Teacher Sends ‘Insulting’ Texts About Autistic Student To His Mother, Gets Fired
Tiffany Lynn Elfstron took to Facebook on Monday to recount the incident that led to her son’s teacher being fired from a Texas school.
She added screenshots of the texts she had received from the teacher, and one read: “This lil mother f—er is crying like a baby for mommy because he wants to go home. Omg I just want to omggggggg pull all my damn hair out.”
Speaking to INSIDER, she said that her heart sunk as she read the texts.
She said, “I was crushed and heartbroken. And I still am.”
Tiffany’s 13-year-old son, Jayden Elfstrom, attends Levi Fry Intermediate School and has been diagnosed with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, and other mental health issues. He is in a special needs class.
Elfstrom said that she received the texts while she was on phone with the teacher, who also has an autistic child.
She said, “My phone kept going off in my ear. I put her on speaker without her knowing, and I was checking my texts. It was text messages from her belittling my son, calling him names, and all that stuff.”
She stated that the teacher had called her because Jayden had fallen asleep in class, and had become uncooperative and nonverbal. Elfstrom said that Jayden was on medication that often made him sleepy.
Her Facebook post read: “I just want to cry because I have put my most precious possession in this teacher’s hands this whole school year [to] see this is how she thinks and feels for and about autistic children.”
Apparently the texts were meant for someone else.
She said, “He’s still upset and traumatized by her actions. She is actually the reason he was crying. She took a three-hole puncher and slammed it on the desk right beside his head. So she is the whole reason he was upset and crying and went nonverbal.”
Once the call was over, she drove to the school and talked to the assistant principal, who apologized.
A spokesperson for the school district released a statement confirming that the teacher had been fired.
It read: “The teacher admitted to sending the text but did not intend to send it to the parent. No matter her intention, the text is highly inappropriate and does not represent the character of people we want teaching our students. She was immediately removed from the classroom. We investigated the incident and she no longer has a contract with our district.”
According to Elfstrom, Jayden was happy that the teacher was replaced by a substitute.
She said, “He’s just happy to know that she’s not there and it’s not going to happen again.”