Washington State RENTON ACADEMY FOR SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN Exclusive: A counselor assaulted a 7-year-old, slamming him into a wall. The school won't let him transfer. A family is fighting Renton School District after an educator assaulted their child. In this exclusive report, the KING 5 Investigators expose exactly what happened. Sept. 16, 2026 RENTON, Wash. — Malia Carter thought she had finally found her son the help he needed. Jerome, 7, has ADHD and an individualized plan for behavior issues. Day to day, Carter said, that shows up through frustration and emotional outbursts. "As his parent, I have to be patient with him," Carter said. "I thought that was what they were doing, too." She is referencing Renton Academy, a school built for students who need more support than a standard school can offer. She transferred Jerome there in March. "I thought he was going there to get help and support his special needs that he needed," said Carter. "That wasn't the case." Surveillance video obtained by KING 5 shows, just seven weeks after Jerome arrived at Renton Academy, a school employee grabbing and slamming her son into a wall. The video starts with Renton Academy's hallway on May 4, 2026. An employee and Jerome come into frame. Jerome is visibly angry in the video – pushing and kicking as the educator tries to de-escalate him. Five other adults gather nearby, including counselor Nila Griffin. Jerome, in his own words, said he was coming down from the outburst. "I was mad and calming down," said Jerome. "And she (Griffin) said something mean, and then I walked up to her and she grabbed me by my shirt." The video shows Griffin grab him, push him, and then do something Jerome's family attorney said no one trained to manage children in crisis should ever do: slam him into a wall. "Horrible," Jerome said, describing the moment. "I hit my head and it feel like I had a bruise on it." Recalling the video, Carter grows visibly emotional. "Because I couldn't help him," Carter said. "I couldn't help him at all." Carter said the school wasn't clear on exactly what happened. She didn't see the video, and didn't get the full picture of what her son had gone through, until two weeks later. "A lot of questions, not enough answers," she said. "I was getting pushback from the school district and I was like, 'OK, so you guys are protecting her, and not my son.' So I'm going to protect my son." She called police, child protective services, and Loren Cochran, an attorney who specializes in cases where kids are harmed at school. "I was horrified. Absolutely horrified," Cochran said, describing his reaction to the video. "Because you take a kid like Jerome and you put him in a school like Renton Academy so he's safe." A counselor trained for exactly this Renton Academy's website states the school has a "team of specifically trained teachers and counselors." Records explain the school is "for students who have difficulty succeeding in a traditional classroom environment," and that "many students have mental or behavioral health issues that can sometimes manifest in aggressive or violent behavior. For that reason, school employees are trained to de-escalate students who are agitated, and routinely do so successfully." Griffin wasn't a teacher or assigned to a classroom, records say, but her role was solely focused on providing "extra support to students who are agitated and acting out to the point where they cannot remain in the classroom." "She was listed before as a counselor/interventional behaviorist," Cochran said. "So my understanding is she was supposed to have training to deal with kids like Jerome." Griffin told police she acted in self-defense, saying that when Jerome came toward her, she feared for her safety and felt the need to physically control him. READ MORE: king5.com/article/news/inves…