Durham mom alleges DPS ignored safety concerns before educators’ indictments
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- A mother alleges Durham Public Schools provided no follow-up after her son was pushed.
- Her son is non-verbal and autistic and was pushed by a staff member in 2024.
- The push came a month before a separate incident where a student was tied to a chair.
Katherine Long knew her non-verbal son was vulnerable; she says she didn’t expect that vulnerability to be met with force by those entrusted to protect him.
Long, the mother of three children in Durham Public Schools, is demanding transparency and policy enforcement after safety incidents involving her sons went unaddressed. The most serious allegation centers on her oldest son, Dallas, an 11-year-old boy with autism.
In October 2024, during a pickup from the Eno Valley Elementary after-school program, Long’s younger son, Cole, told his grandmother that he had seen a staff member push his brother.
Dallas cannot come home from school and tell his mother why he is sad, or describe a traumatic afternoon. According to Cole, a physical incident erupted between Dallas and a staff member over a piece of tape on a desk. Dallas was picking at the tape, which is a sensory habit for some people, and instead of de-escalating the situation, the staffer pushed Dallas so hard Dallas lost his balance, Long said.
“When a child is non-verbal,” Long said in an interview, “the responsibility on the adults and institutions is even greater. You expect them to be more concerned when certain things are brought to your attention.”
Long, who works professionally in the autism services field, visited the school the following day and eventually met with Eno Valley Principal Tounya Wright and others, including the employee who allegedly pushed Dallas, to view video footage. Long said it shows a prolonged interaction in which the staff member failed to disengage, ultimately leading to the push.
Wright resigned from her position this week following a grand jury indictment. She is charged with obstructing an investigation into a separate incident that occurred in November 2024 — just one month after Dallas was pushed — in which another student with autism was reportedly tied to a chair.
Tanya Giovanni, a deputy superintendent, and Ayesha Hunter, a senior executive director of employee relations, have also been indicted in the handling of that incident and are currently suspended with pay.
For Long, the news of the indictments confirms her worst fears about a possible lack of oversight.
“It’s just shocking,” Long said. “If this event [happened in] November 2024 and I’ve told [DPS] in October there’s something wrong.”
She believes school officials’ failure to document her son’s incident left other vulnerable students at risk.
Transparency and accountability
Long says she never got an official incident report. No phone calls came. Even after she brought her concerns to then-Superintendent Pascal Mubenga’s office and the school board, silence persisted.
The News & Observer has reached out to DPS staff about Long’s allegations. The request was sent to the district’s Human Resources Department.
A spokesperson for the school district said it is standard protocol for parents or guardians to be notified of incidents involving their children’s safety. As of Thursday morning, the school district has not named or confirmed the employment status of the staff member who allegedly pushed Dallas.
This wasn’t the first time Long dealt with what she describes as dismissal from DPS staff.
On the second day of the 2024-25 school year, a few months before Dallas was allegedly pushed, Cole, now 9, went missing on a school bus for over an hour.
According to emails shared with The N&O, Long contacted DPS Transportation, Wright and other DPS administrators saying, “my son is actually part of the after-school program and should have never been placed on any afternoon bus.”
“I entrusted one of the most valuable parts of me to your school system and transportation employees, and they failed today,” Long wrote in an August 2024 email. “He still has to ride the bus in the mornings and that makes us nervous and uncomfortable.”
Wright responded to Long’s email saying she would contact her within “24 hours” but never did, according to Long.
In another incident, Long alleges that a teacher told Cole he needed a haircut and that “if you keep missing school, your parents will be locked up,” she wrote in a February 2025 email.
“This seems to be a reoccurring issue with Eno Valley where I come to the school to sort our issues calmly and professional and we get blown off or passed to someone who cannot assist us,” Long wrote.
Next steps
DPS is conducting an independent investigation into the 2024 chair incident at Eno Valley, according to Superintendent Anthony Lewis.
Last week, Lewis said there would be retraining for DPS staff on reporting possible child abuse. Exceptional Children’s staff, administrators and others will also be retrained “when it comes to physical contact and use of restraint.”
“We will also consider additional measures once our investigation is complete,” he said.
Dallas is now in middle school and since last year, Long hasn’t reported any new issues to the school.
Long said she isn’t just seeking answers for what happened to her oldest son, but wants to guarantee the safety other children in Durham Public Schools who cannot speak for themselves.
“I’m emotional because for my child, what happens to him? That’s why documentation and oversight matter. Documentation matters; policies matter for a reason,” Long said. “As a mom, I don’t just think about my children. I think about other children and other children to come.”
NC Reality Check is an N&O series holding those in power accountable and shining a light on public issues that affect the Triangle or North Carolina. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email realitycheck@newsobserver.com.
This story was originally published January 29, 2026 at 2:17 PM with the headline "Durham mom alleges DPS ignored safety concerns before educators’ indictments."