A substitute teacher in Florida was arrested on child abuse charges for allegedly instigating elementary school-aged kids to “beat up” their classmate last month, according to new details revealed Sunday.
Geanene White, a sub at the YMCA Tiger Academy in Jacksonville, is facing charges related to a Feb. 12 incident in which she asked and encouraged four students to take turns hitting and kicking their peer, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, per Action News Jax.
The victimized elementary school student supposedly ignored a request from White, 57, to split up into small groups to conduct school work — enraging the sick sub who resorted to violence to solve the problem, according to a police affidavit filed Sunday.
“Who in here can beat him up?” White allegedly asked her class, according to an arrest affidavit reviewed by multiple outlets.
Four students then raised their hands to volunteer for the extra-credit beatdown — and were called on by White to — one by one — pummel the victim inside the Florida classroom, the Miami Herald reported.
After the four successive attacks took place, White then pushed the victim to the ground, causing him to hit his head on a desk, the affidavit alleges, according to local outlets.
The ruthless sub then allegedly dragged the student on the ground by the collar and reported him to school authorities — claiming he was in need of “behavioral assistance,” the Miami Herald reported, citing the affidavit.
White has denied allegations that she instigated the assault on the poor student, claiming that the child partook in two fights in the classroom, according to that report.
But classmates, including an accused assailant, said the substitute instigated the incident — with one of the volunteer attackers telling cops “the teacher told him to do it,” Jacksonville police officers wrote in their affidavit.
Those officers reported seeing cuts and bruises on the assaulted boy’s head when conducting an interview, the Miami Herald reported.
White is facing a charge of child abuse and four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to the affidavit filed by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office on Mar. 2.
YMCA Tiger Academy and Duval County Public Schools both claim the teacher was vetted, the YMCA said in a statement to the Miami Herald.
