Email shows IT told the Riviera Elementary teacher the board would not “hold up with kids hanging on it,” and that removing it required district approval and about $6,000
PALM BAY, Fla. – Two days before a 120-pound Promethean display board came down on 5-year-old Bellamy Dawkins-Morris inside his Riviera Elementary classroom, his teacher put her concerns about the board in writing and asked the school’s technology staff whether it could be locked in place.
The answer she got back, in an email obtained by The Space Coast Rocket, was that the equipment would likely not hold up to the children in the room, that efforts to have it removed had already been made, and that moving it required approval from district and school administrators and would cost around $6,000.
Bellamy died Oct. 7 after the board fell on him at the Palm Bay school. Brevard Public Schools said the board fell at about 11:36 a.m. Staff called 911 and began lifesaving measures, and he was taken to Holmes Regional Medical Center, where he died.
The email
At 11:58 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, the classroom’s teacher, who signs her emails as an ESE teacher for VE-SLD students in kindergarten through second grade at Riviera Elementary, wrote to the school’s tech and network support employee, Joshua Boone, under the subject line “Promethean Board.” The Space Coast Rocket is not naming the teacher.
“Do you know if there’s a way I can lock this Promethean Board into place? The kids keep slamming it up and down and I’m getting kinda worried.”
Boone replied eight minutes later, at 12:06 p.m.:
“I can try tightening the tension springs again, but I don’t think that will hold up with kids hanging on it. but other than that, no. I have already tried to reach out to get it removed but since it is and ESE class it would need to be approved . The district person who bought it would have to approve as well as admin, and it cost around 6k to move to new room. You can ask them (idk who y’all’s ESE person is that got it) to maybe move it up and out of reach or some other solution.”
The exchange establishes three things before Bellamy’s death: the teacher had identified children moving the board forcefully as a safety concern, the school’s own tech support doubted the board’s adjustment mechanism would withstand children “hanging on it,” and an earlier attempt to have the board removed had stalled on approvals and cost.
The word “again” in Boone’s reply indicates the tension springs had already been tightened at least once before Oct. 5.
Teacher had just returned from leave
According to staff who spoke with The Space Coast Rocket, the teacher returned to the classroom on Monday, Oct. 5, from maternity leave, and the board was among the first issues she raised. Staff said the substitute who covered the class during her leave had also asked that the board be fixed, which they said is the earlier request Boone references when he writes that he had already tried to get it removed. The Space Coast Rocket has requested all of these emails through a public records request, but it has not yet been fulfilled.
Staff also told The Space Coast Rocket that the school’s principal sent an email about the issue to the district’s student services department. The Space Coast Rocket has not yet obtained that email and has requested it through a public records request. And according to staff, a teacher from last school year also complained about the same board. The Space Coast Rocket has not yet independently verified this claim.
Audio of the 911 call from the classroom captures the caller telling the dispatcher that she had just asked for someone to come and tighten the board. The call also indicates the child was kicking the board before it fell.
The Space Coast Rocket is publishing only a brief portion of the call below. The rest of the recording is not being released because of its graphic nature.
That detail matches what Bellamy’s family has said publicly. Relatives told WFTV that Bellamy, who had autism, was shaking the board, causing it to fall. His mother was told he had been moving it back and forth before it tipped over, the family told WESH 2, as The Space Coast Rocket previously reported.
The behavior described in the 911 call and by the family is the same type of behavior the teacher and the tech employee flagged in writing 48 hours earlier: children pushing, slamming and hanging on a heavy board built to move.
How these boards are designed to move
Promethean’s ActivPanel interactive displays are large touchscreen panels that serve as both a digital whiteboard and a classroom television. Schools can mount them on fixed brackets that hold the screen in one position, or on height-adjustable mounts that let the screen be raised and lowered so it can be reached by whoever is using it, including small children.
The company markets both fixed and height-adjustable wall mounts and mobile stands, and says a fixed wall mount is included with the purchase of an ActivPanel. Its adjustable systems use no motor. Instead, they rely on a spring system that lets teachers and students move the panel up and down by hand with minimal effort. Promethean’s height-adjustable floor mounts, for example, are rated for panels weighing roughly 90 to 209 pounds and allow up to about 15.75 inches of vertical travel.
