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LAYTON — There is no doubt Kim Perry cares about kids. She runs an adoption business and even adopted two children of her own. So, it hurt her deeply when she recently found out what allegedly happened to one of her daughters while at school.
"I get emotional every time I talk about this because it just breaks my heart to think of her suffering in some way," Perry said.
Her daughter, Flor, is nonverbal and was a special needs student at Northridge High School in Layton.
It was only a few weeks ago when an aide stepped forward to report that abuse that happened to Flor last year while in class.
"We're grateful that she decided to come forward and disclose the information," Perry said. "But you do have to wonder what happened last year, and why wasn't this disclosed last year?"
The Perrys say they didn't know what kind of abuse until they pushed it further.
They emailed administrators several times to find out what had happened.
"Some of the aides in the class had been pulling her hair in retaliation to their hair being pulled by her," said Flor's father, Devin Perry. "Stepping on her arm to hold it down so she wouldn't reach down her pants. They were also poking her with pencils."
Three school employees are now on leave, pending an investigation.
In a statement, the Davis School District said, "The No. 1 priority is to protect the safety of students. We've been in communication with the parents and have discussed every detail. We take the allegations very seriously, and we protected the student the moment we heard about the allegations."
Kim Perry recently transferred her daughter out of Northridge and to another school. She said she wasn't convinced her daughter would be safe if she stayed.
"We send her to school thinking she's going to be safe and that her teachers and her aides in her classroom are there to protect her," Kim Perry said. "And that was not the case for her. We had no idea."
