The father of a Bristol Township kindergarten student is alleging his son was seriously injured in an assault by a fourth-grader with special needs who was not properly supervised in a video that has gone viral since posted on Friday.
On Monday afternoon, Bristol Township School District, the Bucks County Intermediate Unit and Bristol Township police confirmed the incident is under investigation.
Steve Callahan, known by the TikTok handle “Jawnski,” took to social media about what happened on May 16 at Keystone Elementary School on Tulip Avenue in Croydon. The video has generated more than 1 million views as of Monday morning.
In the video, the father alleges the district has provided little information and it has stonewalled his efforts to see surveillance footage of the incident, where the student allegedly pushed his 5-year-old into a table requiring the boy to be treated at the hospital.
“I feel helpless,” he said in the video, adding that his son is now scared to go to school and his kindergarten graduation.
On Monday morning, Callahan declined comment until he spoke with his attorney.
Bristol Township School District released a statement Monday morning addressing the incident, which involved a student in a special education program run by the Bucks County Intermediate Unit. The agency provided special education services to school districts.
The Bucks County Intermediate Unit released a statement Monday afternoon stating the incident is under investigation and based on its outcome appropriate actions will be taken regarding the students, team members and programs involved.
"In addition to the swift action taken by the Bucks IU team, the Bucks IU remains committed to supporting all involved in this difficult situation.The health and safety of all students and team members remains a priority," according to the statement submitted by Deputy Executive Director and in-house counsel Rebecca Roberts Malamis.
Bristol Township police confirmed an investigation has been opened, but no further comment would be released.
Keystone is an elementary school with students from kindergarten to fourth grade. Those classrooms are in separate wings of the large school that groups older students in one section away from younger students. However, students share common spaces like the cafeteria, library and gym.
Here is what is known as of Monday afternoon.
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What we know about what happened at Keystone Elementary School in Bristol Township.
In his video the father alleges no one at the school contacted him after his son was injured other than to tell him to pick him up.
The father alleges in the video that school office staff initially told him what happened was "an accident," but that the school Principal Mark Wilicki told him that his son was assaulted by an older special education student after the boy’s teacher’s aide failed to control him.
Callahan said the doctors treating his son want to see the video of the incident to determine if his son needed a CT scan before exposing him to radiation.
The child was then taken to the hospital where he was treated for a gash on his head that required staples to close, missing teeth and other facial injuries, Callahan said in the video.
The teacher aide assigned to the older student is employed by the Bucks County Intermediate Unit, which provides resources to the district for students with special needs.
In an update posted on Tik Tok on Sunday that has been viewed more than 155,000 times, the man says he still has not received an incident report, and he has reached out to lawyers.
“The situation keeps getting uglier and uglier,” he said. “At the end of the day I need answers. There is no reason a fourth-grader should be around my son.”
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In their respective statements, Bristol Township and Bucks County Intermediate Unit officials said that legal privacy and confidentiality protections limited what information could be released about the student involved in the assault, including if he was involved in previous violent behavior.
In an update Monday afternoon the district confirmed that a kindergartener was injured in the cafeteria after he was pushed by a fourth-grade student in a special education program.
The BCIU runs a special education program that uses space within Keystone Elementary School. The students serviced by this program are students of the BCIU, not the Bristol Township School District. The staff running the program are employees of the BCIU, not the Bristol Township School District, the district said.
Bristol Township district officials are cooperating with the Bucks County IU investigation, the statement said.
"All of us in the Bristol Township School District are frustrated and disappointed by this incident," the statement said. "We are apologetic to the student and family, and wish the child a speedy recovery.Our primary concern is the health and safety of all our students, and whenever a student is hurt in school, we are saddened."
This is a developing story. Check back for updates
Reporter Jo Ciavaglia can be reached at jciavaglia@gannett.com
