Atlanta

Mother says son with autism was sprayed with Lysol by teacher

By Carl Willis
By Carl Willis

ATLANTA — A mother told Channel 2 Action News that a teacher sprayed her autistic son with Lysol multiple times and was never reprimanded for assaulting her special-needs child.

Kimberly Risby told Channel 2’s Carl Willis that she was sickened by this. The teacher denies it ever happened, but she's already resigned from her position.

Risby said her son J.R. is slowly returning to the happy 8-year-old he was earlier this year, before the teacher allegedly sprayed him in the face with Lysol at L.O. Kimberly Elementary School.

"He said, ‘It hurts, Mommy. It hurts my eyes. It hurts my nose. It hurts my throat and I can’t breathe,’” Risby said.

Kimberly said J.R. is on the autism spectrum. She said her son became clingy and refused to go back to school.

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At first no one seemed to know why until J.R. talked to his mother, claiming that teacher Dorcas Noland sprayed him in class.

Risby said she was surprised by the response she got from a school leader.

"He said, ‘I'm so sorry. I thought it stopped,'" Risby said.

“We trust these individuals, these educators, to protect our kids,” father Antonio Risby told Willis.

Willis spoke with Noland over the phone Tuesday night.

She said she never sprayed any child, only sprayed in the air and sprayed herself after J.R. sneezed in her face.

Willis also contacted Atlanta Public Schools over the allegations. In a statement, they confirmed that “Ms. Noland resigned in lieu of termination as the result of an investigation that confirmed she sprayed Lysol on students."

But the mother said allowing teachers involved in incidents like these to resign allows them to just start over in another district.

"Why is she able to go to another school system? Why is she able to continuously teach without being reprimanded for anything that she did?" Kimberly Risby said.

According to DeKalb County Schools, Noland was hired there in June, but resigned from her position in September for unknown reasons.

DeKalb schools told Willis she did not work with special-needs students there.

"It's a huge concern and one of the things I was wary about sending him to school. I'm hurt, I’m bothered, I’m outraged," Kimberly said.

A records search shows Noland may already be back in another school in Fulton County. She declined to comment on her current employment when Willis asked her.

Cox Media Group

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