MADISON, Wis. — Principal Candace Terrell and Assistant Principal Annabel Torres have been removed from their positions at Madison Metropolitan School District’s Southside Elementary.
It comes after months of parent-submitted complaints and a district investigation.
“You really hurt my kid, and I don’t take kind to that,” said parent Andrea Shorter-Amos.
Shorter-Amos is one of 66 parents who signed her name at the bottom of an 18-page complaint submitted to the school district in the spring, alleging Terrell and Torres created a chaotic, unsafe and untenable environment.
“It was like, they’re not in jail. They’re babies.”
Shorter-Amos alleges that her daughter regressed academically during her time at the Southside.
“The whole three years she had been at the school, she went backwards,” she said. “So now we’re working on helping her move forward from all of that.”
She says her fifth-grader was also denied the requirements of her IEP, endured long-term isolation as punishment and was humiliated in front of her peers, leading to severe bullying.