Anna ISD teacher arrested, charged with felony child injury after classroom incident
Anna ISD teacher charged with felony child injury
A kindergarten teacher in Anna ISD has been arrested for injury to a child after allegedly grabbing a 5-year-old girl by the arm hard enough to leave marks.
What we know:
ANNA, Texas - An Anna ISD teacher is off the job and facing charges after an incident at school.
The teacher was removed from her classroom at Hendricks Elementary School last week when the investigation began.
Police have not released many details on the incident, but the young girl's mother said the incident happened in front of the entire kindergarten class, and it was another teacher who noticed the marks at recess and reported it to administration.
On Wednesday, inside a kindergarten classroom at the brand-new Hendricks Elementary School in Anna.
Mother describes alleged classroom incident
What they're saying:
Danielle Broomfield says her 5-year-old daughter was grabbed by her teacher so hard that it left several marks.
"I would have never expected this kind of thing," said Broomfield.
"They looked like fingers. There were three defined marks on there."
Broomfield shared this photo of her daughter’s injuries and says it took five days to heal.
A different teacher noticed the marks at recess and went straight to the office with the child to report it.
"My heart broke. Especially when they’re saying that she told them the teacher did it," said Bloomfield.
The school called Broomfield to come to the office. That's when she learned about what allegedly happened.
"What I was told was that some papers were being passed out. A little boy took my daughter’s paper. She went to grab it back from him and as she was grabbing the paper, she was grabbed by the teacher. And the teacher yanked her up by her arm and put her in the timeout chair," she said.
Anna ISD teacher charged with felony
Local perspective:
According to Anna ISD, the teacher, identified as Mikaela Beth Priest, was immediately removed from the classroom and placed on administrative leave.
Mikaela Beth Priest
As of Friday, Priest is no longer a teacher for the district. She was arrested on Saturday and is charged with injury to a child, a third-degree felony.
"I think she needs to be held accountable for hurting a child. These kids are five, maybe six years old, they have no way to defend themselves against a full-grown adult," said Bloomfield.
Details emerge on teacher's certification and background
Dig deeper:
Priest's LinkedIn profile using her maiden name, Malatin, shows she previously taught at Princeton ISD, but Texas Education Agency records show Priest obtained an intern level certification from the TEA in March of this year.
According to the TEA, an intern certificate is given to aspiring teachers. They're assigned to a classroom and are responsible for tasks that a teacher would perform, such as managing classroom behavior.
They're also observed multiple times throughout the year by a field supervisor and given feedback.
Daughter's Recovery
Big picture view:
Broomfield wanted to share her daughter's story so other parents could be informed.
"I hope that there’s no lasting trauma for my daughter. Hopefully she’ll grow and forget that this happened, but it’s going to last with us," she said.
"The school is supposed to be a safe place, the teachers aren’t supposed to be the bullies. So it breaks my heart that you know somebody could do something like that."
What's next:
Public records show Priest has no violent criminal history.
The Collin County Sheriff's office says the investigation is active and ongoing.
FOX 4 reached out to the Texas Education Agency to see if they're investigating Priest and revoking her certificate and are still waiting to hear back.
Meanwhile, Priest has since bonded out of jail.
The Source: Information in this article was provided from interviews conducted by FOX 4's Amelia Jones.