Lawsuit: School Employee Forced Ohio Child To Eat Waffles From Trash Can

Parents are accusing an employee of an Ohio school of forcing their child to eat food out of a trash can. The family filed a federal lawsuit against the school district.

The fourth-grader’s mother, Latasha Williams, told Cleveland’s 19 News that her child threw away the waffles served in the cafeteria because she didn’t like them. Shortly afterward, an employee allegedly instructed the student to get a paper towel, pulled the waffles from the trash can and forced the student to eat them in front of her peers. Attorney Jared Klebanow, who filed the complaint on behalf of Williams, told the station that the incident was “humiliating,” “disgraceful” and “unacceptable.”

News 5 Cleveland also notes that, among allegations in the lawsuit, the document alleges a racial bias incident (the student is Black and the employee is white). The filing accuses the employee of knowing that the incident would “inflict serious emotional and mental injury on a child when she harassed, bullied and forced the child to eat food taken out of the garbage.”

The school district provided a statement to news outlets, reading:

“Lorain City Schools is investigating allegations that staff forced a student to eat food that was retrieved from a cafeteria garbage can at one of our elementary schools. District authorities responded in accordance with board policy and past practice by placing any staff member who could potentially be involved in incidents of this serious nature on immediate paid administrative leave, pending an investigation.

“While we are unable to comment on an ongoing investigation, we expect to have it completed soon. We will be able to comment at that time.”