the track with their hands and their feet with raised knees. This body position ultimately puts a lot of pressure and body weight on the hands. 

It was over 90 degrees in Texas on an outdoor track that absorbs heat. All five students came away from the class with burns on their hands, some with second-degree burns and blisters.

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A mother of one of the involved students, Wendy Alvarez, spoke out about the incident.

"My son, he has nose bleeds and things, so he didn’t want to run, because it was too hot. Him and four other kids, they went, and they were hiding behind the bleachers."

"The coach found them and I guess punished them by making them do bear crawls."

"Now his hands are burnt. He has second-degree burns. I took him to the ER yesterday. He said my hands feel like they’re on fire. He had a fever last night."

Alvarez also shared she spoke to the mother of another involved student, who sent her pictures of her son's hands, which also had blisters on them.

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After the bizarre incident and social media uproar, the school has launched an investigation over teacher's actions.

The school also issued a formal apology to Alvarez and ensure that an incident like this will never happen again.

The school released this statement:

"Channelview ISD administrators are aware of an incident that occurred at Anthony Aguirre Junior High on Monday, May 9 where a teacher allegedly disciplined four students causing non-life-threatening heat-related injuries due to the conditions outside."

"This incident is currently under investigation to ensure all students have a safe learning environment. The teacher has been removed from the classroom and placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation."

"Channelview ISD does not condone aversive discipline techniques that may cause physical pain to a student in any way. We take these situations very seriously as the safety of our students is always our top priority."

Twitter Reacted Furiously

But Wendy Alvarez didn't believe that was enough.

"And they said we promise this is not going to happen again, but I’m not really happy with that answer. I think he should get fired, honestly. That’s how I feel. I don’t think somebody like that should be working with kids."

"To me, that’s torture. And she (another mother) sent me pictures of her son too. He also has blisters on both hands."

"I’m just heartbroken for my son, you know."