Police: Florida Substitute Teacher Urged Children to Beat Up Classmate

A substitute teacher in Jacksonville, Florida, is accused of encouraging students to violently gang up on a classmate.

The suspect, identified as Geanene White, who allegedly urged students to beat up another child, is also accused of assaulting the victim in the case, First Coast News reported Wednesday.

An image shows the suspect:

The incident happened on February 12 at the YMCA Tiger Academy on Bagley Road which serves pre-k through fifth grade students.

Law enforcement records said an officer responded to the school about an alleged child abuse incident and learned that White was accused of inciting the students to target their classmate, the First Coast News article continued:

The report said White had initially asked the student to join a small group, but when he refused, she became frustrated and asked the class, “Who in here can beat him up?”That’s when JSO said four students raised their hands, and White called on them to fight the victim while she watched, then the students hit the victim multiple times on his head and body.

Following the beating, White allegedly pushed the child who hit his head on a desk. The substitute teacher called in two teachers for help and police said she told them the children needed “behavior intervention.”

However, White allegedly did not report the fight to them or say anything about the victim being hurt when he hit his head on the desk.

The victim reportedly suffered a small laceration behind his ear and some bruises. “One student told police that he would not have fought the victim ‘but the teacher told him to do it,'” the First Coast News article said.

The suspect is said to have denied being involved in the fight, claiming she merely tried to help the victim up off the ground after the others allegedly targeted him, Action News Jax reported Wednesday.

In a statement, First Coast YMCA said:

The First Coast YMCA was made aware of an incident at Tiger Academy involving a student and a substitute teacher who had been properly vetted by both the First Coast YMCA and Duval County Public Schools. The safety and well-being of our scholars and staff have been and will always be our top priority, and as such, we investigated the matter immediately according to protocol. Upon completion of the internal investigation, we terminated the substitute teacher’s employment. We immediately reported the incident to the Department of Children and Families, who are conducting an ongoing investigation in collaboration with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. All further inquiries about the incident should be directed to them.

After she was arrested, White was charged with child abuse and four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.