BURLINGTON, N.C. (WGHP) — A teaching assistant and a school administrator have been charged in connection to the abuse of a student.
According to the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office, they began investigating alleged abuse of a student on April 26 at Woodlawn Middle School.
Court documents say William Michael Jackson, 55, of Haw River, a teacher’s assistant at Woodlawn, grabbed and applied pressure to the back of a student’s neck and left bruising. According to the district, Jackson was a 10-month employee and his last day was Thursday. He has been charged with misdemeanor child abuse and misdemeanor assault on a child under 12.
The principal of Woodlawn, Thomas William Kazimir, 53, of Mebane, was also charged with failure to report crimes against a juvenile.
Jackson had worked with the school system since 2020. Kazimir had worked in the district since 2000, first as a teacher before being hired as an assistant principal in 2013 and principal in 2023. He is suspended effective June 13.
Alamance-Burlington School System released the following statement:
Alamance-Burlington Schools regrets to report that the Alamance County Sheriff’s Department has informed us that 2 Woodlawn Middle School staff members have been served with misdemeanor charges related to a school incident.
Teacher assistant William Jackson was charged with 1 count of misdemeanor child abuse and 1 count of misdemeanor assault on a child under 12 years of age. Principal Tom Kazimir was charged with 1 count of misdemeanor failure to report a crime against juveniles.
As a 10-month employee, Mr. Jackson’s last day of employment for the 2023-2024 school year was June 13. Principal Kazimir is currently suspended with pay while the district and law enforcement investigations continue.
We are notifying our Woodlawn Middle School staff and families about this very concerning information today.
Our Woodlawn Middle administrators and staff will continue to fully support students and families while ABSS continues to cooperate fully with the Sheriff’s Department in order to ensure that our highest priority of student safety is observed by all of our employees.
FOX8 asked ABSS how they plan to hold employees and administrators accountable to keep kids safe. A spokesperson for the district said in a statement in part:
“Particular attention has been given this year during regular professional development sessions with principals and staff as to the district’s expectations and legal guidelines for reporting any student-involved incident to administrators and SROs as well as the consequences for failing to adhere to established policies and procedures. we will continue to stress this important information with ABSS staff members and hold everyone accountable for their role in ensuring student safety.”
These allegations mark six ABSS employees charged for crimes against kids in the past 13 months.
In May 2023, a Southern Alamance Middle School teacher was charged with two counts of indecent liberties with a student and two counts of indecent liberties with children. Then, a few months later, the assistant principal at the same school was charged with one count of a sex act with a student. Neither are employed at the district.
At the end of 2023, the principal at Eastlawn Elementary was charged with a felony statutory sex offense. A few months later the deputy superintendent was charged for failing to report that incident. The Eastlawn principal is suspended and the deputy superintendent resigned effective June 30.
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