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2 Duval County public school teachers suspended without pay

Second-grade, kindergarten teachers suspended after witnesses report misconduct

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Two Duval County public school teachers were suspended without pay on Monday, according to a report released by the Duval County Public School Board.

Chrystel Shannon, a second-grade teacher at George Washington Elementary Schoo,l and Kristen Walker, a kindergarten teacher at Reynolds Lane Elementary School, were suspended.

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According to the report, Shannon was suspended without pay for 30 days for striking several students with a yardstick on the lower leg or back of the hand. A fellow teacher contacted the district Feb. 28 after she was told by a student about the spankings.

Several students told officials that they cried because of the pain inflicted by Shannon.

Shannon has been reprimanded for disciplinary actions multiple times in the past:

  • In 2005, she received a written reprimand for taping a student to a chair and allowing the student to put tape over his or her own mouth.
  • In 2005, she received a written reprimand for allowing a parent to administer corporal punishment to a child in her classroom.
  • In 2006, she received a written reprimand for grabbing a student by the arm for misbehaving.

Walker was suspended without pay for 15 days for not providing adequate supervision when two students called one another names, threatened one another and got into a physical altercation, according to the report.

The principal at Reynolds Lane Elementary contacted the district on Feb. 27 and said one of Walker’s students raised a chair over his or her head as if to use it to hit another student with it. Walker didn't try to intervene, only saying "Put it down" and recording it on her cellphone.