
Teaching is a thankless job, and schools are often understaffed and underfunded. Still, there’s no excuse for staff members getting physical with a child as a form of punishment. But recently, a Florida teacher was charged after allegedly hitting a student, 5, in the face with a ruler.
Chrishawn Nicholson, 25, allegedly attacked a student at Aspire Preparatory Academy in Miami Gardens, Florida, in November 2024. Now, Nicholson faces serious charges.
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The incident allegedly happened in late November 2024.
On November 19, Nicholson called the student’s mother about an injury, NBC 6 South Florida reported. She told the parent that her child was playing with a pencil and “got cut near his eyebrow,” according to police documents. The student’s mother took him to a hospital.
At the hospital, doctors alerted the parent that a pencil did not cause the injury.
At the hospital, the boy received stitches for his injury. Medical staff reportedly informed the mother that it was not caused by a pencil. On the way to the hospital, the student also claimed that Nicholson “hit him with a ruler,” according to the police report.
The Florida teacher was charged with child abuse in January 2025.
On January 9, Nicholson turned herself in and was charged with child abuse, CBS News reported. She was booked into Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. During a bond court appearance on January 10, the judge gave her a stay-away order from the boy and set her bond at $5,000.
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Allegedly, a video shows the teacher saying, 'I did pop him.'
In addition to the child telling his mother and investigators about his teacher allegedly hitting him, the student demonstrated how the teacher hit him.
“The allegations are that she hit a 5-year-old with a ruler, the 5-year-old required medical treatment,” a prosecutor said in court, per NBC 6 South Florida. “And there’s a video where she said, ‘I did pop him.'”
Judge Mindy S. Glazer said it 'could be an isolated incident.'
At the January 10 hearing, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy S. Glazer said, per WSVN, “I’m not going to order her that she can’t work in her profession, because this could be an isolated incident.”