Two freshman members of a Warren Central High School majorette team in Indianapolis suffered second-degree burns and blisters on their hands after being forced to do bear crawls on hot asphalt during practice, according to their parents.
Travis Peagler, father of 14-year-old Trinity, told The Indianapolis Star, NBC affiliate WTHR, ABC affiliate WRTV, and Fox affiliate WXIN that he was shocked by what happened on Sept. 18.
“It just makes me sad that the school wouldn’t hire more caring and responsible adults,” Peagler said. “At the end of the day, when you’re in charge of other people’s children, you’re responsible for those children. You need to take care of those children and have those kids be safe.”
Travis said he noticed his daughter’s burned and blistered hands after picking her up from school. She told him she was ordered to do bear crawls as a form of punishment for her grades.
“I’m like, ‘How did your hands get like that?’” Travis recalled to WRTV. “And she said, ‘Well, the coach, uh, had us doing bear crawls.’ “
At the time, temperatures were near 90 degrees.
“I really just want to know what made you think that that was okay, on the 86-degree, whatever degree weather, day that it was okay to have them doing bear crawls on an asphalt track when it had to be at least over 100 degrees on the track,” Stacey Peagler, Trinity’s mother, told WTHR.
Trinity was taken to the hospital, and her recovery is expected to take around six months, according to the family and reporting by WTHR and WXIN.
“This isn’t discipline. It’s child abuse,” Travis told WXIN. “These are young girls. They’re not training to be a Navy SEAL or Army Ranger.”
Describing her injuries, he added to the Star: “Her hands, she had huge blisters, burns, you know, like you tear off like a piece of rubber on something. Her thumbs, the skin on her thumbs was rolled up.”
Another student on the team, the daughter of Ronnisha Banks, reportedly suffered the same treatment. Banks shared photos of her daughter’s second-degree burns and blisters with WTHR and said: “She can’t do school work the way she needs to.”
In an email to PEOPLE on Sept. 26, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department confirmed an incident report had been filed and that the investigation is ongoing.
PEOPLE reached out to Warren Township Schools for comment. In a statement to local media, the district said:
“We are aware of an incident during last week’s dance team practice involving a conditioning drill on the track that resulted in several students sustaining blisters to their hands from the surface. We are taking this matter very seriously, conducting an active investigation, and remain in close contact with students and families to support their recovery.”
“The safety and well-being of our student-athletes will always be our top priority,” the district added, “and we remain committed to listening to our students and families as we learn from this incident.”
Banks also told WTHR that she contacted the Indiana Department of Child Services. A DCS spokesperson told PEOPLE that, due to state law, the department cannot comment on active cases or confirm whether an incident has been reported.
