Child abuse allegations at Selmer Elementary prompt CPS investigation
Teacher’s aide claims to have been fired as retaliation for reporting the abuse
In two months’ time, a new teacher’s aide said she witnessed the physical and mental abuse of special education students in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first grade at Selmer Elementary, which seemed to be part of the school’s culture.
“I’m sure the abuse has been going on for years because they’re all OK with it,” said Chelsea Maslanka, a special education teacher’s assistant at the school for those classes prior to her termination. “It was such a normal practice for all of them, with the exception of a few.”
Upon reporting it, Maslanka said school administration acknowledged the alleged abuse and gave a verbal warning as a consequence, then terminated Maslanka for old photos in what she believes to be retaliation for reporting the abuse of those students to the principal and of reporting her own daughter’s abuse directly to the superintendent.
A month of seemingly no police action and postponements from the Child Protective Services’ (CPS) investigation pushed Maslanka to release a video detailing the events and naming teachers and assistants she said are involved. Selmer and Mcnairy County parents and community members have watched the video and read her journal with some alleging misconduct from the same administration and some teachers named.
Mcnairy County Schools Superintendent Greg Martin feels that they’ve “fully investigated anything that’s been brought to us.”
Abuse allegations at Selmer Elementary School
Maslanka said the following occurred, which she either discussed in an interview with The Jackson Sun or documented in a journal she started keeping:
h Putting students in a padded, soundproof room that has a steel door about four inches thick with a small window
h Students are locked in the room, where no one can hear them screaming, Maslanka said.
h Yanking students up by the arm and spanking them
h Kicking students, including her daughter who had bruises
h Using two-hour naps instead of the allotted one hour and instead of recess time
h Locking students in highchairs for those two-hour naps
h Putting students in what staff called a canoe and putting a weighted blanket on them and sometimes adding their own bodyweight
h Leaving a student in the wheelchair from 8 a.m. until dismissal even though the student can walk and play without the wheelchair
h Not giving students all the food from their packed lunches
h Maslanka said teachers and assistants would particularly do that to students they felt were obese
h Leaving a shared bathroom door open while a student uses the restroom
h Shaming students with special needs who would have accidents
h Teacher Karla Tranum allegedly not allowing her kindergarteners to go to the student bathroom located in the classroom and saying that they could wait until their scheduled bathroom time
h Teacher Elizabeth Overton allegedly grabbing a student by the arm and putting her “harshly” on the ground, which is visible to a hallway camera, Maslanka said
h Overton allegedly threatening students with how much a paddling will hurt
h Teacher Drew Franks allegedly dragging a student by his arm to go to the padded room and pinning another student to the wall by her legs and feet
h Teacher Shelia Rinks, according to Maslanka’s daughter, kicking and telling her to shut up and, according to Maslanka, yanking other kids
h Teacher assistant Kaley Cagle allegedly striking students
h Teacher Denise Powers allegedly grabbing kids and getting in their faces
h Emotionally abusing many of the general education students
“It’s not okay,” she said.
Maslanka was assigned to two students in special education to help transition them into a general education class. In Tranum’s class, the students Maslanka assisted would try to participate in class by answering questions.
“If they got a question wrong, she would have the entire class point their thumbs down and go, ‘Whomp, whomp, whomp,’” she said about some of the mental abuse. “My students would put their heads down and cry. It was public shaming of these kids that already have special needs and know they are different. They’re just trying to integrate into general education, and they want to be accepted.”
Tranum allegedly wouldn’t give Maslanka’s two students the same materials needed to help them transition to general education with their peers and segregated them to their own table away from their peers.
For example, the students didn’t have a notebook to practice their work like everyone else.
“She said, ‘They can just color.’” Maslanka said.
She supplied recordings from conversations, photos of her daughter’s bruises and other content for a video editor to create the Youtube video that is circulating Facebook on the Lucky Creek Ranch page.
Attorneys and law enforcement have advised her not to release the unedited recordings to anyone.
She reported the allegations to law enforcement, as evidenced by police reports, and to Selmer Elementary Principal Pamela Simon and superintendent Greg Martin, she said.
Teachers who admitted to abusing kids were still teaching at the school, Maslanka said.
The other teachers and aids were aware of the ongoing abuse, she said.
“It was a ‘what happens in Vegas’ thing,” she said.
While there were good educators that would never hurt a student, in Maslanka’s opinion, there were more “bad apples than there were good apples.”
Timeline of abuse allegations at Selmer Elementary School
Based on Maslanka’s interview, the police reports and her journal, the following is a timeline regarding her reporting the abuse and the events after.
h Nov. 11: First journal entry detailing allegations against Tranum and Overton.
Maslanka said she started keeping the journal, knowing she would report the abuse and would need documentation as a new staff member.
h Nov. 15: Simon called a meeting because Maslanka was seen documenting things in a journal.
In the Nov. 15 journal entry, she listed the abuse she had seen, but most of it was not already documented before that entry. This is when she reported the abuse to the principal.
Simon commended Maslanka for reporting the abuse, Maslanka said.
h Nov. 16: According to Maslanka who recorded the conversation, Simon told Maslanka that Simon had spoken with teacher assistant Cagle, who admitted to hitting children. Simon told Cagle that it couldn’t happen again and to redirect her anger, Maslanka said about what Simon told her. h Nov. 22-26: Thanksgiving break h Nov. 29-Dec. 7: Journal details where evidence, like hallway cameras, can be found to back her allegations
She was no longer allowed to have the journal at school, the Mcnairy County Sheriff police report said.
h Dec. 7: Maslanka’s 4-year-old daughter Paisley says her teacher Rinks kicked her and told her to shut up while recalling who was in the room – the same details she told her dad when she got home.
