Mother wants parapro accused of throwing her son to floor fired

DECATUR, Ga. — A teacher's assistant is accused of shoving a student to the floor and now, for the first time, we're hearing from that child's mother.

The mother of the 10-year-old child, who asked not to be identified, called Channel 2 Action News wanting to discuss what happened at her son at McNair Discovery Learning Academy in Decatur.

She said she hopes the paraprofessional is never allowed to work with children again.

“My son had come home about 2:30, 3 o’clock and said, ‘Mom, don’t get mad but this grown lady had pushed me down to the floor with both hands,’” the mother said.

Police arrested Carlas Smith, a teacher’s assistant, Thursday on suspicion of simple battery.

“I’m hoping she gets fired,” the mother said.

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According to the arrest warrant, Smith pushed the 10-year-old to the floor last week.

“According to a report she claimed my son verbally assaulted her. According to the students interviewed though he didn’t do anything like that. He basically was just asking for a pencil and she was trying to provoke him for whatever reason,” the mother said.

Channel 2's Christian Jennings sent several emails to the DeKalb County School District on Friday with a list of questions about the incident.

The district sent her a brief statement, saying, in part:

“An incident involving an employee at McNair Discovery Learning earlier this week has resulted in a district investigation and the employee being placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.”

The child’s mother went on to say that she thought about pulling her son from McNair, but decided not to because despite what happened, he likes it at the school.

Cox Media Group