Shafeeq Syid Shamsid-Deen, 31, is accused of locking a kindergartner, five, in a broom closet at the school in Baton Rouge
A charter school principal who was accused of locking a kindergartner in a broom closet in Baton Rouge has been suspended and police have issued a warrant for his arrest.
Laurel Oaks principal Shafeeq Syid Shamsid-Deen, 31, will be arrested on felony cruelty to a juvenile and misdemeanor false imprisonment charges, according to an arrest warrant signed on Monday.
On August 22, a teacher heard a child crying and screaming, so she and two other teachers started to search for the child.
The search led them to a closet in the school cafeteria that was locked from the outside.
Inside the closet a hysterical five-year-old girl surrounded by paint, garbage bags, spiders and roaches.
When confronted about the incident by a teacher, the Laurel Oaks principal said: ”Thank you for your observation and note. We will work to make sure we have a proper time out area’
Teachers at the school, pictured above, found the girl screaming and crying in a locked closet on August 22
The girl told investigators that Shamsid-Deen would put her in the closet when she was ‘bad.’
She said that if she screamed, he turned off the light in the ‘nasty and gross’ closet, according to the warrant.
One of the teachers told police she sent an email to Shamsid-Deen objecting to using that closet as punishment.
Police said Shamsid-Deen’s response was ‘Thank you for your observation and note. We will work to make sure we have a proper time out area for scholars to reset in the cafeteria.’
The school board released a statement to WBRZ on Wednesday saying that the principal had been suspended and an investigation was underway.
‘Laurel Oaks Charter School is committed to the safety and well being of all students. Any action that would constitute a crime or result in neglect of a child has never been the policy at Laurel Oaks Charter School and is currently not the policy,’ the statement said.
The charter school opened with just 44 kindergartners last fall. This is its second year, now serving first-graders as well.