Mom: Teacher used foul language in front of special needs students

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A mother is furious over the way she says her daughter has been treated at school, and she claims she has some disturbing examples on tape: an audio recording captured in the classroom at Dowling Middle School by her special needs daughter.

To prove that she was telling the truth about the inappropriate things her teacher was allegedly saying in class, she recorded an entire period. In that recording the teacher can be heard telling the kids she's only there to get her check. You can hear profanity, and more.

At one point in the nearly two-hour-long recording, the female teacher yelling. Then you hear the male, who we're told is a teacher's aide, telling a student, "Stop (expletive) playing with me. Do you understand me."

"One teacher made the comment when my daughter asked a question. She was like 'I need some help.' And the comment was 'I'm not a psychiatrist,'" the mother said.

One of them called someone a dumb***.

The eighth grader, who mom says is emotionally disturbed but hasn't had discipline problems at school, recorded this in November. Mom tells us she met with the administrators and told them about the recording but they didn't listen to it. She alleges they told her it was her daughter's word against the employees. Instead, they put her daughter in a different class. They finally listened last week and called her about their investigation Tuesday.

"They said they met with the appropriate parties and each party made a statement and that's all the information they can provide."

HISD sent us the following statement: "Last week, HISD received an audio recording of a conversation that happened in November between two Dowling Middle School employees within earshot of students. The situation is being handled as a personnel matter."

Activist Gerry Monroe says this is part of a bigger problem.

"If you cannot conduct yourself in a classroom as a child, you are removed from that classroom. You're possibly removed from that campus," Monroe says. "So as a certified teacher, if you cannot conduct yourself, you should be removed from that classroom and removed from that campus."

HISD has 36 reasons an employee's contract may not be renewed. Reason 26: Use of profanity in the course of performing any duties of employment, whether on or off school premises, in the presence of students, staff, or members of the public, if reasonably characterized as unprofessional.

No word on whether these two will be back next year.