Consequences coming after Sanger special needs student smacked by aide

SANGER, Calif. (KFSN) -- An aide to special needs students at Sanger High School has lost her job and may face criminal consequences for smacking a student.

15-year-old Caleb tried to tell his mother something was wrong when she picked him up from Sanger High School a week ago.

The teen uses a special communication device because of a neurological genetic disorder called Angelman Syndrome.

He's non-verbal and spends about half his school day in a class with only special needs students.

He has a teacher and a couple aides in the classroom.

Last Wednesday, his mother started to dig about why he was telling her he was sad and hurt.

Turns out, one of the aides had hit her son.

"At some point, she hit him across the head hard enough that other staff in the room heard it," said his mother, Stacy Klimek-Cardenas. "If you've ever been in a special ed classroom, they're typically pretty loud, so the hit was pretty hard."

Caleb's parents made sure police took a report.

They kept him home from school Thursday and Friday while trying to make sure he wouldn't be in the same room as the aide again.

"This is a personnel matter," Sanger Unified told Action News in a statement Wednesday. "We are not at liberty to share all relevant details."

But they also gave us the update Caleb's parents wanted to hear.

"The individual in question is no longer an employee of the district and that action was taken immediately upon notification of the event," the statement said.

Caleb went back to school Monday after being out of sorts for a while.

His parents haven't stopped advocating for him.

They met with Sanger's police chief Wednesday.

They're hoping the Fresno County district attorney's office files a criminal case against the aide.

The DA tells us Sanger police haven't forwarded a case to them to date.

Caleb's parents hope that whatever the resolution is to this case, the aide never works in education again.