BRIDGETON -- The Bridgeton Board of Education reached a settlement with a former teacher who said that the district did not take adequate measures to protect her after a student assaulted her in 2015.

Michele Andrews of Millville received the $197,500 settlement in April 2017 after she alleged the school board did not address her concerns after being injured in multiple incidents while working. The lawsuit, which was filed June 2, 2016, also alleged that she lost her job after filing a formal complaint about the incidents with her superiors.

According to court documents, the first incident occurred in January 2015 when she was injured after being assaulted by one of the students in her classroom. After Andrews decided to file assault charges against the student, she asked a principal to remove the student from her class and was allegedly told by the principal to "put her big girl panties on and deal with it."

The lawsuit also states that two months after Andrews was assaulted, she was hit in the face while attempting to break up a fight between two students. Although the two students were suspended for fighting, they were not charged with assault.

In an incident that was recorded by video surveillance cameras in May 2015, Andrews was allegedly "body checked" by a student, which injured Andrews' neck and caused her to miss time from work, she claims. The student who allegedly injured her was not disciplined for hitting Andrews, even after Andrews asked the administration to document the incidents that occurred, something in which the lawsuit says is required by law.

When Andrews returned to work, she wrote a letter to the district's upper management, including the superintendent and director of human resources, stating her concerns about her supervisors "retaliating against her" and that the school was not documenting the fights and assaults that involved her. The director of human resources stated that an investigation would take place.



The school board sent Andrews a letter saying she was having her teaching contract renewed in May 2015, according to the complaint. However, Andrews alleges that after the district's upper management received her complaints about what was going on in the school, the principal told her that her contract renewal was rescinded and she would not have a job at the school.



The Bridgeton School District did not immediately return a request for comment.

Chris Franklin can be reached at cfranklin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @cfranklinnews. Find NJ.com on Facebook