Teacher on leave for allegedly spanking student

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) A Forest Park Elementary teacher has been placed on paid leave while school officials investigate a claim that she spanked a first-grade student.

Just before 10 a.m. Monday, a woman arrived at the Fort Wayne Police Department to file a report of a battery to her 6-year-old child, a Forest Park Elementary School student.

The woman told police the other teacher never intervened, but asked the girl afterward if she was OK, according to the report.According to that report, the girl’s mother told police her daughter said that her teacher “whooped her” at school the Friday before. The girl said the teacher spanked her in front of another teacher “and made her cry because it hurt,” the report said.

After the girl told her mother about the alleged incident, the woman told police she went to the school to confront officials about it, the report said. The mother told police the teacher “admitted to spanking her daughter … causing the child in question to cry,” the report said.

The mother then went to the police department to file the report.

In an interview with WANE-TV, the mother said her daughter said she was spanked for dropping an eraser and retrieving it.

The woman said she met with the Forest Park principal first about the incident, who then called the teacher down. During the confrontation at the school, the woman said she asked the teacher to explain herself.

“I said, ‘No. Did you hit her, yes or no?’ And she said, ‘Yes, I did,’ and I had to get up and leave out of the room because I couldn’t be around her,” the woman said.

The woman said she spoke with Fort Wayne Community Schools’ human relations officials, who also interviewed the girl.

District spokeswoman Krista Stockman said Tuesday she could not confirm details of the incident but confirmed the district is investigating it. Stockman said in line with district policy, the teacher was placed on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigation.