Teachers Caught on Tape Bullying Youth with Disability November 15th, 2011

When a 14-year-old student with a disability in Ohio told her father she was being bullied at school, he figured it was something that many teenagers endure.

Then he realized it was his daughter's teachers doing the bullying.

"We were shocked,'' he tearfully said. "We couldn't know. We didn't know.''

After being told repeatedly by school administrators that his daughter was lying about being harassed and bullied, he outfitted her with a hidden tape recorder under her clothes. For the next four days, she recorded a series of abusive and cutting remarks from a teacher and a teacher's aide at Miami Trace Middle School in Washington Courthouse, Ohio.

The father, Brian, and his daughter, Cheyanne (their last names were withheld in the interview), appeared on TODAY with their attorneys Tuesday as snippets from the secret audio tapes were played.

When asked by Ann Curry how all of this made her feel, Cheyanne simply replied, "Sad.''

'Are you that damn dumb?'

The tapes reveal teacher Christie Wilt and her teacher's aide, Kelly Chaffins, saying disturbing things to Cheyanne in the classroom. Cheyanne, who is now in high school, was in Wilt's class for three years of middle school. Chaffins has since resigned, while Wilt had to undergo eight hours of anti-bullying and child abuse training. On Monday, Wilt was put on unpaid leave for the rest of the school year, but Cheyanne's family is hoping to prevent her from ever teaching or working with special needs students again.

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