Student punished for calling teacher ma’am

A fifth grader’s parents are concerned after their child was punished for referring to his teacher as “ma’am.”

When 10-year-old Tamarion Wilson came home from school Thursday afternoon, his mom noticed something wrong.

“So I asked him what happened. He told me he got in trouble for saying ‘yes ma’am’,” said Teretha Wilson.

Confused by his response, Tamarion pulled out a sheet of paper where he was made to write the word “ma’am” four times per line on both sides. All because he referred to his teacher as such when she instructed him not to.

“He had a look on his face of disappointment, shame,” said McArthur Bryant.

Tamarion’s parents Theresa Wilson and McArthur Bryant explained he was recently hospitalized for hallucinations and memory issues. Something the teacher did not know.

Still, they said it’s no excuse for how she handled the situation.

“At the end of the day as a father, to feel kind of responsible for that…knowing that I have been raising him and doing the best that I can, it’s not acceptable,” said Bryant.

When Wilson returned the signed punishment sheet to the principal, she included an extra sheet of paper, where Tamarion wrote the definition of the word Ma’am.

Wilson adds the teacher told Tamarion during the encounter that if he had something, she would’ve thrown it at him.

During a meeting Wednesday between Teretha, the teacher and the principal, Theresa says the teacher acknowledged saying that but added she was not serious.

Following the meeting, she requested her son change classrooms, which the principal agreed to do.

In a statement about the handling of the situation, a school official told ABC 11, “This is a personnel matter which has been handled appropriately by the K-7 principal.”