Ex-teacher to be sentenced for kindergarten bully revenge

A former kindergarten teacher was scheduled to be sentenced Monday for employing an unorthodox — and ultimately illegal — method for dealing with a supposed classroom bully. The hearing, however, was postponed until August.

Cynthia Ambrose, 44, faces up to one year in jail for a May 2012 incident at Salinas Elementary in Universal City in which she ordered classmates to line up and hit the disruptive student, then 6, to show him “how it feels to be bullied.”

It took jurors less than an hour to find Ambrose guilty last month of official oppression, a Class A misdemeanor.

“This is not a spanking case,” Assistant District Attorney Patrick Ballantyne told jurors during the trial. “It is so far outside the bounds of classroom discipline to where it becomes criminal.”

Ambrose has asked state District Judge Sid Harle to decide her sentence. She is expected to request probation.

speshek@express-news.net

Twitter: @Sam_Peshek