Glendale 2nd-grade teacher punishes students by having them march in heat

Brittany Trofy cant understand why her 7-year old daughter and classmates at Luke Elementary School in Glendale had to walk in circles on the playground last Thursday, as punishment for some kids acting up in class.

"It's hot. They're young and they get overheated," said Trofy. "They're small and they don't weigh much. It doesn't take much for them to get overworked."

Trofy said it was 90-plus degrees when the kids were sent to march outside for about 20 minutes, causing her daughter to feel nauseous with a headache.

"I've never heard of something like this," said Trofy. "That's why it's so important to me to make this known, because this should not be happening in our local schools. This should not be happening to our children."

A spokesperson for the Dysart Unified School District confirmed that the second-grade class was taken outside as a form of punishment, but said they were only out there for 5 minutes, and all of the kids were checked out by a school nurse, with none of them displaying any signs of heat exhaustion.

PTSA president Annette Ahlemeyer has a child in the same class and believes the entire incident is being blown out of proportion.

"I think she's a great teacher," said Ahlemeyer. "I love her and I support her 100-percent."

Zachary Fountain is director of communications and public relations for the Dysart school district.

He said that the discipline the teacher used was not proper protocol.

"This was a poor choice," said Fountain. "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."

Fountain said they have spoken to the teacher but cannot discuss any possible disciplinary action because this is a personnel matter.

Trofy is planning to transfer her daughter to another school.