A Linwood teacher has been suspended with pay for assaulting a student in February.
Kimberly Peschi, 40, a teacher at Belhaven School, kicked student's chair out from under him, causing him to hit his head on the ground, according to the charges.
The Galloway Township woman is charged with cruelty and neglect of children and simple assault. She is suspended with pay.
There were witnesses and the incident was also captured on the school's camera system. The parents and Board of Education members have all seen the video.
One person who has seen it called it "compelling," saying it shows the sixth-grader was in the lunchroom at about noon Feb. 9, and Peschi talking with two other teachers.
Peschi then sees the 12-year-old about 20 feet away, sitting at his lunch table and rocking back and forth on his chair.
Peschi doesn't say a word as she walks across the room and kicks the back of the boy’s chair, causing him to fall to the ground, the person who viewed the video said.
Peschi was the student's fifth-grade music teacher.
Many people in the community have pushed to make the incident public. Parents were not officially notified of the teacher’s suspension or that she was criminally charged.
The victim was checked for a concussion, according to a friend of the family. Two days after the incident, he complained that his head “felt compressed,” so he was taken for a CT scan, which was clear.
Peschi's attorney Dean Wittman did not immediately return calls seeking comment
