Columbia, SC (WLTX) -- A local Montessori teacher's comment sparked controversy, after telling a 3rd grader to commit suicide over an earache.
Now, the student's parents are pulling their children out of the school.
"We don't find any humor in suicide," said Shandi Wallace, the mother of the 3rd grader who reported the disturbing comment.
Wallace has two children attending the Montessori School of Columbia.
Last Wednesday, she says her daughter was troubled by a comment made by her language teacher.
"[My daughter] said, 'I told him I had an earache and I couldn't hear because my ear was clogged, so I told him that, that I had an earache. Then he told me, 'Commit suicide and it won't hurt anymore'," said Wallace.
Wallace says her daughter knew what the word meant. They lost a close family friend to suicide a few years ago.
"My first reaction was obviously, 'There's no way a teacher said this. You must have misheard. We must have been talking about something else and maybe you thought you heard this word. Are you sure that's what he said to you?' I wanted to be absolutely sure," she said.
She reached out to other parents to see if their children heard the same thing, and they did.
She says she immediately reported what happened to the Head of School.
"We were expecting an outrage," said Wallace. "We were expecting, 'We're so sorry this happened. How can we make it right?'"
In an e-mail obtained by News 19, Karen Kuse, the Head of School told Wallace that she "...met with [the teacher] at noon and explained how incredibly inappropriate and insensitive using the word 'suicide' is with this age group, even when joking. He agreed that he used poor judgment'.
Kuse went on to suggest that the third grader skip the language class for the rest of the year.
"We don't feel it was appropriate to remove her when we don't feel that she was the problem," said Wallace. "We would have requested that this man's life not be destroyed by any means. I don't want that for anybody...Our response would have been remedial training for this teacher, some sort of sensitivity training for this teacher."
In a statement to News 19, Kuse said:
"We deeply regret the comment made by a teacher to one of our students. Though the teacher said he was joking, the comment was wrong, thoughtless, and contrary to the values we teach. We have instructed the teacher to remain home until further notice. We have apologized to the three students who heard the comment and told them we are sorry this happened and how inappropriate the comment was. Our students and families are why this non-profit school exists and why we have been operating for more than 30 years. We care about our students and we would never want any of them to harm themselves."
"We feel like children deserve a space where they can safely learn without any fear of being told to commit suicide over an earache," said Wallace. "It's a pretty ridiculous thing for anyone to say to another human, let alone an 8-year-old child."
Wallace pulled her children from school April 25, the day of the incident. She has since decided to withdraw both of her children from the school indefinitely.
Wallace's request to have May tuition reimbursed was denied, but she will be reimbursed for next year's registration fees, as requested.
"I've taught my daughter to speak up, to tell the truth, to be strong, and that's what I'm showing her," she said. "I hope one day she's proud of me."