Product listings describe the spring mechanism as allowing high-low adjustment with just a light touch. Promethean also recommends that its products be installed by a trained Promethean installer. The video below shows how the screen can adjust although in this example its on a mobile mount, the display at Riviera was reported to be wall mounted but height adjustable.
That design is what makes the boards useful in an early elementary classroom, where a screen at adult height is out of reach for a kindergartner. It is also what the Oct. 5 email describes as the problem: a board meant to glide up and down being slammed up and down repeatedly by young students, with tension springs that tech support believed could not be tightened enough to withstand it.
The classroom
The teacher’s signature identifies her class as VE-SLD K-2. In Florida’s Exceptional Student Education system, VE refers to Varying Exceptionalities and SLD to Specific Learning Disabilities, meaning the room served young students with disabilities who receive specialized instruction.
Boone’s email ties the delay directly to that designation, writing that because it was an ESE class, removal “would need to be approved” by the district employee who purchased the board and by school administration.
Classrooms serving young children with disabilities can include students who are still developing impulse control, who seek out sensory input from moving objects, or who may not understand the danger a heavy piece of equipment poses. Bellamy’s great-aunt has described how he responded to moving objects. The emails show the adults responsible for that room recognized the risk and asked for help, and that the board remained in place, adjustable and within reach of students, when Bellamy was hurt.
Boone offered two alternatives in his email: retightening the springs, which he said he doubted would work, or asking the district’s ESE contact to have the board moved “up and out of reach or some other solution.” It is not clear whether either step was taken between Monday’s email and Wednesday’s fall.
What the district has said
In an update to parents and staff the day after Bellamy’s death, Superintendent Dr. Mark Rendell said Promethean boards across the district are installed by a licensed third-party vendor in accordance with manufacturer guidelines and announced that the district would inspect the boards at every campus while awaiting the findings of the investigation. There hasn’t been any public statements released by the district detailing the results of that inspection and if any other boards were found to be safety concerns or if any repairs/maintenance occurred as a result of the inspection.
The district’s public statements have not addressed whether anyone had reported problems with the board in Bellamy’s classroom before Oct. 7.
Promethean told WFTV it had not received details about the specific display, stand, mount or installation involved and would not speculate while investigations continue.
Bellamy’s family has retained attorneys Bridwell and Michael Haggard of The Haggard Law Firm, who said they are conducting an independent investigation into the design, installation and maintenance of the display. The Palm Bay Police Department’s Special Victims Unit and Major Case Unit are investigating, and police have not announced findings on how the board came down or who may be responsible.
Are there other deaths like this?
The Space Coast Rocket could not find any previously reported death in the United States involving a falling interactive classroom display board. National coverage has described Bellamy’s death as a rare classroom tragedy.
Injuries from falling interactive boards have been documented elsewhere. In May 2023, a 7-year-old boy in Tamworth, England, was seriously hurt when a digital whiteboard detached from a wall at St Gabriel’s Catholic Primary School. Britain’s Health and Safety Executive found the installation fell below industry standards and that the board came loose with minimal force. His father said doctors told the family a blow to the head could have killed him. In 2018, a sliding smart screen fell on a pupil at a new school campus in Dumfries, Scotland. The contractor blamed excessive force, and the local council closed the school until every fitting was certified safe.
The closest U.S. school parallel may be the 2018 death of 9-year-old Wesley Lipicky, who was crushed by a motorized room partition at Franconia Elementary School in Fairfax County, Virginia. His death led Virginia lawmakers to unanimously pass the Wesley Charles Lipicky Act, which bans the use of motorized partitions when students are present unless they have added safety devices such as motion sensors.
Outside schools, heavy screens falling on young children is a well-documented hazard. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported that from 2000 to 2019, 451 children were killed in furniture and TV tip-overs. Seventy-nine percent were younger than 6, and 75 percent of the deaths involved a television. CPSC says these incidents typically happen when children climb onto, fall against or pull themselves up on the object.
The Space Coast Rocket will continue to follow this story.
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