Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras said Wednesday he was “absolutely horrified” by “disturbing” video footage circulating on social media showing an employee allegedly biting the hand of a Fairfield Court Elementary student. 

“While I cannot comment on personnel actions, I want to assure our families and the public that I simply will not tolerate any such behavior at RPS, and I’ve taken every necessary step accordingly,” he said in a social media post.

The video, uploaded to room804_ on Instagram and Facebook accounts on Wednesday morning, shows the alleged employee walking around the school’s marquee holding the hands of two schoolchildren. 

The employee begins to walk back into the school building when one of the children begins to cry, prompting the employee to appear to bite the student’s hand. The child’s cries intensify as the employee and two children continue their walk. 

“Our motto is to ‘teach, lead, and serve with love’ and we failed in the most extreme sense to live up to that with this incident,” Kamras continued in the post. 

A spokesperson for the division said that the employee in question has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. 

It was not immediately clear who filmed the video, which has since garnered thousands of reactions from people on social media, including the alleged student’s mother, who took to Facebook Live to share that her daughter has autism and is nonverbal. 

“She has an IEP in place. She has issues with transitioning from one place to another, especially when she's fixated on one thing,” she said, using the acronym for individualized education program. Students with special needs qualify for the program. 

She continued: “It is so hard having a child with autism and they can't express their needs.”

The mother said that she has filed a police report. A Richmond Police Department spokesperson said the case is still under investigation and there are no additional updates to provide at this time.

“I'm so grateful that this was caught on camera,” the mother said at the end of her video. “I don't even post my kids online or none of that stuff, but I'm glad that this has been captured because this could be happening to somebody else's child.”

This story has been updated to include a statement from Richmond police. Contact Reporter Victoria A. Ifatusin at vifatusin@richmonder.org