SAN ANTONIO – A North East Independent School District teacher resigned and an autistic elementary school student transferred schools following a classroom altercation in October 2024.
The incident was captured on video and has sparked an investigation by the Texas Education Agency.
KSAT obtained a 30-minute video that shows the incident inside the special education classroom. KSAT edited the video to show the moments leading up to the escalation, including two different camera angles in the classroom.
The video may be difficult for some viewers to watch.
The investigation began on Oct. 28 when Tenice Corbin’s 9-year-old son texted her from Roan Forrest Elementary School.
Corbin’s son, who is autistic and attends a specialized classroom for students with special needs, complained of back pain and said his teacher “threw me on the ground,” Corbin told KSAT.
According to the video, the incident started with Corbin’s son playing with an object, which another student claimed struck his Chromebook. The teacher, identified as Luke Triolo, requested that Corbin’s son move, but he did not. The teacher accused Corbin’s son of lying about his intentions regarding the other student’s Chromebook.
“Here’s the thing,” Triolo said. “Lying to people about what’s going on –.”
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The teacher is interrupted when the student says, “I’m not.” The teacher replied, “No one believes you that it was an accident.”
That’s when Corbin’s son’s frustration increases, and he eventually pushes the other student’s Chromebook on the floor, the video shows.
Then, from a different camera angle, the other student can be seen hitting Corbin’s son. Corbin’s son then hits the other student back repeatedly, the video shows. That’s when the teacher steps in, wraps his arms around Corbin’s son and drops him down in a corner of the room, the video shows.
The principal filed an incident report with NEISD police later that day and described what happened.
However, in an email from the teacher to Corbin on Oct. 28, the teacher said her son “ended up in a physical altercation with the other student. [The teacher] separated them but both got a couple blows in. Administration is investigating,” the email read.
“You chose to grab my soon when you could have stood between the two students, which is what you told me in your email but clearly that’s not what happened,” Corbin told KSAT.
Ten days after the incident, the teacher resigned.
According to a Feb. 13 email from TEA, Triolo’s Texas Educator Certificate was flagged, with a note stating, “This individual is currently under review by the TEA Educator Investigations Division.”
However, a Feb. 11 letter to Corbin from the TEA noted the entity’s findings. The seven-page letter addressed the allegations, conclusions and reasons for the TEA’s decision. Part of the seven-page letter read:
“The record shows that the student was restrained using an improper restraint technique in response to an emergency situation where there was threat of property destruction and threat of harm to another student. The record does not include documentation of the restraint or documentation demonstrating the complainant was notified of the restraint. Allegation Two is substantiated. Although the restraint technique used was inappropriate, the technique used does not rise to the use of aversive technique as defined in TEC §37.0023. For this reason, Allegation Three is not substantiated.”
Corbin stated that the school asked if she wished to press charges, to which she agreed, but no assistance has been provided to her in pursuing those charges.
“That draws me to the conclusion they didn’t care about pressing charges,” Corbin said. “They just wanted me to be quiet.” She said there was “no accountability [and] no concern.”
KSAT reached out to NEISD seeking an update on the incident and to see if any policies for special education classrooms have changed within the district since this incident.
An NEISD spokesperson said the teacher is “no longer with the district. We reported the incident to all appropriate agencies at the time.”
The spokesperson further said “There was an investigation. That is why he no longer works for the District. No policies were changed.”
According to a previous email from the school, Triolo resigned from the district on Nov. 7, 2024.
