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Boy’s mother says child’s naked walk down hallway put principal on administrative leave

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — An Orange County kindergartener’s mother said an accident led to her son’s principal being investigated and placed on administrative leave earlier this month.

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Jessy Velasquez said 5-year-old Christian, who is on the autism spectrum but high functioning, wet his pants during class at Shingle Creek Elementary School, which she said wasn’t routine for the boy, but not the first time it happened.

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Instead of getting a phone call from the school, Velasquez said the first time she or the boy’s father heard about the incident was when a DCF agent knocked on her front door.

“Your son had an accident on Friday the 31st,” she recalled being told. “He was taken from his classroom to the nurse’s office naked.”

She said the DCF agent also told her a video had been recorded of the security camera feed of the walk down the hall and shared with other school staff. She said the agent told her the video has since been destroyed.

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Velasquez said she wasn’t sure why the principal or other staff members chose to have Christian strip before going to the nurse’s office.

An Orange County Public Schools spokesman declined to answer the questions WFTV emailed, including confirming whether the principal’s suspension was tied to any incidents involving Christian.

“The district does not comment on personnel matters,” he wrote. Other efforts to locate the principal to hear their side of the story were unsuccessful.

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Velasquez is speaking to an attorney and exploring her options in the legal system, but has called for the district to fire the principal.

“It takes me not even 10 minutes to get to the school, five minutes,” she said. “I would have bought him clothes. So that’s where I’m like, stuck.”

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