Teacher Caught On Tape Reassigned

Michael Garza's parents say they weren't sure who to believe, their 8-year-old son or his reading teacher Savonya Depland Haston.

"She calls me fat," Garza said.

The second grader also told his parents Mrs. Haston would punish him and other students by making them do push ups and squatting exercises.

"I need to know for myself what was going on," Michael's mother Jessica Garza said.

The same day they complained to the principal about Mrs. Haston, Michael's parents put a tape recorder in their little boy's pocket.

After Michael calls the reading teacher "ma'am," Haston is heard on the tape replying "I'm not your ma'am. If I owned you, and you were my slave, I would beat you down."

The Garzas told FOX 26 Investigates, "I couldn't believe, oh my God, what I was hearing."

Apparently the Garza's weren't the only parents at DeChaumes Elementary complaining about Mrs. Haston.

On the tape, you hear her tell the class of 7 and 8-year-olds she could have charges filed against them and their parents for lying and violating her civil rights.

"When you lie on me, I have the right to an attorney, I have the right to file charges against you and your parents. I have the right to take you straight up to the top of the Grand Jury and the federal government and file charges against your parents and garnish whatever wages are in your houses; that's the law," the reading teacher is heard on the tape telling the classroom of second graders.

So what did the Houston Independent School District decide to do about Mrs.Haston?

The district tells us, "The teacher was removed from Dechaumes Elementary and following a thorough investigation and legal consultation was reprimanded and reassigned."

That reassignment, according to HISD, is teaching at another elementary school.

Haston didn't respond to our attempts to get her side of the story.

"I just don't think she should be allowed to be teaching these children," Jessica Garza said.

The Garzas are upset that the district is allowing Haston to keep teaching elementary age children.

While they gave HISD concrete evidence, the Garza's said, their son got nothing from the district-- not even an apology.