FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. — There are proper, legal ways to discipline a kindergarten student but slapping them in the head is not one of them according to a Fayette County assistant prosecutor.
Brian Parsons prosecuted the battery case against Fayetteville Elementary teacher Kathleen Wade late last week. Wade was convicted Friday on two counts of battery. Parsons said Wade slapped a kindergarten student in the head at the Fayette County library and then boxed the ears of another student in her classroom.
“When you are striking a child above the neck, when you are striking a child in the head–that’s indefensible. That’s not necessary to maintain discipline or order or to correct the child,” Parsons said.
The prosecution had eyewitnesses to both situations.
“They were disinterested persons, which I thought made the evidence more reliable than maybe say a parent or somebody who was closer to the situation,” Parsons said.
Wade, who has been on suspension for the last year in the Fayette County school system, faces up to two years in jail and a $1,000 fine when she’s sentenced June 12. Parsons said he’ll speak with the parents of the children before deciding what to recommend to the magistrate at sentencing.
Wade has been teaching for 27 years and Parsons said he believes she knew what she did was wrong.
“The incident that occurred at the library she did not have any knowledge of it, but the incident that occurred in the classroom she felt that she had made a bad choice. She indicated she wished she could have a ‘do over’ on that, which I thought was tantamount to admission,” Parsons said.