WMC-TV 5 - Memphis, TNParent says teacher locked her child in closet 4 hours

Parent says teacher locked her child in closet 4 hours

A 12-year old boy spent four hours locked in a closet at school. His teacher admits to putting him there. Now, his parents want justice.

Suzy Hayden says the Shelby County school system and one of its teachers should be held accountable for locking her special needs son in a closet.

But it looks like that's not going to happen.

Jonathan Hayden came from school last Fall with some very disturbing news.

"I said how was your day. The teacher locked me in the closet all day and I said, 'what', I was shocked," says Suzy Hayden.

When his mother called BonLin Elementary school to alert the staff, the principal found Jonathan locked in a classroom closet.

Hayden adds, "and he had fecal matter all over him and she had to clean him up and she called me and told me."

Jonathan has a high functioning form of autism, he was placed in the county's short-term education or S.T.E.P. program.

Classrooms are supposed to have a time out area where troubled students can be safely monitored.

"How can you monitor if the door is locked and closed and he was in there for four hours at a time. And you never put a child in time out for more than five or ten minutes," explains Hayden.

A Department of Children Service's investigation revealed that Jonathan Hayden was a victim of child abuse.

But the Hayden's were notified last week that DCS dropped the case against teacher Sara Matz.

New information came to light and based on that DCS investigators and their attorneys agreed that they couldn't meet their burden of proof in the case so they elected to dismiss it.

"Bottom line is, Miss Matz did nothing wrong," says Matz's attorney Leslie Ballin.

The county school system is now paying for Jonathan Hayden to attend a private school in Columbia, Tennessee.

But his mother was hoping the teacher who locked him in a closet would be held accountable.

"Because this means she could hurt other children or do this same thing and how many children has she done this to before," adds Hayden.

Sara Matz has not been charged with anything.

Hayden says she would like to pursue the case but it's tough to find an attorney who will help because legal experts say it's very difficult to prove abuse inside a school.