Teacher Had 7 Year Old Hit Himself In Head With Drum Mallets As Punishment

[matcom]

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A Parkway School District teacher said he was using a teaching technique when he twice ordered a 7-year-old student to hit himself in the head as hard as he could with a pair of drum mallets.

The "lesson" took place Feb. 9 in teacher Paul Provencio's music class at Carman Trails Elementary School in Manchester. The student, Justin Barricklow, complained to his parents at dinner that night that he had a headache.

"We had gone out to eat and my son put his pizza down and said, 'Dad, my head hurts on both sides,'" said Scott Barricklow, 46, who works as a groundskeeper for the school district.

"When I asked him what's wrong with it, he said, 'Mr. Provencio made me hit myself in the head with the drumsticks.'"

Barricklow said his son told him Provencio had punished him for banging the drums too hard.

Provencio, 36, did not return phone calls for comment.

Barricklow called the Post-Dispatch after reading a newspaper story last week about a Parkway bus driver who was fired. The driver had parked his vehicle at the end of his shift without noticing that a 5-year-old girl was on board. The child was left alone for a period of time but was otherwise unhurt.

"They fired a guy who made an innocent mistake," he said. "But Provencio is still teaching."

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/education/story/E7BF3F551F78CDE3862572D1000E0E9F?OpenDocument