Four people, including the superintendent and founder of a Houston charter school, were charged today in connection with an incident in which investigators say a teacher was caught on video beating up a student while a co-worker watched.
Sheri Lynn Davis, 40, was charged with injury to a child, a third-degree felony, after being recorded on a student’s cell phone camera kicking, slapping and dragging a 13-year-old boy across a classroom floor at Jamie’s House Charter School on April 29.
The school fired Davis after the video was aired on television.
The charter school’s superintendent and founder, Ollie Hilliard, and principal David Jones were charged with failure to report child abuse, a class A misdemeanor, said Donna Hawkins, spokeswoman for the Harris County District Attorney’s office.
Another teacher, Gabriel Hahn Moseley, 33, also was charged with failure to report child abuse. Moseley witnessed the incident, but did not intervene or report anything, school officials said. He also was fired.
A spokeswoman for Jamie’s House said the superintendent and principal are “stunned by these charges.”
“They believe the charges are totally without merit and will fight them aggressively,” said Sue Davis, who is not related to the teacher. “The administration took immediate steps to investigate the incident after being informed and fired the teacher within hours of viewing the video. They continued their investigation and fired a second teacher for failing to report the incident to the school administration. These charges are an over-reaction and should concern every teacher and administrator.”
