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Sumner teacher charged with assault




Sumner teacher charged with assault

Sumner teacher charged with assault

A Sumner County elementary school teacher remains suspended without pay after being charged in November with assaulting two students.

Mary Ann Crider, 56 of Bethpage, was charged Nov. 29 for an incident that occurred at Union Elementary Stem and Demonstration School in Gallatin, according to affidavits filed in Sumner County General Sessions Court.

At around 1 p.m. that day, Principal Lance Taylor advised the school’s resource officer of an incident witnessed by a staff member during lunch. The officer spoke to two students who said they were playing around in the lunch line when Crider came up behind them and grabbed them by the back of the neck. The students said that Crider yelled at them and pulled them out of the lunch line and told them to go to the back of the line.

Both students told the officer that they were ‘hurt’ and ‘scared’ by being grabbed by the back of the neck, according to the affidavit. They also said that they were afraid to go back into Crider’s classroom.

The staff member who reported the incident said she saw Crider grab the students by the back of the neck and pull them out of the lunch line. She said Crider yelled at the students and appeared angry. She said the incident ‘shocked’ her when it happened.

Crider, a music teacher at the K-5th grade school, was suspended without pay the same day, according to a review of the teacher’s personnel file.

She will remain on suspension pending the outcome of an investigation and the court case, according to Sumner County Spokesperson Jeremy Johnson. Crider is charged with two counts of simple assault – Class B misdemeanors.

According to Johnson, a felony conviction would mean an automatic dismissal from the school system.

The teacher has taught at Union since 1995, her file shows.

It also shows one disciplinary action – a reprimand in February of 2017 by then-Principal Danny Sullivan for two separate incidents in which parents complained of inappropriate language in a song Crider played as well as a discussion she had with students they thought was not age-appropriate.

Crider’s case was originally scheduled to be heard in Judge Mike Carter’s court on Dec. 9. The case was continued and reassigned to Judge Jim Hunter, according to court documents. A new court date has not been set.

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