OAN Staff Abril Elfi
5:15 PM – Wednesday, October 9, 2024
Two teachers in Spring, Texas, have been accused of giving their pre-school students stickers that are believed to be discreet sleeping aids.
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An investigation is currently underway after two Northgate Crossing Elementary School teachers were removed from class and placed on administrative leave as police probe allegations regarding how the two allegedly handed out “sleepy stickers” to their students.
On September 24th, a woman named Lisa Luviano said that her daughter, Layne, came home from school and showed her a sticker.
“She said, ‘It is a sleeping sticker.’ I asked, ‘Where did you get this?’ And she said, ‘My teacher gives it to me for sleeping time,’” Luviano said.
Lisa explained that the sticker looked suspicious, so she looked it up online and found that they were sleeping patches that are sold on Amazon. The patches are strictly for adults and contain melatonin in addition to other ingredients.
“I showed it to my 4-year-old and she said, ‘Yes, that’s the sleepy sticker,’” said Melissa Gilford, another parent of a student at the school.
Lisa reported what she discovered to the school, but even after informing school administrators that her daughter had mentioned how other students were receiving the stickers too, she claims that no other parents were ever informed of the situation.
At that point, Lisa decided to take matters into her own hands, so she began reaching out to other parents, encouraging them to have conversations with their kids about the sleep stickers.
Since the school year began, another mother of a student at the school, Najala Abdullah, also claimed to have seen major changes in her son’s behavior. She reported that he was not eating and was crying much more than normal. Abdullah noted that he would bring his lunches home and nothing had been eaten, prompting concern.
“They’re giving them drugs to make them sleep to keep them quiet,” Abdullah said.
On Tuesday, a group of parents finally met with the Spring IDS administrators, who told them to refrain from discussing the allegation since “the investigation was still ongoing.”
“Angry parents at the school claim they were only formally notified by the school about the investigation two weeks after the alleged incident occurred,” MSN reported.
Spring ISD released the following statement on Wednesday:
“Spring ISD is aware of allegations that two staff members at Northgate Crossing Elementary School allegedly administered sleeping supplements to students on September 24. These staff members were immediately removed from the classroom and placed on administrative leave, pending an ongoing investigation by the Spring ISD Police Department. The district takes every allegation of educator misconduct seriously and will take all necessary measures to ensure that our students are educated in a safe and nurturing environment.”
Later on Wednesday morning, the district also sent an updated statement:
“Northgate Elementary administration was notified by a parent that their child was given a sleeping aid patch in the classroom by their teacher. Upon learning of the allegation the teachers in that classroom were immediately removed and placed on administrative leave. As a precautionary measure, two paraprofessionals in that classroom have also been placed on administrative leave pending the ongoing investigation by the Spring ISD Police Department, as this incident violates our Board Policy FFAC (LOCAL).
“The safety of our students is our highest priority, and we take every allegation of misconduct seriously. We ask for our community’s patience as the SISD Police Department conducts their investigation.”
The district also highlighted the policy that the two teachers are being accused of violating.
“No employee shall give any student prescription medication, nonprescription medication, herbal substances, anabolic steroids, or dietary supplements of any type, except as authorized by this or other District policy.”
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