A Smithville school district substitute teacher has been charged with assault after slapping three students in a sixth grade classroom last month, according to a police report.

Sharyn Boyd, 73, is accused of slapping the students while covering a fundamentals of math class Dec. 19. at Smithville Junior High School.

Smithville police were contacted by the campus’ principal after school administrators concluded an internal investigation that found Boyd had slapped one student on the side of his face, another was struck on the forearm, and a third was “slapped in the mouth and grabbed on the back of his arm,” according to the police report.

School officials told police that Boyd approached administrators after that eighth period class and told them that a student “may inform his parents that he was struck in her class period.” She explained that two students were being disruptive in class and that she “placed her hand on one of the students,” and that one of the students was “holding his cheek after” the incident, the report states.

The student, however, had a cheek that appeared red and told school officials that he began crying after being struck in the face. Another student told police that he saw Boyd slap his classmate on the side of his face — described as a high pitch like a “clap.” When he went over to see if his classmate was alright, “Boyd came over to him and slapped him in the mouth and grabbed him on the back of his arm, and told him to go back to his seat,” the police report states.

Witness statements from 21 other students corroborated the incident.

One parent chose to pursue charges against Boyd after finding that her child’s cheek was still red when he returned home from school. Two other parents chose not to pursue charges, with one stating that “one charge for assault was sufficient,” police said.

Boyd, who was not arrested, will no longer teach at the school pending further review, Superintendent Cheryl Burns said in a statement.

The school’s principal and assistant principal did not respond to requests for interviews. School board member Nancy Towry said she learned of the incident a couple days after it happened, but knew no details other than what was included in Burns' statement Monday.

Parents of students in that classroom promptly received a phone call notifying them of the incident. Michele Rutherford, whose daughter was in that eighth period class, got that call from Assistant Principal Amanda Gommert, who told her that a police report had been filed related to an incident that occurred in the classroom.

“But she was not able to give me any more information, and that I would have to ask my daughter about it,” Rutherford said.

“Kudos for making the phone call to the parents that had kids in the class, but I would like to see the extra step for more communication to the public, and I would like to see them getting ahead of things,” Rutherford said.

Rutherford mentioned previous incidents in which she felt that the district could have been more proactively transparent, including when a teacher was found in November to be conducting daily Bible verse readings in a first-grade class.

“Instead of being reactionary all the time, I’d like to see the school district be proactive in heading off this stuff instead of having to keep dealing with situation after situation and not communicating with the public,” she said.

In Texas, substitute teachers are not required to hold any permit or certificate beyond passing a criminal background check to be employed in a school. Individual school districts set their own requirements for substitute teachers.