California Teacher Made Students March In 90-Plus Degrees Heat, A Mother Claims

Several second-grade students in California were subjected to disciplinary action by their school teacher as they were forced to walk in a circle around noon on Sept. 7 in the Luke Elementary School playground in Glendale for around 20-30 minutes, a student's mother has claimed, according to reports.

Brittany Trofy said her seven-year-old daughter and other classmates faced the odd punishment at a time when the temperature was somewhere around 90 degrees. Trofy said she got to know about the punishment when her daughter informed her about it after returning home. Her daughter also said that several children had complained of headaches and cramps following the punishment.

"The school stripped me of my right to nurture my child when she didn't feel good by not letting me know she didn't feel good,” Trofy said, according to ABC15 Arizona.

Trofy also expressed concern over the state of schools by saying such things "should not be happening in our local schools." She also said she had never heard of this kind of punishment of which her daughter became a victim of, azfamily.com, a CBS-affiliate, reported. "It's hot. They're young and they get overheated," Trofy said. "They're small and they don't weigh much. It doesn't take much for them to get overworked."

The mother said she was weighing options of getting her daughter transferred to another school. However, school authorities argued the duration of time for which the students were made to march outside was around five minutes as opposed to 20 to 30 minutes claimed by Trofy.

A spokesman for the Dysart Unified School District confirmed that second-grade class students were taken outside for punishment but said it was only for five minutes and then the children were also checked by a school nurse. None of the students showed any signs of heat exhaustion, the school authorities claimed, according to azfamily.com.

Zachary Fountain, director of communications and public relations for the Dysart school district, said although the choice of punishment was not proper, possible disciplinary action cannot be discussed with the teacher as this was a personnel matter. "This was out of character and not the appropriate avenue to work with students on following directions. We are working with parents to ease any concerns," he said.

Parent-Teacher-Student Association president Annette Ahlemeyer, who also has a child in the same class, said the incident was being exaggerated. "I think she's a great teacher," said Ahlemeyer, according to azfamily.com. "I love her and I support her 100-percent."

Corporal punishment is not uncommon in the United States. A study published last year found that seven southern states accounted for 80 percent of in-school corporal punishment in the U.S. — Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee and Oklahoma. The study said, "black children are twice as likely as white children to be subject to corporal punishment," in the U.S. public schools.