Pittsburgh School Employees Attacked By Student's Mother

PITTSBURGH -- Two Pittsburgh Public Schools employees, each in their mid-60s, were sent to a hospital after the parents of a student attacked them, a spokesperson said.

School spokesperson Ebony Pugh said a nurse and a social worker were assaulted by the parents of a Brashear High School student when they went to take the girl home.

The employees decided to take freshman Maria Malloy home, along with her sister, because they had concerns that Maria was acting erratically.

According to family members, once there was talk that the student may have some type of mental illness, the mother of the student attacked the school workers.

"My mother went to jail for no reason," Maria Malloy told WTAE.

Police charged 49-year-old Lisa Malloy with aggravated assault in connection with the case.

Maria's father, James Malloy Jr., said the family was upset because the girls were brought home without permission.

"We're trying to figure out 'who are they?' How'd they just walk out the school with our kids?"

A school nurse practitioner told officials that 14-year-old Maria was acting "visibly upset and exhibiting odd behavior." School spokesperson Ebony Pugh said the nurse also noted Maria was "pulling her hair and scratching her face and didn't know what was happening."

"She's like, oh well, the way you acting, like you have a mental problem. I'm like, no, my stomach just hurting," Maria Malloy said.

"So my wife, she was mad. She's just mad because they've been doing this for years…playing our daughter, our kids. Talking about we don't take them to the hospital, we don't care about their health. And we do. We got 10 of them," James Malloy said.

Pugh told WTAE that "the school district is trying to build relationships with the parents. (The school nurse and social worker) wanted to talk with her parents. They had genuine concern."

"Well, when she had the 'mental illness' come out her mouth, the most sick thing. That's when (my mother) got upset," Maria said.

"They fell down pushing, they were all tangled up pushing," James Malloy said, describing the fight between his wife and the two school employees.

Pugh said the school tried to contact the girls' parents. When they didn't get a response, the school decided to take Maria home with her older sister, who's also a student at the school.

The two employees have since been released from the hospital.