Dorchester teacher accused of roughly handling students

DORCHESTER, Mass. (WHDH) -- A Dorchester teacher has been accused of putting her hands on special needs students in an aggressive manner.

Four-year-old Deshaun looked fine Wednesday night, but his mother still doesn't know what brought Deshaun to tears after school two weeks ago.

Michelle Whitlow says Deshaun, who's mildly autistic, got off the school bus and just didn't seem his happy self.

“He just looked really sad and we asked him how his day was, he didn’t respond. Five minutes later he just broke down and started crying,” said Michelle Whitlow, Deshaun’s mother.

Whitlow didn't know what was wrong until almost two weeks later when she says an investigator from the Department of Child and Family Services called to say they were looking into allegations one of Deshaun's teachers put her hands on Deshaun and other students in an aggressive manner.

“The thing that upsets me most is that something could have possibly happened to my child and they were not trying to contact me,” said Whitlow.

Whitlow says the principal did return her call and explained that she didn't have Whitlow's number before.

Then the principal called all the other parents.

"I’m calling to let you know that at the beginning of this month we placed a staff member on leave after a member of our school community brought a concern to our attention. As soon as we learned of the allegation we informed the proper authorities and the staff member was placed on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigation,” said Barbara Corey, acting principal at William E. Russell Elementary School

Now Whitlow is waiting for a call explaining the results of the investigation, but she's skeptical that call will ever come.