Former Parkland High School substitute claims student recently charged with assault also assaulted them
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) — Less than a week after a Parkland High School student was arrested for assaulting a current teacher, a former PHS substitute teacher says he was assaulted by the same student.
Larry Edwards has around 40 years of teaching experience and taught at PHS for about 13 years before retiring and becoming a substitute teacher at the school.
During his time there, he claims he was pushed in the head by the same student who was recently charged with assault.
“I was appalled,” Edwards said.
Edwards said he was disappointed after learning of a student being charged with communicating threats and assault after a video circulating on the internet showed a student shouting expletives and hitting a teacher.
Edwards says he was shocked to learn he knew that student. He claims he was assaulted by the student last year.
Edwards said he was subbing for a biology class in early May 2023 when the alleged assault happened.
He claims the student gave him another student’s name and was not supposed to have even been in the class.
Edwards said the student was disruptive leading up to the assault.
“I walked up to the desk to get my phone to call the office, and he mockingly walked behind me, and I happened to turn around and see him, and the students started laughing,” Edwards said. “The next thing I know, he had taken his hand and smushed my head, and everybody started laughing, and he ran out.”
Edwards said he began the process of reporting the alleged assault that day.
Edwards said he wrote an affidavit detailing what had happened and presented it to PHS administrators.
“The principal was very apologetic … About a month later, I got this letter from downtown, the juvenile office … I anxiously awaited a day for the court so I could see him in the courtroom because I just wanted to face him,” Edwards said.
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Edwards said the day in court never came, and he was told they took another course of action.
“I’ve just sort of felt the incident with me … was sort of swept under the rug,” Edwards said.
Regarding the claims, a spokesperson with Winston Salem/Forsyth County Schools said that under federal law, all student discipline records are private and cannot be shared. The district cannot comment on any of that information based on federal student privacy laws.
“My philosophy is all stuff students can learn. Our students can come into a classroom and behave as simple as that. If you don’t want to do anything else, just behave,” Edwards said.
WS/FCS officials have not shared prior disciplinary actions the student charged with assault on a teacher has faced.
A hearing will take place to decide whether he’ll be expelled from school.
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