Karla Lasiter: Teacher who made Black student, 5, clean toilet 'advised' to leave town after death threats
A 5-year-old was asked by his kindergarten teacher to clean the toilets, according to a GoFundMe page set up for the child, identified as Ashton. The page, which has the little boy in a red hoodie, also says that his teacher, a White female, had "made" him take out feces out of the toilet with his bare hands.
The page, titled "Justice4Ashton", has been organized by Mark Cannon on behalf of Tami Murry, Ashton's grandmother, and says that the child has been "traumatized and will need counseling for this tragic act."
It further states that his family will "also need assistance with legal fees as they try to seek justice from the Pulaski County Special School District." The crowdfunding page, that urged "Help us get Justice4Ashton", has raised $11,210 of their $5,000 target as of now.
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Who is Ashton?
The 5-year-old is an African American child that lives in Little Rock, Arkansas, and attends Crystal Hill Elementary School. The school is where this alleged incident took place, as per a statement made by Murry on Facebook on Tuesday. In the statement, Murry said she found out about the incident through her "middle daughter" Ashley Murry, who warned her that she would be "very upset" over the incident. "She said Ashton’s (my grandson) teacher made him put his hand in the commode and clean out his feces and tissue because he stopped up the commode," wrote Murry. She further said she called the elementary school and PCSSD and even emailed FOX 16 over the incident.
"The Superintendent of PCSSD called me at 6 something yesterday evening!! I want this teacher to never ever do this to another black male student again!!! This child is 5 years old in kindergarten!!! He is a young black male and this was done to degrade him, belittle him, and it will cause him to have anxiety, he keeps telling everyone what happened!!! I am not stopping until this is handled properly!!! We have to protect our black males but decent and in order!!!!!," Murry added.
She also said that Ashton's teacher, whom she just referred to as "this woman", had admitted to making her grandson clean the toilets but said that she didn't know why she had done it. "Lord Jesus, help our teachers and allow only those with no hidden agendas and a love for children to become teachers...I don’t know if it’s racism or pure dislike for him, but something isn’t right!!!!!" wrote Murry.
Who is the alleged teacher?
As per KARK, the teacher has been identified as Karla Lasiter; she told Ashton's mother Ashley that she didn't have an "explanation" for what she did but knew she was wrong. The teacher has now been placed on administrative leave. Ashley explained to KARK, "They basically made him go in the toilet and get his feces and the dirty tissue out of the toilet. You want a child to put their hand in there physically and clean out the commode- no no no no no. He’s not a janitor, he’s not a custodian, he’s not maintenance, no, not at all."
Cannon interviewed the child, his mother and his grandmother on Facebook Live on Tuesday which saw the 5-year-old say, "My teacher made me get booboo tissue out of the toilet." He also revealed that this happened after he had asked Lasiter if he could use the bathroom, and she had come in to check on him. When Cannon had asked Ashton if he had gloves on, the child said, "No. She made me do it with my bare hands."
You can watch the interview below.
Lasiter, who is a full-time teacher, was not reachable, but Cannon revealed on Thursday morning that he is in contact with the teacher's friend who told him that she and her family had been "advised" by the FBI to "leave town after her husband's business began receiving death threats." As per reports, Old Mill Pizza is owned by Lasiter's husband and Cannon revealed that he had called for the boycott of the restaurant. 17 of the 20 employees that work in the establishment have been fired since the restaurant had to close down due to threats they were receiving.
"I never told anyone to make any threats toward Karla Lasiter, I said to boycott the business, and I still say that. As far as her employees not having a job -- they owe that to her because had she never made that child do that horrible act, Old Mill Pizza would still be operating now."