'Heartless' Teacher Shoves A 4-Year-Old Girl To The Ground As His Colleague Watches Then Walks Away
As soon as you see the video, you know what has to be done.
YouTube Nobody talks about how scary it is to drop your small, innocent child off at daycare and hope that the adult charged with watching them is the good, loving person they portray themselves to be. One Ohio mother found out that just because someone chooses a career as a childcare worker, doesn’t mean they will protect and care about your child.
James Ciolino was working at Wilde Kingdom Early Learning Center in Fairfield, Ohio in the summer of 2021 and was caught on camera aggressively pushing a four-year-old to the ground. A video laid out the sequence of events that day.
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James Ciolino pushed a small child who had wandered out of his classroom.
The video first showed a female teacher, now identified as Jennifer Miller, returning the little girl to the classroom where Ciolino was taking care of approximately nine other kids around four years old. Apparently, the child had left the room with another class in error and was being returned by Miller.
Once she ushered the girl toward her rightful daycare teacher, he suddenly shoved her to the floor with both hands, and an audible thud was heard. The girl immediately began to scream at the top of her lungs and though most of the video is inaudible, Ciolino can be clearly heard saying, “Get out of here,” as the girl shrieked in pain.
Even more stunningly, Miller stood in the doorway, watching the entire time, and only turning to leave after Ciolino petulantly turned away from the injured child and mumbled to himself. The six-foot tall, 315-pound man never left his seat during the incident and resumed his lesson plan as if nothing had happened.
Director of the learning center, Lisa McMillion, conducted an interview next and said, “The video itself has all the truth it needs in it, so as soon as you watch that, or as soon as you see that you know immediately what has to be done.” She said she could tell by the way the girl cried that something wasn’t right.”
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Her intuition was right and when she reviewed the surveillance video, she alerted the police and the child’s parents right away. Both Ciolino and Miller were fired and charged him with assault and child endangerment, and her with just child endangerment. Another teacher who appeared in the video later entered the classroom after the encounter and was unaware.
The little one’s mom, Ernestine Pumah, was heartbroken, as any parent who witnessed such brutality toward their child would be. She said the teacher had treated her daughter, who knew nothing about the world yet, like an animal. It is an incident, that no matter how hard they try, will remain with the family forever.
In February 2022, both former teachers pled guilty to their charges. Ciolino was given a 180-day suspended sentence and probation for two years. Miller also received a suspended sentence but hers was just 30 days. She got a year of probation. For a crime so heartless and egregious it’s surprising the justice system was so lenient.
It’s unclear what either of them are doing with their lives now, but they keep a low profile and information is not readily available. But every concerned parent hopes they will never find their way back into a position or authority over kids.
NyRee Ausler is a writer from Seattle, Washington. She covers lifestyle and human-interest stories that share the readers can relate to and that bring social issues to the forefront for discussion.