“Her story has not changed,” Maslanka said.
h Dec. 9: Paisley’s father Richard Witherill reported her assault directly to the superintendent, according to Maslanka.
When Witherill reported the abuse to the superintendent, Witherill showed him the video of Paisley detailing what happened, they said. Martin, according to Maslanka, said Rinks would be removed, an investigation would follow and Paisley would be moved to another classroom.
Two hours later, Martin said removing the teacher and moving a student would disrupt learning for other students, Maslanka said with Witherill sitting by her.
h Dec. 13: Simon asked Maslanka to get her things and follow her to central office, where they met with the superintendent.
Maslanka was terminated for “risqué” Instagram photos from five years ago, which is heard on a recording with Simon, Martin and Maslanka
She was terminated because parents were concerned about photos from years past, showing her “kinda nude,” superintendent Greg Martin told her.
Maslanka was not listed on the district’s website and was not known to parents, she said of reason given for her termination.
In a recording, a woman identified as Simon tells Maslanka that no one substantiated her daughter’s claims.
Simon also says that Powers didn’t want her kids or grandkids in a class because of the way teacher’s assistants talk to the kids.
Other parts of the recordings lacked enough context to determine what Simon was referring to.
For example, Simon is heard saying, “Yes, she told me,” after Maslanka is heard discussing Cagle admitting to hitting a child.
Without the unedited recording, The Jackson Sun couldn’t determine what Simon was referring to when she said, “Yes, I told you,” what offense her verbal warning to Cagle was about or what she meant by Cagle needing to “redirect.”
Maslanka didn’t release the unedited versions of the video under advice from attorneys and law enforcement.
On Jan. 12, Simon deferred questions about the matter to the superintendent.
The school system has and will continue to cooperate with the ongoing investigation and any inquiries it receives, Martin said Jan. 13 after the school board’s monthly meeting.
That’s all that he could comment on being that the allegations are an active police and CPS investigation, he said.
The school board attorney advised the five-member board not to discuss the matter while the investigation takes place.
A retaliatory response
“The focus was not on the fact that you have a teacher abusing students in the classroom but on ‘risqué’ modeling photos from five years ago,” she said.
Maslanka was a model when she lived in Florida, and she still had the social media accounts from that time.
Maslanka believes her termination and the assault of her daughter were in retaliation of her reporting the abuse.
“Unfortunately, my child had to pay for it,” she said. “She hates going to school now; she’s terrified of it. The trauma is there for her.”
The day she was fired, she reported her daughters’ alleged Dec. 7 abuse, the other students’ alleged abuse and her reports to the administration to the police.
Mcnairy County Sheriff Department took the initial report that abuse happened at Selmer Elementary from Nov. 1 to Dec. 13.
The incident report said Maslanka witnessed Cagle strike a student the week prior and reported it to the principal. Because the school is under the city’s jurisdiction, the case was transferred to Selmer Police Department.
In the Selmer Police report dated Dec. 14, Officer Nathan Harrison listed simple assault and violent child abuse as the offenses. A photo of a bruise on Paisley’s lower back was provided to both departments.
Harrison referred the case to the Department of Children Services, which appointed a special investigator who handles cases involving schools.
The case is still under investigation.
‘Nothing was being done’
Maslanka said children’s services cited the upcoming holidays as to why a forensic interview wasn’t done at the time, which was confirmed by the Selmer Police report.
The Jan. 13 forensic interview with her daughter was rescheduled to Jan. 20 because of COVID-19, Maslanka said.
“Nothing was being done,” she said about releasing the video of the allegations. “It continued to get pushed off, and nobody was taking me serious.”
Maslanka’s allegations aren’t the first the school district has faced.
Seven people, including parents with allegations involving their kids, have provided information to or have been willing to talk to The Jackson Sun since Maslanka posted the video on Youtube and on the Lucky Creek Ranch Facebook page.
In a 2004 case, parents of a former student alleged that Mcnairy County School System physically abused and mistreated their daughter who has developmental disabilities. The Hills alleged that she “was isolated from other students, inappropriately restrained and neglected while at school” and that she “suffered severe anxiety while attending school,” according to an order a part of Hill v. Mcnairy County Board of Education.
The family also alleged that the school system, who was granted an educational and behavioral evaluation of the Hills’ daughter, failed to provide the required services for her conditions.
The community support reinforces why Maslanka did it.
“Those are people’s babies in those classrooms being abused,” she said about people commending her and sharing their stories. “I know right from wrong, and I know what I’m doing is right. But having people recognize me in public and thank me for ‘being a voice for our children’ is so impactful.”
Justice, change, accountability
Now her daughter attends another Mcnairy County School, Bethel Elementary, but Maslanka is exploring other school options since it’s under the same district administration.
“If they would allow it in one school, they would allow it in another school,” she said.
The “traumatic” experience has left Maslanka unemployed, financially struggling and without her dream of working with kids.
But from this, she wants justice, change and accountability for her child and all the children who don’t have a voice.
“I feel like I strapped raw meat to my chest and ran through a pack of wolves,” Maslanka said. “And I’m okay with that because if change and justice come from it, I can run . ... I don’t care who I make mad if it means justice, change and accountability within the school system.”
Lasherica Thornton is The Jackson Sun’s education reporter. Reach her at 731-343-9133 or by email at lthornton@jacksonsun.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Lashericat