Two employees have been suspended from a Head Start pre-school program after a student says a teacher made him stand in a closet…naked.
It happened in a Metropolitan Saint Louis classroom run by Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
The 26-year-old teacher admitted to the punishment.
Her 41-year-old assistant is also under investigation for not stopping it from happening.
Authorities believe at least four children were forced to stand naked in the closet for up to 10 minutes at a time.
Police responded within two hours of the boy’s mother reporting to them what he told her.
“Very hard, especially if it’s your teacher. You have a lot of probably trust for her and everything. To especially go up against your teacher and say something about what was going on…but it was the right thing for that little boy to do. He was very brave by coming forward, telling his mother what happened,” said Chief Kevin Schmoll of the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Police.
Police do not believe the children were physically or sexually abused.
Head Start is a federally funded program for children under five years old from low-income families.