A Minnesota teacher resigned on Tuesday after school surveillance footage captured her throwing a hockey stick at a second-grader during gym class, making him lose a tooth.
Local station Fox 9 reports that the March 28 incident occurred in Princeton after 8-year-old Easton Johnson threw his puck into a pile while others placed their pucks there. The gym teacher allegedly lashed out at Johnson and threw the stick at his face. As seen in the footage above, the teacher was mere feet away.
“We’re in shock,” Easton’s father Lance Johnson told the news outlet. “She’s within five feet and she didn’t even hesitate. Like she was trying to hurt him.”
After the incident, the teacher was initially only placed on administrative leave. According to Fox 9, an internal email to Princeton Public Schools staff wished the teacher “the absolute best,” and a since-deleted Facebook post from the school district congratulated her on her retirement.
In an email to Fox 9, superintendent Ben Barton said he was frustrated the incident occurred.
“The district does not condone or tolerate any form of inappropriate conduct by staff,” he wrote. “I share frustrations about the incident that occurred. Although the district promptly investigated and took appropriate action, I recognize that such action does not change the fact that the incident occurred.”
While a letter from the Minnesota Department of Education to the Easton family cites that their son was a victim of mistreatment by the teacher, the Princeton Police declined to investigate the incident further.
