ANTIOCH (KRON) — KRON has learned Wednesday night that the Antioch special needs school now being investigated by the California Department of Justice is losing one of its biggest clients.

KRON’s Maureen Kelly talked to the Antioch Unified School District superintendent about why they are pulling their students out of the troubled institution.

“Here, student safety is out number one concern,”  Antioch School District Superintendent Stephanie Anello said.

Anello said the district started looking into finding alternative schools to send their children after a disturbing video showing alleged abuse at Tobinworld first surfaced back in January.

It shows a teacher’s aide slapping and wrestling a 9-year-old boy inside a classroom at the Tobinworld 2 school.

It was a big decision for the district, which according to KRON investigation, made up a big chunk of Tobinworld’s student body–145 students in all.

Back in March, Tobinworld informed the district that they were closing up all of their smaller campuses located on Antioch Unified School District sites, three of which were just opened this most-recent school year.

“They have not given us a reason, but we were not entirely disappointed, to be honest with you, based on, again, that kind of disturbing the video and now the investigation,” Anello said.

The investigation she’s referring to is the one announced by California Attorney General Kamala Harris last week. It is headed by the Department of Justice’s new Bureau of Children’s Justice and is focusing on Tobinworld and other non-public schools regarding their treatment of students with disabilities.

After that news came out, the Antioch Unified School District sent letters to parents, letting them know that they were taking students out of the soon-to-be sole remaining Antioch campus Tobinworld 2 and placing them into other East Bay special needs schools.

Some parents are saying they want to keep their kids in Tobinworld.

But the district’s response:

“Given the kind of events that have been documented, that we are not comfortable offering them as a placement at this time,” Anello said.

The district said there are administrative remedies that might allow parents to keep their children in Tobinworld and some are already pursuing that option.

KRON reached out to Tobinworld, but so far, they have not given us a response.