A teacher in Lubbock, Tex., is feeling the heat after allegedly forcing more than a dozen middle school cheerleader to perform a ”malicious” punishment which resulted in the students suffering burns on their hands and arms.
According to local ABC affiliate KAMC, a group of eighth grade girls were made to do “bear crawl” and “crab walk” exercises on a scorching-hot track as punishment from their coach, leaving them with first- and second-degree burns.
The 13 girls from Evans Middle School say they were punished because they performed a cheer that the coach called “disrespectful” and didn’t want them to use during a football game.
The unnamed coach/teacher ordered the young teens to do “bear crawls” and “crab walks” for a mile on the school’s track at 2 p.m. on Oct. 9. The outlet reported, the temperature of the track was at least 125F (50C), citing one parent who measured the surface. Temperatures in the area on the day measured roughly 35C in the northwest Texas city.
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The two exercises the girls were forced to perform have an individual crawl on all fours, which is meant to improve core strength and mobility.
“I had asked (my daughter), ‘Are you OK? How was school?’ She put our stuff down in the car, went to sit down and said, ‘Mom, you want to know how my day was in cheer?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ She told me that they got a punishment and shows me her hands,” Angel Thompson, one of the outraged mothers told KAMC.
According to reports, some cheer squad members became sick while others couldn’t complete the punishment due to the intense pain.
Despite the girls’ complaints, the coach allegedly threatened their future in cheer if they didn’t finish.
“We told her our hands are burning and she said she didn’t care, and she made us go back down on the track,” one cheerleader said.
By the time the middle schoolers returned home, first and second-degree burns had already formed on their hands.
Some of the students were seen by the school nurse and one was brought to the Texas Tech University Medical Center burn unit.
Parents say the school did not inform them of their children’s visit with the nurse.
“It was malicious. It was intentional,” one mother said.
The coach, who is a teacher in the Lubbock ISD, was placed on administrative leave as police opened an investigation.
“We are addressing this matter with utmost urgency, and are fully committed to investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident,” the school district said in a statement. “The teacher involved has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of this investigation.
“We want to express our deep concern and regret for the pain and distress this has caused the students and their families. No child should ever be subjected to harm in a learning environment, and we are fully committed to ensuring that incidents like this do not happen again.”