A parent was arrested for violently assaulting a teacher Wednesday at St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church’s preschool program in Grovetown, according to a sheriff’s report.
Kasey Marie Brooks, 28, of Crawfordville, Ga., was charged Wednesday with battery. (See the suspect’s side of the story below.)
According to the sheriff’s report, the parent said she was upset over how her child was handled on Tuesday. She came to discuss the matter with the 61-year-old teacher and school director. During the meeting, Brooks allegedly punched and hit the teacher in the back of the head, repeatedly.
A witness tried to stop the assault but could not. She yelled for help and a second witness came into the room and pulled Brooks off the victim.
“But then Kasey jumped back on her and again started hitting her with her fist as the victim was lying on the floor,” a sheriff’s report says. “Kasey also bit the victim’s left thumb/palm, leaving visible marks.”
The witnesses pulled the parent off the teacher, and the teacher retreated to a class bathroom and locked the door. Brooks left the building, saying she would “wait for her mugshot,” a report says.
As deputies arrived, the teacher’s face was swollen and she had teeth marks on the base of her thumb. She was taken by ambulance to Doctors Hospital for treatment.
Brooks was charged with battery and later released on bond. She contacted The Jail Report on Thursday in anticipation of the story making the news. She requested to tell her side of the story.
Here is what she sent: “I know you’ll be sharing a picture of my mug shot soon so I am reaching out to give you details from my side to help add some validity to what you report. I was arrested and charged with battery after the administration of St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church’s preschool program pulled video surveillance footage from my nonverbal 2 year old son’s daycare classroom and for 3 hours I watched … (his teacher) spank him several times, hit him in the head, slap him with a book, shove him to the ground, snatch him up by one arm and carry him across the room multiple times, slam him in his seat to make him eat lunch alone in time-out, pick him up by his ankles and hold him on his neck/head and grab his face so hard his cheeks were touching in his mouth as she was nose to nose with him amongst other things.
“The daycare director dismissed her employee’s actions and ensured me she would be keeping her job. She claimed to see nothing wrong with the teacher’s abusive behavior until she could no longer deny what we both had watched and asked me what I wanted to do about it.
“I requested to speak with the teacher to hear her side and they agreed. I appreciate the opportunity to see her feel how my 2 year old son felt when she was standing over him laying helplessly on the ground.”
Brooks also told The Jail Report that after her release from jail, she filed a sheriff’s report for the assault on her child. Sheriff’s Maj Steve Morris said late Thursday that any such report was not yet available for review.
School officials referred all questions to Jill Parks, Communications Director for The Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah. Reached on her cell phone, Parks declined to comment on the parent’s arrest or whether the teacher would keep her job.
“It’s under investigation, so we don’t have any comment at this time,” she said.
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