SAN ANTONIO – A child with special needs at Harlandale Independent School District was forced to have surgery to remove one of his testicles after a classmate kicked him in the groin, district and medical records obtained by KSAT Investigates show.
The fifth-grader, who KSAT is not naming because he is only 12 years old, came home from Harlandale’s Bellaire Elementary School in February complaining that his left side hurt, his mother told KSAT.
“Later on that night his lips get pale and he starts throwing up,” said Robyn Moya, whose son suffers from apraxia, a motor speech disorder that makes it difficult for him to communicate.
After the child threw up again the following day and began to walk gingerly that weekend, he finally communicated to Moya that his private parts were swollen.
Moya took him to a nearby emergency room, and he was then taken by ambulance to North Central Baptist Hospital.
Moya said testing confirmed the child was no longer getting blood flow to his left testicle.
The injury was described in the boy’s medical records as a left testicle torsion.
“And he tells me, ‘Mom, I was kicked. I was kicked there,’” said Moya.
Doctors were forced to perform a scrotal orchiectomy, a procedure in which a testicle is surgically removed from the scrotum.
“It takes away from him feeling as normal as possible. It takes away from me not being able to be there for my son and protect him as the way a mother should, and we’re supposed to be sending our kids to safe places,” said Moya.
The child was able to write a statement in which he claimed a girl in class had hit him “on my ball,” records show.
A statement written out by a Bellaire administrator noted that the incident happened while students were lined up in class to go to recess.
A girl standing in front of the child turned around and kneed him in the groin with her shin, the statement reads.
Moya said she spoke with the Bellaire administration after her son was injured and that she eventually decided to transfer him to the district’s Vestal Elementary School.
She said in April her child came home from Vestal injured, this time complaining that his arm hurt.
“His so-called friend sticks his foot out and trips him in front of the whole class,” said Moya.
Moya again took her son to the emergency room and this time he was diagnosed with a sprained wrist and a sprained elbow, hospital records show.
Moya claims she was not notified by the school administration after either incident of violence took place.
“No notice home, no call home, no nothing,” said Moya.
Moya pointed to the two times her son was hurt in less than one semester while saying the district needs to be more vigilant in its monitoring of student behavior.
Reached for comment, Harlandale ISD spokeswoman Mariana Veraza Bravo told KSAT via email:
“The District is aware of the incidents and they have been investigated and handled accordingly based on the information available. Student safety is a district priority and safety protocols and procedures are in place. These incidents involve a student and are therefore confidential precluding the District from disclosing any further details.”
“Now my son has to live without a testicle due to the neglect,” said Moya.