The pre-kindergarten teacher who was the target of a Oklahoma TV report alleging she called a student "evil" and "sinister" for writing with his left hand resigned from her job.
KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City revised its reporting to only say the teacher insisted the 4-year-old use his right hand -- omitting the sensational charge that she called him "evil" -- after Lead Stories published a story debunking the allegation.
Reporter Abby Broyles' initial headline was "Oklahoma Pre-K teacher allegedly calls being left-handed 'evil' and 'sinister.'" Her later report dropped the charge that the teacher used the offensive words, instead reporting the boy "was sent home with an article from his teacher detailing how left-handedness has historically been considered evil and sinister."
Boyle' latest report centered on a video of another child from the class telling her mom that the teacher also told her writing with her right hand was "bad" and she would be "put in the corner" for doing it.
As Lead Stories reported, the "evil and sinister" reference in the article -- published by a pediatrics journal -- was a small part of a professional article about how teachers and parents can identify which hand a child should naturally use for writing. The passage about 15th century superstitions was included to give context to how the matter has been historically controversial.
Since only the original debunked story was shared widely, the teacher was vilified on social media posts around the world, leading to her decision to end her teaching career.
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