Something was going on with his daughter, and a loving father was determined to find that out. It was definitely someone in school who hurt his kid.
One day he comes up with a creative decision - he put a recording device into his daughter's hair. When he finally gets a chance to listen to the recording, he can't believe his ears. If not for that device, he would never realize what terrible things were happening to his child!
Valerio Family Moves To Florida
Because of the nature of their job, the Valerio family comprising their two daughters and a son often had to move places. Of course, that meant kids constantly changing schools too.
When they moved from Spring Hill, Florida, The Valerio family experienced something that would turn their lives upside down. It all began when Aaliyah started going to her school …
Hard For Young Children
For Aaliyah, starting at a new school was quite overwhelming. Unbeknownst to her parents, changing schools frequently was taking a toll on her.
She often took a lot of time to adapt to the new surroundings. But this time around things weren't as easy because Aaliyah’s teacher herself has nefarious things in her mind.
Hopeful Parents
At first, Aaliyah’s parents were quite hopeful that she would be completely fine. Aaliyah was a very sociable child in her previous school. She even enjoyed studying!
Thomas hoped that Aaliyah would be comfortable at her new school as well. But guess what? That wasn’t the case. Aaliyah started showing erratic behaviour among other issues that gripped her.
Something Was Wrong
At the new school, something went wrong right away. Thomas Valerio has always had an amazing relationship with his children. He knew in an instant that something was bothering Aaliyah a little too much.
He was rather quick to notice that Aaliyah was trying very hard to distance herself from him. Thomas could sense that Aaliyah was hiding something from him and that something was eating her up from the inside. Thomas knew he had to do something about it.
Started Hating School
Thomas started noticing the pattern of his daughter’s behaviour to narrow down the issue. As days passed by, Aaliyah started hating going to her school more and more.
Each morning she cried and begged her parents to let her stay at home. Moreover, every day she used to return home in tears. Such a joyful kid had transformed into a little ball of sadness.
Troubled Thomas
Thomas being the great father that he is, wanted to do something about Aaliyah’s situation. He was tormented to say the least trying to figure out what was bothering her so much. On multiple occasions, Thomas tried talking to his daughter but she never revealed anything.
He couldn’t understand the reason behind this drastic change in Aaliyah’s behaviour. However, he was able to boil it down to one thing: that the issue was related to her school.
Related To Her School
Thomas understood that the issue was indeed related to her school because Aaliyah used to behave in a weird way only before going to the school and coming back from it. But still, he couldn’t understand that whether any teacher was mean to Aaliyah or any student was bullying her.
Things mostly remained good at him. It further cemented his belief that the problem was indeed rooted in her school.
No Use Of Going To The School
Not knowing what it was, made Thomas feel even more terrible. Going to her school and getting to the bottom of the issue had no point.
Thomas knew that the culprit would behave in a normal manner in front of Thomas, whether it be a student or a teacher. Not knowing what to do, Thomas kept brainstorming about it until he finally had a neatly laid-out plan.
A Smarter Plan
After days of thinking about any possible solution, Thomas finally came up with a very smart plan. But to execute that, he required special permission from guess who? Their local sheriff.
He promised the Sheriff that he wouldn’t break any law in executing his plan. But what plan was it that required permission from the police department?
Placing The Bug
After receiving affirmation, the Valerios set the plan in motion. Thomas went out that day and purchased a tiny recording device. The next morning, Thomas neatly placed the bug in the hair of his beloved daughter.
For obvious reasons, they kept it a secret from Aaliyah because they didn’t want to worry her. That day, Thomas waited eagerly for Aaliyah to come home.
Retrieved The Device
As soon as Aaliyah reached her home, she started crying. She was also in a bad mood as usual. Thomas went to work and carefully retrieved the device. He plugged in the device into his laptop and called for his wife.
The Valerios then started listening to what happened that day with Aaliyah. What the parents heard on those 6 hours of recording, blew their mind! They finally managed to catch the teacher red-handed!
Caught The Teacher Red-Handed
It didn’t even take them more than an hour to figure out what was bothering their little daughter. After listening to the recording, they both discussed and arrived at one simple conclusion that Aaliyah’s teacher was the main culprit.
They discovered that the teacher was shouting at the top of her lungs at the children in a very inhumane manner.
Bully Teacher
They found out that the teacher was shouting at the class the whole time. She even scolded the children for their slightest mistakes. She also constantly ordered them to be silent.
What made it even worse was her malicious degrading tone. Thomas knew that it was the teacher who was responsible for the change in his daughter’s behaviour.
Took It To Head-Mistress
Thomas decided to take the matter to the Head-Mistress of Aaliyah’s school. He was hopeful that strict actions would be taken against that teacher.
To his surprise, she even refused to listen to the recording, claiming that she doesn’t listen to recordings made without the teacher’s consent. Thomas wasn’t someone who would give up this easily.
Turned To The School Board
Realizing that other children would have been suffering too, Thomas took the matter to the school board as well. The school board also replied to Thomas’ claims rather coldly.
They conducted an investigation and only reprimanded the teacher, without taking any strict action. They also suggested that the parents should transfer the girl to a different class.
Always Surrounded by Positive Vibes
Before going to this particular school, Aaliyah had always been a happy child. Thomas and his wife were raising two girls and a son with special needs.
Their children always lived in a positive environment and could communicate freely. Seeing such a drastic change happening to his own daughter, Thomas couldn’t bear any of it.
Other Parents Supported Him
Thomas took the matter to other parents as well, to garner their support. Unsurprisingly, other parents also supported him.
After all, who wants to send their children to such a school where the teacher treats them in a rather inhuman way? Now that the school administration wasn’t willing to take the necessary steps, Thomas had to do something else.
Petition
Later, Thomas posted a petition on Change.org to fire Mrs Duncan, the ‘sinister’ teacher. It didn’t take enough time for Thomas to get 2,000 signatures on that petition.
Even though Mrs Duncan is still employed at that elementary school, Thomas got widespread recognition. After all, he remained adamant in seeking justice!
Media Coverage
After filing the petition, Thomas found himself in the spotlight of media covering this issue. Local news outlets covered the whole scenario and talked about him as well.
Some reporters particularly admired the man’s determination to bring justice to the students studying at the Pine Grove elementary school.