WAYNE COUNTY, W.Va. (WOWK) – A former teacher’s aide is caught on video hitting a special needs student and the parents want to know why it’s taking so long to get justice for their son.

Kevin Maynard says he still can’t believe his eyes and refuses to watch the video his wife, Erica, is holding.

“I couldn’t do it,” Maynard said. “I still can’t do it. I don’t want to do it.”

The video is of a former teacher’s aide at Kellogg Elementary speaking hatefully, shoving him to the ground by his arm, and hitting him in the back of the head during class in September 2019. The full video can be found below:

“I sent him to school thinking he was going to be safe,” Maynard said. “I don’t like talking about it, either.”

“He would scream about not wanting to go to school, but we just thought maybe he didn’t like structure and having to do work,” Erica said.

School officials say they were notified by other adults at the school and immediately took action by calling children’s services, state police, and the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office. Wayne County Schools Superintendent Todd Alexander says the teacher’s aide no longer works for the district.

“Because they immediately reported it we were able to take action immediately and bring and end to any situation where a child would be mistreated,” Alexander said.”

The Maynard’s say they want to know why, four months after the incident, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office has not taken action. The Maynard’s, who met 13 News with their attorney, Abraham Saad, for the interview, say the prosecutor’s office made a promise to them something would be done by the first of the year.

“If we use the standard, ‘What if it was your kid?’ I believe if it was one of their kids this would have moved along a lot faster,” Saad said.

Erica says she cries for her son every time she watches the video and she wants it so that no parent has to go through the same thing.

“Knowing that my child is safe and that she isn’t going to do this to another student,” Erica said.

13 News reached out to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office twice before this publication.

Superintendent Alexander says schools now have access to funding for cameras in special needs classrooms after Senate Bill 632 was passed earlier this year.