Students burned when teacher makes them bear crawl on hot track, Texas officials say

Jennifer Rodriguez, The Charlotte Observer on Oct 13, 2024

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A Texas teacher was placed on leave after school officials said students were burned during a punishment, news outlets reported.

Thirteen cheerleaders suffered from first and second-degree burns after officials said their coach punished them by making them do “bear crawls” and “crab walks” on a hot outdoor track, according to KLBK.

The cheerleaders were students at Evans Middle School in Lubbock, KCBD reported. The track was hot because of high temperatures that day, according to South Plains Live.

The eighth graders told KLBK they were punished because they performed a cheer at a football game that the coach didn’t want them to do.

“I had asked [my daughter], ‘Are you okay? How was school?’ She put our stuff down in the car, went to sit down and said, ‘Mom, you want to know how my day was in cheer?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ She told me that they got a punishment, and shows me her hands,” Angel Thompson, a mom of one of the students, told the news outlet.

The teacher involved has been placed on administrative leave, according to South Plains Live.

“We want to express our deep concern and regret for the pain and distress this has caused the students and their families. No child should ever be subjected to harm in a learning environment, and we are fully committed to ensuring that incidents like this do not happen again,” Lubbock ISD said in a statement, according to KCBD.

Lubbock is a 350-mile drive northwest of Dallas.

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