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A school monitor has been fired after another employee reportedly witnessed her stuffing grass or weeds in the mouths of first-graders.
According to a Tucson Police report, Diana Ellis, 43, a school monitor at Myers/Ganoung Elementary School, was investigated Thursday after another employee reported an assault. According to the report the two first- graders had been caught Wednesday making fun of another school monitor who is deaf.
A custodian was asked to escort the two students to the deaf school monitor and apologize. After apologizing they were being escorted back when the custodian reported that Ellis walked up to them and asked what was going on, according to a police report.
The custodian reported getting distracted by other students, but his attention was brought back to the two first-graders when he heard choking. He told police that he saw one of the students spitting out grass or weeds and Ellis holding a handful of weeds. He says he saw her stuffing the weeds in the boys' mouths, the report said.
Ellis reportedly told the custodian that she had been told by the boys' parents to discipline them in "any way possible," according to the police report.
The father of one of the boys told police that he had previously given Ellis permission to discipline "within the scope of her job."
Ellis could not be reached for comment.
According to the Tucson Unified School District Web site, the duties of a school monitor are to "assist site staff in monitoring and controlling student behavior during daily activities in hallways, classrooms, cafeterias and outdoors."
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